All About Pocket Knives

Hi,

This is my first post here in the forums, have been a lurker for some time now.

Recently acquired a Case Tested Coke Bottle with a Bowtie shield. Pics are attached. Can anyone provide more info about this knife, in terms of age/value?

I noticed that the tang stamp sits low on this one. The word "Tested" sits right at the tip of the bolster, maybe even a little bit of the lettering underneath. This knife is TIGHT, takes a lot of effort to open and snaps shut with force.

Thanks for your help!

Your knife is a tested era 1920-40 pattern #C61050 with what looks like a flat grind blade version. In mint condition these knives have a book value of $700-$900 according to Sargent's 7th edition.Yours appears to have a good deal of blade wear so that would substantially reduce the value. The bowtie shield may indicate a knife that was made earlier in the tested era.

Thank you! One of the things I looked at is that the blade seems much more worn/aged than the handle. Made me question if that is normal, or how realistic it could have been put together from pieces.

Also, is it common to see variance in how low the blade sits (as mentioned before, the word "Tested" is near the bolster edge)?

Another term I've seen is "green bone," which I believe many handles during this period are supposed to be. This appears to be a very deep red through and through.

Thanks for your help.

Nice old Case Tested knife.

Harold

kydealspr0 wrote:Also, is it common to see variance in how low the blade sits (as mentioned before, the word "Tested" is near the bolster edge)?

Not quite sure what you're referring to. Can you elaborate a bit more? I'm sure you'd like your question answered but I need a bit more clarification.

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Mike

Welcome! Now that you've moved from a lurker to a poster we hope to hear from you regularly and hear about your collection as it grows.

As for the term "green bone," here are some posts to get you up to speed. You can find a lot more on the subject through the "Search" function.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=58122&p=663912&hili ... ne#p663912
viewtopic.php?t=32713
viewtopic.php?f=66&t=26400&hilit=green+bone

As for value, it's pretty subjective but note there currently are two Tested knives like yours with the bowtie shield in the AAPK store, one for $615 and one for $625. Those are benchmarks only because the condition of the knives are different.

Dennis

Thanks to all for your help and comments!

To "XX Case XX" -- I am attaching two different pictures of Case Tested stamps (neither are of my knife). Seems to me that on the one with the red backdrop, the bottom of the word "TESTED" is almost tucked beneath the bolster/liner, while on the picture with the white background, there is a gap between the word "TESTED" and the bolster/liner. It is very minute, but the knife I posted earlier in the thread seems to have the word "TESTED" touching the bolster/liner as opposed to having the gap.

Hopefully I explained it a bit better this time around.

kydealspr0 wrote:Hopefully I explained it a bit better this time around.

I get it now. As it pertains to Case, that kind of thing is common. Knives from the "Tested", "XX", "USA", and "original Dot eras" have that in common. What I mean is, it varies from knife to knife. Remember, these knives were made by people, and each person does things a little bit different.

I once had a dot era Case Folding Hunter. The dots were almost completely hidden from view. I could see the last dot but not the ones in front of them so I had to "guesstimate" how many dots it had if they were centered . To this day, I still don't know for certain what the age was on that knife. The only way to be sure would be to take it apart and see.

Anytime a product is mass produced, it will have what are called "tolerances". That means it can be + or - a certain amount but anything beyond that will be considered a mistake, a "second" or "blemish". In auto racing, there is a term called "Blueprinted". That means that whatever part is being made, it is made to exact specifications with no + or -. It is made to exacting standards and it will be very expensive. That's why today's products are massed produced and don't cost as much.

No two Case knives, or any knife for that matter will be exactly alike. Hope this helps.

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Mike

Great, thanks for clarifying! I figured there was a bit of variance, but wasn't sure how much. On this particular knife, the word "TESTED" is almost totally hidden. Now I know that this is normal.

Thanks again!