All About Pocket Knives

My brother picked up what appears to be a 2007 Case Appaloosa bone trapper. The bolster is stamped PN 000. Anyone know what that means?
WB

WOW! stumped em

I have been watching, hoping that Steve Pfeifer would weigh in on this one.

Ray

Yah, it seems to be a mystery. My brother said the seller had a full roll of Case knives with 2 other 54's that had the same PN 000 stamp, only with different handle materials. It was at an outdoor flea market and I guess the seller didn't know anything about the stamps either.
I was down to my brothers place earlier this week, and got to look it over first hand. It looks like a factory stamping, just like you'd see on serial numbered Case knives, only placed a bit higher on the bolster then most i've seen. I do need to update one piece of information though, it has the lightening "s" tang stamp, which would make it a 1987, not 2007 production. One other thing I noted while looking it over, the 3 dots dating the knife are extremely close together, virtually touching each other. They set really close to the bolster and I don't think they could have been placed where they are without the blade being out of the knife. I'm not as good at reading a knife as some, but everything about the knife looked right. A standard 54 with smooth peacock apaloosa bone handles.
My brother's planning on trying to catch up with seller to buy the other two 54's. So far, the seller hasn't been there the past couple of weekends. That may seem kind of suspicious, but at this particular venue, it's not all that unusual, especially with the kind of weather we've been having. I'll post pics of the other 2, if he ends up getting them.
Hopefully, somebody will come along with some info. Thanks for helping to keep this thread going.

WB

Well, since it is on the bolster, where anybody can engrave anything, I am going to attribute it to an after market addition. If that is so, it could mean anything.

WB, Do you have more pics? You know some people with CASE knowledge are going to want to see The whole knife and possibly various angles.I have a parker with green appaloosa bone looks a lot like that minus the numbers on bolster and the Case blade.

with the long-tailed C in Case that makes it a 1997. I'm with Paladin, I think the engraving on the bolster is aftermarket.

Here's the only other pic I have. I can get more if needed. Don't know about the long tail C, but check the s in the usa, definetly a lightening s. It is a strange knife. The PN 000 is stamped, not engraved. But, aftermarket is still possible. How about the shield? Does that help with dating, athenticity, etc...?
WB

it is a 1997 tang stamp. the lightning S should denote stainless steel blades. A rounded S would be for CV. shield is of the 90's era as well. Case started using it around 1996
check these sites to date the tang stamp.
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/wr_ ... cation.php
http://www.wrcase.com/case_college/tang_stamps/

Yep, it says right there in black and white, that some models of the era used the lightening "s" in the U.S.A. part of the stamp. 1997 it is!
I reckon the basic conclusion would be, that it's a standard 6254 made in '97 and the PN000 stamp was added aftermarket. I think my brother was gonna contact Case directly to see if he can get any info. I'll leave that up to him, but will post anything he might find out about it.
I did tell him that from what I could see, it probably wasn't going to be a knife he could retire on, but the 000 had us hoping just a little anyway. Hey, it could happen, right?
Thanks for the input guys!

WB

More than likely a batch of those knives were made for a knife collector's club. Ordered either directly through Case or a Case Dealer.
I'm sure the PN means something ..... but it is anyone's guess right now. Hopefully the folks at Case will shed some light on the matter.

May not be applicable to this knife, but previous topic discussed 0, 00, 000 on the bolsters?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=30715

I don't think that link is relevent to this knife. Case Classic's are a whole other thing. My guess is a serial numbering system by whoever they made the knife for.My guess is the N is for number,..the P could be anything,. production? , ..i have no idea, this is mere speculation.

I think it means it is a Prototype knife!
I saw the same bolster markings on a knife on ebay and it was being sold as a Prototype.

I took the liberty of sending the picture into Case. If I get a response, I'll post it here. My guess is PN is production number, but I'm curious about this.

The handles have more yellow in them than the normal Green Appaloosa or the Peacock Appaloosa knives made in same time frame. I thinks is a unique handle material. It looks like Smooth Green Apple which I have never seen in this era. Could be a rare piece.

This is the copy and paste reply from Case.

Hello Bob,

Thank you for taking the time to complete the Warranty/Repair Request form, and for submitting photos of your knife.

Our repair technician's advised that the PN 000 was more than likely done by a third-party.

We are sorry we do not have more information.

Thank you for being a Case customer. [youtube][/youtube]