Dating a Case Blackhorn

[Beag1eGal]

Hello.
I came across this knife in Ebay. The box shows date of 11-2012
But I don't believe the tang stamp matches.
It looks more like a 90's stamp, but I don't see any dots.
Any help would be most appreciated.
Attaching a screen shot from Ebay listing.
Thanks

[jerryd6818]

The Blackhorn's don't have dots. That's the stamp for 2010-2019 so 2012 would be correct.

[Railsplitter]

Problem already solved but I just had to check my 2008 when I got home from work. I wonder why they stopped stamping date codes on these.

[Beag1eGal]

Ok. Thank you. Weird. I do have one with dots, but it is 90's.
Wonder when they quit and why.

[DR_MAGOO]

I had this same question on an Executive Lockback last year and contacted Case Historian Katie Shonts Saar and got this response.



Re: What Year?
by Magoo5099 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 6:36 pm
Katie Shonts wrote:Hello,

This is the tang stamp that appears on the '059L exclusively since 2010.

Thanks,
Katie


Thank you so much Katie. It sure has had me stumped. So this being said, I'm assuming that the box will indicate the actual year.

Re: What Year?
by Katie Shonts » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:45 am
Yes, the box will have the date when it was completed.

There is a large volume of this pattern that is produced - '059L pattern. This particular blade is used in the Mini Blackhorn (#00256) and the Executive Lockback (#00004) as well as others. In the later parts of 2009, it was determined to give it a generic stamp so that it could be used universally on a variety of projects. We gave it an Era Stamp rather than an actual year so that projects could transition from year to year. It is by far one of our popular imprinted items for our ad specialty or embellishing departments. It will receive a new "era" stamp once we roll into 2020.

Oddly enough, in hindsight we obviously had some foresight as it pertains to embellishing and the recent instances where customer warehouses have taken "older stock" and embellished them for new product releases. I don't anticipate that it's possible to not run into this anomaly in the future, however, as it pertains to the Mini Blackhorn, it would likely be minimal.

Which begs the question, what is the more important feature...the date it was manufactured (assembled in the factory) or the date the knife was released for sale?

I can assure you also, that there is a concerted effort to bring interesting facts about our products like this to the attention of our collectors and knife enthusiasts. I am sure you will see more facts like these in the future.

Thanks!
~ Katie Shonts Saar ~
Case Historian & Archivist