All About Pocket Knives

i recently bought a 84 case stag bone handle trapper in almost perfect shape. cant do pictures and i realize they are important, however i paid $120. any ideas? im kinda new to this

well 57, without seeing what you bought, that sounds pretty high. 80s trappers in bone are around $40+ on ebay. is there somthing special about the knife?

Is it second cut stag? Is it new grind? If yes/yes, very collectible knife these days..

mike is right, need to know more about the knife. what is the pattern number? there are certain knives that $120 would'nt be too high.

If it is a 5254 from 1984, then it is genuine stag, not "stag bone". Stag bone, or bone made to look like stag, was never used by Case until they introduced the 6.5 numbered knives a few years ago in response to the stag embargo.

However, the stag from 1984-1985 is different from the usual stag...it is in essence "second cut" stag although Case marketed it as "stag". The story is as follows. Case had discontinued stag knives from the "standard product" line in 1970. Stag handled pocket and hunting knives were made during the years of 1976 through 1981, but these were (primarily) the annual limited edition stag sets.

In 1984, Case decided to bring back 6 patterns of genuine stag handle knives as part of the standard product line. In order to make processing of the stag handles easier, especially the installation of the CASE shield, the stag was processed differently than it had been in previous years.

For the 1984 stags, Case processed the stag slabs much like bone, flattenting the stag, then jigging it (I don't know whether it was dyed or flame treated). So in effect it was just like what we know of as "second cut stag".

This only lasted for 1984 and part or maybe all of 1985, then they went back to the old way where the stag was left in its natural state.

it is indeed 5254, thanks for the replies