All About Pocket Knives

I have acquired a 1920-40 medium Case stockman. The tang stamps suggest 1932-40 however the knife has tang stamps on all 3 blades.....unusual. It also has a celluloid pattern I've never seen and a period correct pinned bomb shield badge however an unusual "XX TESTED" stamp on the shield.

I am attempting to authenticate this knife as it was not common production of that era. The tang stamps are accurate compared to other of my knives from the 32-39 era. The main blade stamp is larger than the two secondary stamps however identical in design and spacing. I have attached a few pics of this anomaly for review.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Not sure what it is, maybe a restamped/reworked Kutmaster. It is not a Case. The quickest “tell” is the spey blade. Case Spey blades always have had (and still do) straight spines. Your knife has a curved “humpback” spine. The tang stamp is fake (cold stamped - all of them), as is the shield.

Hope you didn’t pay much for it. You should return it to the seller for a refund.

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

Agreed, that shield isn’t showing up in knife db. Didn’t know about the curved blade, learned something today!

I may be mistaken, but it appears that the celluloid may be outgassing along the edge of the mark-side bolster. It could just be a shadow, but the bolster appears, to me, to be darkened.
Bad news piled atop bad news.
If it is any consolation, counterfeiters have been at this for a long time, and most everyone has gotten burned a time or two.

Thanks for the replies fellas, I had a weird feeling about this as I've never seen anything similar.
I wonder what outgassing 1920-40 Case counterfeit Stockmans are going for these days

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 12:27 am Thanks for the replies fellas, I had a weird feeling about this as I've never seen anything similar.
I wonder what outgassing 1920-40 Case counterfeit Stockmans are going for these days

Your solution to this should not be trying to sell it to another unsuspecting buyer to try to recover part or all of your investment.

You possibly need tl be able to recognize a joke, sir LOL.

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 12:23 pm You possibly need tl be able to recognize a joke, sir LOL.

Unfortunately, many people do exactly that, try to recover some portion by reselling.

No, I've already had the individual agree to a full refund. I don't believe it was intentional on his part, he believed it to be legit.

Those are Christmas tree celluloid handles. Case was still using it after Y2K. I agree it is outgassing. Beware.


https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/ ... 1829122220

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 12:27 am I had a weird feeling about this as I've never seen anything similar.

Well, the GOOD news is you had a "weird feeling" about this knife and came to the right place for confirmation about your feeling. You asked the right questions and did a good job posting clear photos OK, so maybe you didn't get the answer you were secretly hoping for, but you already had doubts so it wasn't a total surprise to have your suspicion confirmed by someone more knowledgeable. As a bonus, others learned new information that will certainly benefit them in identifying counterfeits in the future.

As Reverend said, we've all been fooled by fakes at one time or another....it seems to be part of the learning curve in knife collecting, possibly even a right of passage Welcome to the club!

Rule of Thumb when considering a purchase: All vintage Case knives are counterfeit unless proven otherwise.

Yes sir, all good stuff. I certainly have never seen one of these similar and after asking the seller I was told it was possibly a special order or proto.....which it obviously wasn't. That was the info he was given so I don't fault him directly, this thing has probably been floating around for many years.

After I revealed the comments on this thread a full refund was agreed upon, seller didn't have any problem with it. This was good as I paid almost $600 for this knife.

this is so bad

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 2:02 pm After I revealed the comments on this thread a full refund was agreed upon, seller didn't have any problem with it. This was good as I paid almost $600 for this knife.

Much respect for that seller.

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 1:56 pm I was told it was possibly a special order or proto.....

That, and “lunch box knife” are the excuses typically used by sellers (and sometimes buyers) to justify a knife that can’t be legitimately verified. Best to keep in mind that prior to the popularity of knife collecting (typically around 1970 +/- a couple of years) cutleries did not make or sell knives as “prototype”, “special order”, “special factory order”, etc. In those days a knife was a tool, not a collectable.

Pocket knives were manufactured and sold as tools to be carried and used. Concepts like “Limited edition”, “One of XX”, “prototype”, etc did not exist. All those concepts were contrived after around late 1980s as marketing gimmicks to convey a sense of exclusivity or rareness, to appeal to collectors and sell more knives, often at premium prices.

Some friendly advice - if you see an older (pre-1970s) knife represented as any of those, call B.S. on it and move on. Indeed prior to that there were occasionally knives marked and used as salesman’s samples, but there were relatively few of them. Most knives represented today as “salesman’s samples” are not (most folks have ink markers in a drawer somewhere ).

Adherence to the old adage “Buy the knife, not the story” is good advice!

Ken

Good advice, luckily this education won't end up costing me a bunch of $$$ as I'm sure it has many others.

Railsplitter wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 2:41 pm Much respect for that seller.

Amen to that!

Nuggetbuster67 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 3:19 pm Good advice, luckily this education won't end up costing me a bunch of $$$ as I'm sure it has many others.

Also please be aware, this knife is definitely outgassing. It wouldn't be worth $600 even if legit.
You can't stop outgassing. It would need rehandled, then the value is gone.

just bob wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 12:28 pm
I agree it is outgassing. Beware.

Gtrclktr-351 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 3:55 pm

Railsplitter wrote: ↑Mon Jul 13, 2026 2:41 pm Much respect for that seller.

Amen to that!

I agree with the above posts. Because of the many problems I have seen with out gassing Christmas tree celluloid, it is one type of celluloid I avoid.

Props to the seller!

$600 for that knife is astonishing.

I agree, there are very few that will bring 600+ bucks in my IMHO, RED