what is the rarest case knife you have??

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 2:08 pm

These two knives pale in comparison to whats been shown(awsome knives by the way). But these are the a couple of the rarest that I have. The first is a 5165 with usa stamp, the second is a 5279, also with usa stamp. these were made only one year with the usa stamping.

stockman · Post by **stockman** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 2:30 pm

Case Bradford. Hope this is ok here. One of my favorite knives and maybe somewhat rare. Also posted before.

Harold

zp4ja · Post by **zp4ja** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 4:24 pm

Great old Cattle Knives Tom and Harold! Some great stags there Tim. Here is one that definitely qualifies as rare.

CASE XX 6394-1/2 Long Pull "Jumbo Cattle" knife in Green Bone. The picture do not do the bone color justice. They are a light olive green, through and through, both sides. Made in 49' and discontinued in the early 50's. Reprofiled a bit but hey, a rare knife and I have never seen the color of green bone before in any era. And green bone in XX is not all that common as you all know. Some amazing bone on this hard to find pattern!

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:33 pm

now THAT,Jerry, is a beautiful knife! Awsome greenbone!

stockman · Post by **stockman** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 7:38 pm

Good thread I have enjoyed these rare old Case knives.

Harold

Mumbleypeg · Post by **Mumbleypeg** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:28 pm

Beautiful knives! Tim, the stag on that 5279 looks awesome! Is the other side that good also?

Ken

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:46 am

mumblypeg, I think this is the prettiest knife in my collection, Thanks

RalphAlsip · Post by **RalphAlsip** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:21 pm

This one may be too rare for some folks (haha). I have convinced myself it is legitimate. It is a very fine example of knife making craftsmanship regardless. The "Bradford Penna" stamping (rather than "Bradford Pa.") is an indicator of being a contract knife for W.R. Case & Sons. I would like to believe that this knife was made by Napanoch (based on arched stamping). Goins mentions a "plier" knife made with this stamping by Valley Forge. There is no record that I can find that Case produced or sold a pearl 45 pattern. The 2 things that bother me the most with this example are the word "SABER" stamped on the tang and the brass separator in the split backspring when the rest of the components are nickel silver.

Thanks for looking. I am always eager to learn, so please share if you happen to know something about how this knife came into existence.

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:57 pm

I cannot speak to it's authenticity, but it sure is a beautiful knife, and looks to be finely crafted. congrats on that one, Tim

olderdogs1 · Post by **olderdogs1** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 12:13 am

This muskrat is rare because it has Rough Black handles and because it is a Tested to XX Transition knife. Thanks for looking.

Tom

cbfd · Post by **cbfd** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:17 pm

For me it would be a toss up between these two,W.R.Case 6488 or W.R.Case 6539, The 88 has Rogers bone scales, the sowbelly is showing early Winterbottom bone.

jlw257 · Post by **jlw257** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 6:41 pm

Great bunch of Rare and Old knives from all of you guys

Larry

peanut740 · Post by **peanut740** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:34 am

Bill, that sowbelly is something else.

wlf · Post by **wlf** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:53 am

Ralph, was this knife acquired from the Voyles auction?

I'll enter some examples here,since the knife that got me started in all this is "semi-rare". Not in the vein of the exquisite old knives being shown,but nevertheless one of my rarer Cases.

First is the knife that started it all.Me and my tutor and partner in the masonry trade were out of work in the winter of 79,and he traded around to try to make ends meet.So we went around old hardware stores looking for discontinued,XXs,and whatever he told me might be worthwhile.

We found a small Case display in Ironton ,O that let us purchase what knives we wanted.I got about 7 or 8 (because they allowed me credit,I was broke in the winter,my wife pregnant with our 1st child). Sorry for the reminiscing.

Anyway,I got this 10 dot 6380 for right at $18.00 back then,had it since.

Next is it's brother a 10 dot 6111 1/2L

and last,a 6231 1/2 Tested greenbone

wlf · Post by **wlf** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 2:59 am

Here's the 10 dot 11 1/2

wlf · Post by **wlf** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:06 am

and the 6231 1/2, with a very tight crack (west to east from the pin)that's not very noticeable in hand. I like the grinds on that clip.

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:59 am

Awsome knives Lyle! Especially that greenbone. I can relate to the wintertime blues, I'm in the masonry buisiness myself. Knife picken is very slim this time of year.

1967redrider · Post by **1967redrider** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 3:59 am

Lots of gorgeous knives posted!

My rarest, and oldest, would have to be a greenbone Bradford, PA stamped 6294, a goldstone W.R. Case & Son lobster and a pearl Case Bros. pen knife.

timgreene48 · Post by **timgreene48** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:02 am

That '94 is sweet Red!

RalphAlsip · Post by **RalphAlsip** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:08 am

Lyle, I did not get the 8345 from Voyles directly, but you made me curious so I researched past auctions and I believe it was auctioned in one of the Pemberton auctions in the summer of 2014. The picture is a little fuzzy but it looks to have the Bradford Penna stamp. I intend to ask the person I bought it from if that is where it came from. Thanks for pointing this out.

Your 10 dots have really pretty handles!

1967redrider · Post by **1967redrider** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:16 am

timgreene48 wrote:That '94 is sweet Red!

Thanks, tim.

wlf · Post by **wlf** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 4:57 am

Nice old stamps there John,ole buddy,sought after ,congratulations.

Thanks for the kind words Ralph and you're welcome,for what it's worth.Ralph,I'm completely out of my element here(If I even have an element). I know a little about the farmers jack pattern knives, a little.

The reason I mentioned it was ,I bought a farmers whittler(I made that name up for this knife) from that collection,and had doubts to the authenticity of the pearl it is handled in,still do,but I think mine may be right??

I'd say your knife pattern and stamp are probably authentic,but he did have a lot of them rehandled?. This is just going on the overall picture of his collection,I know very little about Case knives.

Here's the knife I bought Ralph,so you can see the" farmers whittler",4 1/8". The others I have like it(2) are stag with a shield.This pearl though has no sign of shield pin holes in the liners,so I believe it is original pearl handles??? These were made in the latter 20s.

zp4ja · Post by **zp4ja** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 3:36 pm

Beautiful knives Gents!!!!

Tested 9264T. One of the few TESTED I have with a model stamp (with "XX" over the top of it). Additionally, it has the circle stamp.

Jerry

zp4ja · Post by **zp4ja** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:14 pm

Ahh, forgot about the TESTED 551. I also have the sheath, no pic, which is probably more scarce than the knife itself. Poste before but certainly fits here.