All About Pocket Knives

I have a W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Trapper
John Wayne 1907-1979
#127
can any one tell me when and how many were made
Case ask me to send them pictures and still didn't answer.
If you have an idea what it is worth would also be appreciated
thanks rex

Can you post a pic? Case makes a lot of "commemorative" knives, so a pic could help.
Dave

I am sorry but how many John Wayne commeratives did they make?
Case ask for pictures and stll could not answer.
I have pictures but will have to see if i can post them here.

rexp wrote:I have a W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
Trapper
John Wayne 1907-1979
#127
can any one tell me when and how many were made
Case ask me to send them pictures and still didn't answer.
If you have an idea what it is worth would also be appreciated
thanks rex

They (whoever they are) probably made 5 - 10 thousand each of 4 or 5 different handle materials = 25 - 50 thousand knives (and that is only the Case brand) . That is why it is so important to see a picture . Case may not be able to give you an answer because many of these were produced by individual dealers/engravers from Case's regular production knives .

Bob R. (RIDGEWOOD CUTLERY)

I am sorry, if their are more than one w.r case co. making knives then all case knives are worthlress.
I sent 7 Pictures to w.r case as they ask and got no reply.
If some one thinks they have an idea of what this knife is i will be glade to send them pic.
after all it is #127 out of maby 4-5 million.
I am sorry if i sound harse but when the co. that makes it ask for pictures and can't or won't aswer back then
it makes me wonder.

rexp,

I would suggest that you go onto eBay and simply search for "John Wayne Case knife", that search will return you dozens of different John Wayne commmemoratives and if you use an advanced search for the same term under "completed" auctions you will get current values. You can refine the search any way you like, for instance, by adding "trapper".

Hope these come through, same pic. i sent Case

rexp wrote:I am sorry, if their are more than one w.r case co. making knives then all case knives are worthlress.
I sent 7 Pictures to w.r case as they ask and got no reply.
If some one thinks they have an idea of what this knife is i will be glade to send them pic.
after all it is #127 out of maby 4-5 million.
I am sorry if i sound harse but when the co. that makes it ask for pictures and can't or won't aswer back then
it makes me wonder.

You shouldn't blame Case for not knowing about certain "commemorative" knives. Some dealers (Frost comes to mind) would order X number of Case knives, and afterwards would have the blade etchings and handles scrimed and sell them as commemoratives.

rexp wrote:

John Wayne case 127 002.JPG

John Wayne case 127 004.JPG

John Wayne case 127 005.JPG

John Wayne case 127 006.JPG

John Wayne case 127 007.JPG

Hope these come through, same pic. i sent Case

If I had this knife , I would expect to sell it for $50.00 - $60.00 .

Bob R. (RIDGEWOOD CUTLERY)

mumblypeg wrote:

rexp wrote:I am sorry, if their are more than one w.r case co. making knives then all case knives are worthlress.
I sent 7 Pictures to w.r case as they ask and got no reply.
If some one thinks they have an idea of what this knife is i will be glade to send them pic.
after all it is #127 out of maby 4-5 million.
I am sorry if i sound harse but when the co. that makes it ask for pictures and can't or won't aswer back then
it makes me wonder.

You shouldn't blame Case for not knowing about certain "commemorative" knives. Some dealers (Frost comes to mind) would order X number of Case knives, and afterwards would have the blade etchings and handles scrimed and sell them as commemoratives.

I am sorry for coming off as rude.
It is not Case that is the problem. It is the case dealers.
They sell fake knives saying it is a "case" commemrotive, when it is really a "dealer" com.
so how does a person Know if he is getting a real case com. or one that "joe blow" cooked up?
I just think if i was case i would make that dealer off the list and he could go elsewhere, O but i forget they don't care becase they are selling knives.

case sells new knives. they probably dont know much about the zillions of knives they had made in the past. maybe they should have told you that. the value of these dealer coms is nothing to worry about. if people like em they will buy them and they do. i believe most are made by dealers. experience will start to tell you whats what. its a cool knife.

rexp wrote: ....So how does a person know if he is getting a real case com. or one that a dealer cooked up?

W.R. Case & Sons started using the long tail C
serial number on their factory knives beginning with the
'Halley's Comet' trapper which I think predates your 1989
John Wayne commem.
So when you see a plain numbers only serial number that is
a tipoff it is not an original W.R.C. production.
Factory commems should also have a WRC COA but those
can be lost. The Long tail C serial number therefore would be
your primary indicator of a genUwine factory produced commem.
In CASE anyone wonders what the long tail C serial #
is, here's an example.
Some on blade, some on bolster.
Hope this helps

Thank you Woseyjales.
I still feel like if a co. is selling to he co. dealers (most anyone) they would want to know what the dealers were
changing them into, and should know

rexp wrote:Thank you Woseyjales.
I still feel like if a co. is selling to he co. dealers (most anyone) they would want to know what the dealers were
changing them into, and should know

If you buy a new car and decide to put dual exhaust on it , pinstripe it , or tint the windows , do you think that you should notify the manufacturer before you do so ? It is your car and you should be able to modify it in any way without asking permission . Whether the manufacturer or the purchaser made the modifications should have no bearing on the value of the item so long as it was done professionally and it is pleasing to the buyer . In my opinion , your kinfe is worth more than many of the"official" Case comems that I have seen .

Bob R. (RIDGEWOOD CUTLERY)

Here's an article that was in the latest "Case Collector". Hope it helps. Ed