1973 Curly Maple Sharktooth

[gsmith7158]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-1973-CASE- ... SwoydWqVgM

Wouldn't this one be a no brainer? Wrong date, wrong sheath and from a seller that I thought was fairly knowledgeable.

[BIGHEAD]

what do you see that makes a 7 dot not a '73?

[gsmith7158]

According to the early sharktooth history the curly maple handles were discontinued after a run of 1800 knives in 1972 and they came with a black round toe sheath. Case reintroduced the curly maple handles on the sharktooth in the 1980's and a few mechanics have used those on the pakkawood knives that followed the halt in production. Note the price a little steeper than a regular sharktooth.

[BIGHEAD]

may be so but I have seen many examples of a knife from the factory with a blade that didn't match the manufacture date.
it could have been made toward the end of the year and they already were stamping 1973 blades and put it in a 1972 knife. I think the knife is legit.

[robinetn]

The only thing that I see wrong here is that he is asking more than 3x the book value for starters .

Bob

[BIGHEAD]

I agree with that statement

[gsmith7158]

Ok . I stand corrected. Don't think I'll buy it though.

Greg

[BIGHEAD]

here is an example of a knife leaving the factory "Not Right".I will let anyone see if they can pick out what is wrong. But I know that it is just a "factory error" because I bought it new in the box.

Hint it is Not the blade Date.

[gsmith7158]

I don' know enough about the newer knives to comment. Nice knife though

[BIGHEAD]

Thanks. The main blade is wrong it is not a 3 blade Sowbelly main Blade. It is actually a 5 blade Sowbelly's main blade. The nail Nick is in the wrong place. When I looked at it I knew right away something was wrong but it took me a while to pinpoint just what it was I have over 200 Sowbelly's and that stood out but couldn't place it

[btrwtr]

The only thing that I see wrong here is that he is asking more than 3x the book value for starters .

Bob

I think you could apply that to all the sellers listings.

[gsmith7158]

Well I am very confused now . I just checked Sargent's knives and razors an he does list a1973 curly maple in his price guide with a caution that some of the pakkawood handled knives had been rehandled with curly maple. This doesn't seem to match up with the info in Steve's book. What's a collector to do. I think I would still shy away from this one though because of the incorrect seath for that year and of course the price is way to high.

Greg

[kootenay joe]

Knife manufacturers made parts in batches and then used them up as production progressed. They did not discard old but perfectly good parts. Hence with every manufacturer there are legitimate exceptions to whatever the specs are for that knife and no single reference book can document all the possible 'exceptions'. Use the knowledge gleaned from the books and then couple this with "reading the knife" (BRL !!) If it shows no evidence of having been 'worked on' then likely it is an all original factory knife. Occasionally you will be fooled. That is part of the challenge and hence fun of knife collecting.
This OP knife is easy to decide: price is too high, out of range of realistic market value, so don't buy it. Another example always comes long sooner or later.
kj

[gsmith7158]

I understand all that. In this particular instance though if Case halted prduction of the curly maple handles in 1972 and decided to switch to a pakkawood handle of which there are examples from 1972 , why then wood some 1973 curly maples emerge?

Greg

[robinetn]

In 1972 Case made both pakkawood (P197L) and curly maple (7197L) knives . You will occasionally find a pakkawood knife with a 7197L blade , but I have never seen a curly maple with a P197L blade . The OP knife has the correct blade for curly maple .
Bob

[gsmith7158]

In 1972 and 1973 all of the sharktooths made carried 7197 stamp it was not until very late in 73 that the blades were stamped with P197. Some of those 7197 blades that originally came with pakkawood handles have been rehandled with curly maple handles from a 1980's release by mechanics attempting to makee a fast buck . That is why I would question a curly maple sharktooth with a 1973 tang stamp plus the op knife has a1980's sheath with it.

Greg

[knifeaholic]

In my experience both 1972 and 1973 blades are correct for the original curly maple 7197's.

True, some knife mechanics may have swapped older blades into 80's frames but that is a separate issue. The early brass frames were a slightly different shape than the later 80's frames so that should be looked at in evaluating a curly maple 97.

Collectors today may not be aware of the following two facts about the 97 pattern:

The 7197 was initially made in 1972, and production continued into 1973, 1974, and 1975...HOWEVER, the knife was not actually introduced to the market until December of 1975. No collectors had the opportunity to buy one (or even see one) prior to early 1976. The 97 was shown in the 1974 catalog but with NOT AVAILABLE stamped over the picture (note: this catalog was used until 1977, so later printings had the normal listing for the knife). Case price lists from 1974-75 show the P197 listed with N/A as the price.

What this means is that the 97 pattern was stuck in "development hell" (to borrow a movie studio term) for almost four years. Obviously a lot happened in four years as Case tried the curly maple and the "7" designation, ended up going to Pakkawood with the "P" designation, used up leftover blades, etc. The story I heard at the time was that the curly maple would crack too easily.

Case held the 1,800 early curly maple handled knives at the factory and released them on 10/18/77. I have a copy of a factory memo to this effect. These were indeed shipped with the original black sheaths. Obviously the sheath is easy to switch after the fact so is not a reliable indicator. Retail price was $50.00 at that time.

Another little known fact - Case at that time did not make the 97 patterns in house (or the 58, 59, 51, or other stainless steel lockback knives). Case contracted them out to ALCAS Cutlery. Case later (late 80's) brought all production in house.

[kootenay joe]

Steve, i am not a Case collector but i do enjoy reading accurate knife history, so Thank You for a most interesting and informative post.
I would have guessed this to be a Camillus made knife but maybe the 4 blade utility is the only knife Camillus made for Case ?
kj

[knifeaholic]

Steve, i am not a Case collector but i do enjoy reading accurate knife history, so Thank You for a most interesting and informative post.
I would have guessed this to be a Camillus made knife but maybe the 4 blade utility is the only knife Camillus made for Case ?
kj

Camillus made for Case:

640045R
62031 LR (delrin handles)
61011 (delrin)
62146 L RSS Rigger (lockback spike, delrin)

Some percentage of 048 patterns, late 60's through 77.

[kootenay joe]

Four 'Cami' Cases ! Thank you Steve. I will jot those down in my book on Case knives which is Great for collecting case knives.
kj