All About Pocket Knives

Hello.
I need help in identifying my W.R. Case Bradford Pa. Knife . It has no numbers anywhere.
Yes, one blade is broken.
Thanks

What is the closed length?

Ken

Edit: Never mind. The stamp on the knife appears to be W.R. CASE & SON, which was used from 1902-1903. During which time the company did not make their own knives, but had them made on contract by others. Relatively few with that stamp exist and I know of no catalogs documenting the patterns offered - Sargent’s Guide has a few pictures. The knife has screws holding the covers on, which is a hallmark of Miller Brothers knives. Thus I’m going to speculate the knife may have been made for W.R. Case by Miller Brothers. Unusual knife, nice find!

Ken

Ken,

Thanks for the reply and info. The knife is 3 7/8" long when closed.

Does it have any value, even with broken blade.

Worth having it restored?

Thanks, Jeff

It’s a rare knife so it does have some value, but not a lot given the condition (broken blade). The problem I see with trying to restore it is, what was the broken blade? Most likely guess would be a pen, but it could have been a longer blade. If you’re looking to sell it, unless you’re good at repairing yourself the cost to repair may be more than it's value. Tom McCandless (olderdogs1 here on AAPK) knows a lot about older Case knives so you could ask his opinion. He may see this and comment, or you could send him a PM.

If it was mine I’d just hang onto it and hope some day to find a picture of what it looked like before it was broken. Then you could restore it with confidence. I’d also look for Miller Brothers sources - maybe they made a pattern like it in their line. Others may have different opinions. It’s your knife so it’s really up to you what to do with it.

Ken

Ken,

I found this Miller Brothers knife that is very similar. Whats left of my blade matches the blade on this knife.
This knife has different bolsters but everything else matches pretty well.
I would like to sell as i am not a knife collector.
Probably will list it on eBay.

Jeff

Hello all.

I just decided to list the knife on ebay. Makes it simpler for payment etc.

eBay item number:353719392258

Thanks

Jeff

grisuno wrote: ↑Mon Oct 11, 2021 8:56 pm Hello all.

I just decided to list the knife on ebay. Makes it simpler for payment etc.

eBay item number:353719392258

Thanks

Jeff

Does the small blade have any markings?

Hello,

No markings at all on the small blade.

J

In all of my years collecting, I have never heard of a Case knife made by Miller Brothers. If you look closely, you can see the blades have likely been swapped out as evidenced by the pin in the bolster not being finished properly. It's a Miller Brothers knife that had a blade swap many years ago.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Sat Oct 09, 2021 3:28 pm What is the closed length?

Ken

Edit: Never mind. The stamp on the knife appears to be W.R. CASE & SON, which was used from 1902-1903. During which time the company did not make their own knives, but had them made on contract by others. Relatively few with that stamp exist and I know of no catalogs documenting the patterns offered - Sargent’s Guide has a few pictures. The knife has screws holding the covers on, which is a hallmark of Miller Brothers knives. Thus I’m going to speculate the knife may have been made for W.R. Case by Miller Brothers. Unusual knife, nice find!

Ken

The tang stamp is incomplete, it is missing the last "S" in SONS. The Bradford stamp is proof. This knife was made after the Little Valley plant burned in 1912. Case was definitely making their own knives at this point.

You could be right that the S is missing on the OP knife, and that a Case blade has been placed in a Miller Brothers frame. Those are certainly possibilities.. As I said, it MAY have been made by Miller Brothers. I've never seen a Case made by Miller Brothers either, but there's a lot I haven't seen, especially from that time period. ::shrug:

As for the rest, I think you're conflating Case Brothers with W.R. Case. Russ Case left Case Brothers and started W.R. Case & Son in Bradford in 1902. The first couple of years he operated as a jobber. According to Sargent's some of the knives stamped W.R. Case & Son were stamped Bradford, and some were not. Having the Bradford stamp does not indicate it could not be a W.R. CASE & SON.

The Case Brothers factory in Little Valley burned in 1912, not the W.R. Case factory. Not sure how that has any bearing on the stamps on the OP knife.

BTW the sources for my info above are Sargent's 7th edition and Lockwood's Tested XX Aristocracy of American Cutlery.

Ken

Good info Ken. The early Case years are quite confusing to say the least!

The knife is cobbled.

peanut740 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:17 pm The knife is cobbled.

I agree 100%. I tried to inform the owner this is a cobbled knife and he lashed back at me rudely. I’d use caution if I were thinking about dealing with him.