All About Pocket Knives

I am not a collector but have an old knife which apparently is worth something. It's an old Case with 4 blades I took by an antique shop and the man said it was very collectable and nice. It was a user so it isn't shiny so should I leave it as is? It was kind of cruddy and he asked if he could oil it for me. I hope that was okay.

here's some light reading on cleaning knives. there are a lot of different opinions. it never hurts to remove dirt, grease, loose rust from an old knife. oiling the knife is fine.
here's the link.

http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kni ... t=cleaning

If at all possible, we would like to see a picture of the knife. We could probably get real close as far as an actual $$ value of your knife. It's interesting to me too see some of the knives people have lying around.

1. Whatever you do-DO NOT resharpen it
2. " " " -DO NOT put it on a wire wheel.
3.Please post photo/s
4. And list length and tang marks from all blades.

Well I looked through your site last night and I think I have identified it. This knife doesn't have numbers on the blade though. Maybe it is a 5488 or 6488? The knife is just over 4" long when it is closed.
I scanned these on my flatbed, they may not be good. (any hair on pics would be like anything else in the house, from my Labs.

It does look like an 88 and length is correct though most have their shields centered! And that throws me off.
Maybe someone else has an idea?
You might want to buy a safe or get some insurance-not kidding.
DO NOT CLEAN IT!

the shield placement looks good to me. very nice old knife.

Thanks guys! I won't clean it. I collect hand tools and I hate seeing all that patina scrubbed away. The blade on the right (first pic) is the only one that seems to have been used and it opens slightly easier.

Is the knife handle stag or bone? I understand it is dated 1920-40 which would fit it's history. Thanks again for the responses, you have a nice site.

thats a great looking old knife there bottleofsmoke. its a case tested xx big congress 5488 with stag handles. it was made between 1920-40. as far as price, its hard to say but im sure it would bring several hundred dollars on ebay and possibly more. anyway, hope this helps. its a great looking knife.

In mint condition (which you are a long way from), it books for $12K; and would probably top that if mint. It would bring a good amount of money as it is; then it would be sent to a professional to clean it and probably bring double.

They just didn't put knives up 80 years ago; they used them. Thus mint Tested era knives are just crazy hard to find, and 88's are the cream.

Very nice knife!

i sold a MINT 5488 about a year ago _ before i was even collecting them - that i wish i had had the sense to keep! i did get over 700 bucks for it but man, to find one now for what i gave for that one - 200 bucks- is IMPOSSIBLE. I bought it at a bank auction for unclaimed safety deposit boxes on a whim. go ahead and call me stupid! at least it got me interested in collecting them...