All About Pocket Knives

I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

If you find out let us know. You’ll need to decide which “Case” you’re looking for - although there is only W.R.Case & Sons today, there are several different companies founded by different Case family members (either by blood or by marriage), and all started within a few years in late 19th and early 20th centuries. It’s a fascinating and tumultuous family history. Good luck. It will be a stupendous discovery!

Seriously though, if any such records ever existed, no records from that time still exist today. Cutleries are notorious for not keeping good records of what they made, when, and how many. Most of what is known today comes from period artifacts like old catalogs, price lists, and the knives themselves. Knives were tools to be used, not collected. And in those days cutleries, including those operated by Case, were prone to fires which destroyed many of them - including any records they may have had. They were long gone many years before any collectors cared about such things.

Ken

G_Keys wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:42 am I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

I have always been of the opinion that the 1st Knives that have the Case name were stamped CASE BROS & CO GOWANDA, NY and were produced by PLATTS in Gowanda around 1896. Hope this helps. They were only produced a short time and are extremely rare.

Tom

olderdogs1 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 9:55 pm

G_Keys wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:42 am I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

I have always been of the opinion that the 1st Knives that have the Case name were stamped CASE BROS & CO GOWANDA, NY and were produced by PLATTS in Gowanda around 1896. Hope this helps. They were only produced a short time and are extremely rare.

Tom

Oh cool. At least now I have somewhere to start. Thanks

Garrett

olderdogs1 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 9:55 pm

G_Keys wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:42 am I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

I have always been of the opinion that the 1st Knives that have the Case name were stamped CASE BROS & CO GOWANDA, NY and were produced by PLATTS in Gowanda around 1896. Hope this helps. They were only produced a short time and are extremely rare.

Tom

1896-1905

G_Keys wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:42 am I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

This is not trademarked with the letters "CASE" anywhere, but it was sold by (not made by) some of the Case Brothers who were trying their hand at ranching in Nebraska in the early to mid 1890's. I have heard there were 3 patterns made with the tang mark of "North American Beaver City NEB". Of the 3 possible(?) patterns I have seen 2 which are a cigar like this one and a Sunfish / Elephant Toe.

I'm trying to send a picture of my boot knife I just haven't figured it out yet

RalphAlsip wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:54 pm

G_Keys wrote: ↑Wed Sep 06, 2023 1:42 am I have tried googling and searching to no avail. Does anyone know what the oldest Case knife is on record? I'm curious to know what the pattern was and if anyone has any pictures of it. I have been very interested in this for a couple weeks and have had no luck in finding it.

This is not trademarked with the letters "CASE" anywhere, but it was sold by (not made by) some of the Case Brothers who were trying their hand at ranching in Nebraska in the early to mid 1890's. I have heard there were 3 patterns made with the tang mark of "North American Beaver City NEB". Of the 3 possible(?) patterns I have seen 2 which are a cigar like this one and a Sunfish / Elephant Toe.

Hello Jerry, Pretty hard tang to find and your two knives are very nice. I have owned three with that stamp, and still have one it is a wood handled boys knife in used condition.

Harold

stockman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:42 pm

RalphAlsip wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:54 pm I have heard there were 3 patterns made with the tang mark of "North American Beaver City NEB". Of the 3 possible(?) patterns I have seen 2 which are a cigar like this one and a Sunfish / Elephant Toe.

Hello Jerry, Pretty hard tang to find and your two knives are very nice. I have owned three with that stamp, and still have one it is a wood handled boys knife in used condition.

Harold

I have not seen the boys knife. Here is the Sunfish. Do you think there are more than 3 patterns with the North American Beaver City NEB trademark?

PS: this picture shows 1 knife, but it is the front and back layered into 1 image.

One of the two I sold was a Doctors knife in bone, the other was a long two blade knife with wood handles, don't really recall exactly what pattern it was.
There is probably many patterns.
Harold

Here are my oldest and only Case knives. Case Brothers LV.

Here’s a bit of Cattaraugus history that you Case guys should like. The application and approval for Cattaraugus Cutlery to use the trademark WW Wilson dated 1888, signed by John D Case.

Any ideas on how old? I've had for a while. Finally thinning the heard. I listed on ebay tonite, but thought maybe I should add any info you guys might have? It's pretty old is all I'm sure of. I believe oldest fixed blade Case that I've cone across. Hopefully pic attached!lol thank you peeps in advance! Love this site!

I have this knife that was made in a factory that burned down in 1900, we sent a letter to case asking for more info and they didn’t have much or really any.

to AAPK, caseymokevin and Slizzard1979.

caseymokevin wrote: ↑Wed Apr 09, 2025 3:33 am Any ideas on how old? I've had for a while. Finally thinning the heard. I listed on ebay tonite, but thought maybe I should add any info you guys might have? It's pretty old is all I'm sure of. I believe oldest fixed blade Case that I've cone across. Hopefully pic attached!lol thank you peeps in advance! Love this site!

That one is XX era, late 1940's to 1950's.