The 1978-79 Case XX 5154 Stag One Blade Trapper & 1st Twice Dated Knife is a rare and collectible pocketknife. This is also the first one blade trapper produced by Case XX, making it a highly sought-after original piece for knife enthusiasts.

The story behind its rarity was told something like this …. These single blade stag Trappers were made exclusively for the NKCA, the National Knife Collectors Association. There were 12000 ordered and production began in 1978, parts were secured, stamped, and the process moved forward. But it moved forward with the Case XX USA tang stamping having 2 dots signifying a 1978 manufacturing date instead of a single dot meaning 1979.

So many of the old timers refer to this knife as The Contradictory Knife due to the Pile Side stamping and blade etching both stating 1979, while the Tang stamp contains 2-Dots signifying 1978. These 2 Dots are impossible to see on a great number of these pieces while some can be seen with the blade open at 90 degrees. On this particular knife, both dots are very easy to see, so no guesswork here. In any case, this was how the story unfolded.

As for the handles on this knife, you can see that they were lucky enough to get some of the richest looking Stag you can find on them (pretty fat too!) and they remain in absolutely beautiful condition.
This knife, with its beauty and history, is a prized piece in any collection.
Check this one out very well and make it a part of yours or your family’s collection because this is one that will keep forever. It’s in beautiful condition, has a couple of firsts to it that make it very unique, and has great looking stag and features that most collectors love.
I think it will be very hard to find one in as good of condition and that has this nice of stag on both front and back of the knife. Many seem to have it on the back, of course, but not always the front as well.
This one’s got the “show and tell” you’ll definitely want to hang on to for a long time and tell its story!

Thanks for your interest!

Item # 129384