Need information and value on German made Case knife (1920's

[LTrammell]

I have a pre 1920 Case knife with the tang stamp of R.Case, Bradford, Germany. The handles are mother of pearl with abalone. This knife is difficult to find any information on. Thanks in advance for any information.....especially regarding value of this knife....LTrammell

[olderdogs1]

It is extremely hard to find information on that stamping. Case of course did have knives made in Germany with that Stamping in the 20's and possibly before. The lack of Pattern uniformity when these knives were made also makes it hard to document. The best resource I have found on the older Case knives are the books that Jim Sargent wrote. Looking through his books shows that a lot of the older knives were unknown patterns. There is a thread in "Knife Lore" titled "Old Knives with Rare Tang Stamps". Someone with more knowledge that I may be able to shed more light on your knife if you post it there.
Assuming your knife is authentic, I would think it would have significant value to someone that collects rare Case Stampings although it is a narrow field of collectors.

Tom

[LTrammell]

Thank you for your response. This is the first time I have seen this Tang stamping and in trying to research it on the internet there isn't much information. I have ordered Jim Sargent's book from Amazon and it should be here today or tomorrow. I have no reason to believe it is anything other than authentic but I am no expert. Knife is in fairly decent condition for it's age. MOP really shines and has no cracks or chips....I'm pretty excited about this find and hope to learn more about it...Thanks again, LTrammell

[olderdogs1]

Jim Sargent actually has I believe 7 editions of his book and each has a lot of different old case knives pictured. He has published a lot more besides these books but they are definitely a good reference.
Another good book that has a lot of rare tang stamps is Gerald Wichers book on Counterfeiting Antique Cutlery. He makes an interesting comment about the stamp on your knife being R Case instead of WR Case in that some thought or think that the W was broken on the stamp when actually it was due to a translation error. Got to love the history of these knives.
I just bought several books from our our expert on the forum, Steve Pfeiffer, aka Knifaholic and am looking forward to going through them all.
Good luck with your knife and I would be excited about the find
as well. Also welcome to the forum. ::

Tom