Buck 500 is this fake

[Haldi]

The tang stamp doesn’t look right to me.if this knife is real what year would it be.

[Eye Brand Man]

I haven't seen many fake Bucks. And this is not a high value knife. I'm not a buck expert but maybe pre '86?

[Dan In MI]

Yes, 1986 or older. 1987 was the first year Bucks carried a symbol to identify the year of manufacture. No clue about whether it's genuine or counterfeit, but genuine seems more likely.

[KLJ77]

Your Buck 500 Duke was manufactured between 1972 - 1986. I do not believe your Duke is a fake. It's a very nice example of an older Duke. According to the spec. sheet, the 500 Duke was not manufactured until 1978.

As a side note: Your Duke 500 could very well be a 'custom' made 500 with the stag/horn handles.

[Haldi]

Thanks for all the help. I thought 1986 and earlier on the buck 500 the tang stamp was script.1987 and later have a date stamp.did they have some 1986 and earlier that weren’t script

[Railsplitter]

The term "pre-1986" should be taken literally. Buck began using date symbols in 1986 so a stamp without a date symbol is 1985 or earlier. In other words, pre-1986.

As to the Script versus Blocked lettering, I can't speak for the model 500 but I do have two Buck 703's from 1986 with Blocked lettering on the tang stamp.