All About Pocket Knives

Let's see what everyone comes up with a date or era for this knife . Front side stamp W.R. Case & Sons Bradford PA. Back side stamp Case's Tested XX Thanks Gary

Before 1920 .

Thanks I thought they stopped using the W.R. Case & Sons around 1904 ?

Case hunting knives cannot be dated using the pocket knife stamp datings which are likely not 100% correct anyways. The OP knife is likely pre-1926, but Case really didn't make many hunting knives before then and really made very few before 1920. For all you folding knife guys who think tested ended in 1940 and XX began in 1940, why are all the pocket knives on the original Case WW2 military display board marked tested XX, not XX and the war didn't start until the very end of 1941. Just because something is written years ago doesn't necessarily mean that the original info was correct. The KA-BAR date sheet on this forum has so many errors as to render it fairly useless. I think the Case sheet isn't quite correct either and this will be proven out someday. BUT, if the WW2 Case board folding knives are marked tested XX which they certainly are, the Tested XX mark did not end in 1940.

Thanks for the info but I was asking about a Fixed Blade Not a Folder . I hope that most would understand there is a difference in dating between the 2. Gary

If your knife has an aluminum guard it was made between 1926 and 1932. Nickel guard, likely pre-1926 but not much earlier. I think most people here do not understand that Case hunting knife marks are different and do not coincide with pocket knife marks. The W R Case & Sons mark on hunting knives is not pre-1904, there is no reference to Case making their own fixed blade knives at that time. Case fixed blade knives carry the same mark as yours well through the 1920s. It is unlikely that the sheath with your knife is original, and a shame that the knife has been buffed so severely although it is still a nice example. There are some early W R Case & Son (not Sons) bowie hunters from the 1904 era but it is unlikely that they were actually made by Case. There are also a couple of early (pre-WW1) hunting knives with Case markings that were made in England. All Case hunting knives made from 1926-1932 were contract made by Kinfolks and most will have aluminum guards.

Gunsil wrote:original Case WW2 military display board

This is very interesting information. Do you know if there are any photographs on-line of this board, or any pictures of it in knife identification books? I never kniew this existed. This would be an excellent item to study.

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Mike

XX Case XX wrote:

Gunsil wrote:original Case WW2 military display board

This is very interesting information. Do you know if there are any photographs on-line of this board, or any pictures of it in knife identification books? I never kniew this existed. This would be an excellent item to study.

__________
Mike

This photo still exists, I do not know where it is. Brad Wood, the Case hunting knife expert has seen it and the obvious tang stamps. I believe Katie Shontz, Case factory historian is aware of the tested xx marked WW2 pocket knives made for the military. I will see if I can get a copy of it, but may not be able to get a good high-res copy. It is thought by some advanced researchers that the Case Tested XX mark on pocket knives was not discontinued until after the war, maybe as late as 1948. The first CASE XX mark we know for sure seems to be used on a knife/axe combo with interchangeable blades circa 1937. There were fixed blade knives made at that time with CASE (serifs) marks and the first CASE XX fixed blade with a definite time frame was the later war CASE XX marked military quartermaster fixed blade knife which was also issued early in the war just marked CASE. The WW2 bailout bolos also wore the CASE XX mark, but there is not yet a definite date association positively provable for this mark on pocket knives. Case fixed blade knives have always had different markings at different times from their folding knife brothers in most of the Case manufacturing eras.

The Pattern # is 324 Likely Era 1924 to 1927 . This is what Bradley Wood emailed me .