5111 1/2LSSP Cheetah 9 dot ivory?

[Phin Spencer]

Hi all
I was wondering why the 1971 Ivory Cheetah would have a 5 designation,
and not an "I" ? It is a small stamp with case xx stainless over U.S.A. over
8 dots visible with the 9th covered by the guard. I realize not a lot were
made.
Thanks in advance
Phin

[zp4ja]

Hey Phin,

Got my interest up on this one. Did you refer to the article I sent you? I looked at my records and show that the stamp designation is correct according to the article I have that Tony Foster and Ed Sticker contributed to. Ivory 9 dot. 4 made. With or without etch. Hollow blade. Ivory 9 dot had same model stamp as the 71' LSSP.

Thing that concerns me about this is that a 5111-1/2LSSP in stag would have the same stamps, etch, etc making it possible to rehandle the knife ( if you had the ivory) and make it worth 4 to 5000 dollars to a unsuspecting buyer, instead of 4 to 5 hundred. Could be totally the real deal but I would have to have bought from a highly reputable dealer to pull the trigger on one. Their reputation makes them more likely to insure it is correct. And you know I am looking for one as we discussed.

Not sure how hard ivory is to deal with a far as handling, but for a prototype and the limited block of ivory they had in 1970 to only make 4 knives, the shield inlay work concerns me. Looks sloppy. Again, maybe the ivory is as hard as hell to work, don't know. I would assume that Case would have their best craftsman working these due to the limited handle material.

If you bought it and it is authentic that is how they did the shield on ivory, congrats and I am jealous. If for sale on ebay or some other crap, I wouldn't touch it till I had it in hands of an expert. Not trying to call you out here.

If I am wrong, which I may very well be, I am just trying to help. I hope more opinions will prove me wrong. Just my 2 cents...

Regards, Jerry

[Phin Spencer]

Thanks for the reply Jerry
The shield is tight, no slop. What concerned me is that as you
say, it could have been stag and re scaled in Ivory. I recall the
article you sent me. All pins look right, scales fit, the only place
that concerns me is on the pile side, buy the tang there is a lighter
place in the Ivory, could have been from a sticker?
Any way it is not a flea bay item.
My real question is why would the have a 5 and not an "I"?
Thanks
Phin

[zp4ja]

PURE SPECULATION on the pattern stamp "5 versus I designation"...

Since they only had enough ivory to make 8 knives total and the 10 dot ivory protos had no model stamp, that meant four 9 dot ivory protos to be made. I assume based on limited ivory they were not going to be an intended production run.

My 10 dot stag proto has all dots clearly visible as well as my 2 bone handled 10 dots. Not sure if the 10 dot ivory proto had all 10 dots visible even accounting for the swing guard. That being said, I ASSUME that they POSSIBLY were stamped with stag small stamp to possibly differentiate between the 10 dot and the 9 dot ivory proto. This assumption would be baseless is all dots on the 10 dot proto are visible. Who knows just a guess. They stamped the knife for some reason.

Another speculation/possibilty is this...

The 9 dot ivory proto were put together months later when they had stamped the "Small Stamp" prodution runs blades or the production blades were already made when both year's ivory proto's were produced.

I do feel pretty certain about one thing, Case was very frugal as we know using leftover stamped blades from the previous year in the following calender year. That being said, unless the alpha numeric characters in the stamp was not fixed and was interchangeable, they would have not gone to the expense and effort to make a "I111-1/2LSSP or IV111-1/2LSSP for 4 knives, proto or not.

My 2 cents.