Tested XX MOP Splitback Whittler

[snowedinhere]

I purchased several hundred knives recently from an estate. Most are Case and the guy obviously loved Mother of Pearl. Most of the knives are good knives in nice shape, but I have found 3 knives so far that are counterfeits. I am thinking this one is too good to be true as well. The red flag for me is that there are no numbers found on the knife. I am not sure if that is normal with the early case knives. If it's real, it would be pattern 08, being 3 1/4 inches closed. I wanted to see if Case actually produced a MOP handle splitback whittler in the Tested XX era and get anyone's opinion on if this one is authentic. The thing that makes me think it may be real, is I had a very knowledgeable knife guy trying like hell to buy it from me. Any assistance at all would be helpful. If you have any questions or need to see additional pictures, let me know. Thanks in advance.

[MrBlister]

not often ya find 100 year old anything with
perfect scales, bolsters and shine to the blade..


HET

[knifeaholic]

My opinion is that it is a fake, made out of a 70's era Case 6308 whittler.

[snowedinhere]

My opinion is that it is a fake, made out of a 70's era Case 6308 whittler.

Wouldnt it have a 8308 number on it then?

[olderdogs1]

The stamp doesn't look good to me although hard to really see it with the picture. Very few tested knives had pattern numbers stamped and if it was made out of a 70's 08 whoever put the tested stamp on could have easily taken any number off. The whole knife , as Dave and Steve said, just doesn't look authentic.

Tom

[Mumbleypeg]

As for why it's not stamped 8308. Some but not all tested era knives have pattern numbers stamped on them. As far as I know, all post-Tested era Case had pattern numbers stamped. If ones intent is to counterfeit a recent (like a 1970s) 6308 pattern into something else not having bone handles, you gotta get the pattern number off. That means you either re-stamp it, which you gotta do anyway to get the Tested stamp on it, or leave it off. Unfortunately there's folks who are adept at grinding down the tang to remove original marks, and re-stamping with something else. Hard to tell especially without knife in hand.

As Blister said, any knife purported to be that old, that is that shiny and polished, is suspect right away. Doesn't prove its not authentic but at the least your s**t detector should come on. As for the knife you asked about, in addition to what's already been pointed out, it's especially rare to see pearl handles reputed to be that old to not gave some damage, such as dis-coloring, flaking and/or chipping at the pins or along the liners. The grind on the blades just doesn't look right for a Tested era knife either.

By the way, I have a counterfeit Tested 5383 that I bought 40+ years ago, from a well known dealer, before I knew better. I keep it on hand to remind me. It was most likely made from a late 60s or early 70s knife. Looks to this day too good to be true, and it is. And I had a supposedly knowledgeable knife dealer offer me $500 for it a few years ago - until I showed him what was wrong with it. Here's a picture of it.

Y'all are welcome to pick it apart if you care to comment.

Ken

Edit : It's been brought to my attention by a very knowledgable Case collector that my statement above "As far as I know all post-Tested era Case had pattern numbers stamped" is not correct. He has pointed out that some early XX era knives did not have pattern numbers stamped on them. I strongly dislike mis-information so I want to correct the statement, in case someone doing future research sees this post.

[RalphAlsip]

It would be more typical for a Case Tested XX knife not to have a pattern number stamp. Assuming Steve's hypothesis is correct the person who "customized" the knife likely removed the pattern number stamp (by grinding, sanding, polishing) to make the blade fit the expectations for a Case Tested XX blade. I don't know enough about working on knives to comment on what the knife might have been before it was "customized". However the "Case Tested XX" tang stamp is pretty ridiculous looking (to me) and obviously was not stamped on the blade by the Case factory. The "E" in the word "CASE" is really off.

Tom, Ken, and I replied at about the same time.

[RalphAlsip]

Ken, your 5383 doesn't look obviously wrong so one would need to closely inspect the knife. "Trust but verify" is probably a good motto. I tend to pay less attention when I acquire knives from people I trust.

Here is what I see that attracts my attention:

1. Size of tang area on master clip blade looks too large, especially in proportion to the overall blade length.
2. Handle pins look off. Wrong size, wrong material, maybe should be hammered?
3. Stag looks too smooth and no age / patina.

[robinetn]

The most obvious thing about Ralph's knife is that it has a late 1960's shield . The pearl handles on the OP knife appear to be replacements as can be seen by the gap around the center pin and misshapen?? handle pins . The most telling thing on both knives would be comparing the thickness of the tang of the master blade to the thickness of the back spring (should be no gap between either liner and tang) . To remove the pattern # and front tang stamp prior to restamping would require considerable stock removal .
Bob

[snowedinhere]

Thank you everyone!

[Mumbleypeg]

Thank you everyone!

The thanks goes to you. There's a lot of discourse on this forum complaining about the sale of counterfeits on eBay. I applaud you for making the effort to vet your knives.

As for the example I posted both Jerry and Bob found the most obvious flaws, neither the stag nor the shield is right for a Tested knife. I'm no student of pins so they may not be right either.
Ken

[btrwtr]

Without having to look too closely I would give a definite no to both knives shown here. No need to critique the stamps. The stag handles are obviously newer. I've never seen stag like that on a true Tested knife. Both knives look new because they are new (compared to true Case Tested era knives) knives. Old Tested mint knives can be found in showroom new condition but they look nothing like the knives pictured. They both look like seventies or newer vintage to me. Nice knives, just not what they pretend to be.

[zp4ja]

To me I don't need to look past the nail nIcks on either knife to know they're not Tested era.
One of the first things I look at on a knife if I'm trying to determine authenticity.
Jerry