Kabar trifold value

[damcon3]

I am looking for a value on this tri-fold I picked up in a large collection. I have seen so few sell and none in this condition. I am not sure yet what I am going to do with this, but the more I look at it the morei like it!

[tongueriver]

What is a trifold? I don't understand.

[Mumbleypeg]

Welcome to AAPK. Yours looks like a very fine example. Here’s a few that have sold recently on eBay, which should give you some idea of value. Adjust accordingly for condition. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=KA ... 1&_fosrp=1

Cal, take a look at the knives in the link I provided - should be self-explanatory why the design is called a “tri-fold”.

Ken

[damcon3]

I saw all of the eBay listings none of those have any of the blade etch left and all have been heavily used. I am trying to find a price for a near mint example.

[eveled]

That’s why he said adjust according to condition. He gave you a starting point. Yours is worth more than the others.

This isn’t an appraisal service, it’s a community. You ask questions we all have a conversation and figure it out.

Welcome to the forum.

[btrwtr]

Condition is nearly everything and you have a very fine example. Pinning down a hard price is not easy to do with so few comparators. Not a knife that everyone is looking for so not exactly everyones' grail. I would think that the value would be at least twice those recently sold on eBay. Given the condition what you might value it at would be hard to argue given the lack of other equivalent examples.

Nice knife! Welcome to AAPK!

[peanut740]

I agree with Wayne.I think it should bring 300-350.

[1967redrider]

Probably not worth much, you should send it to me.
* I just had to do it.


And to AAPK!

[chorizotaco]

Here's mine and also the patent for it. On the brass part of the knife (opened) what stamp is there? I've seen them like mine and I've seen them without the Union stamp. Thanks for sharing!! I just noticed something, your latch is missing or it's a different version????

[damcon3]

I have the same union cut co stamp on the brass as you, but don't see where there ever was a latch on mine.

[Mumbleypeg]

FWIW, the Case 6001 Tri-fold had no latch. Interestingly, this one is stamped Case Bradford on one side and Case’s Tested on the other, which by most counts dates it 1914-1919. Several years prior to the 1924 date on the Wallace Brown patent drawing.

Ken

[Gunsil]

They were made with the catch and without the catch. Some were made like the OP knife with rough black scales, some with yellow cell scales with a Christmas tree cell fish inlaid in the handle. I think the most sought after ones have the genuine bone handles, so I think the above prices are a little high for a rough black one. They were also available in carbon steel as well as the stainless ones, and the carbon ones will not have KA-BAR etched out on the blade and I am not sure if all the stainless ones did. I think the ones with the latch may be earlier as are most of the bone, but not all of them are carbon without etches. I like the style, have bone, rough black, and yellow cell as well as two Marbles versions, and Ken kindly showed us the Case one which was contact made by KA-BAR/Union Cut. The Marbles ones are Marbles products with all metal handles and a different shape.

[peanut740]

FWIW, the Case 6001 Tri-fold had no latch. Interestingly, this one is stamped Case Bradford on one side and Case’s Tested on the other, which by most counts dates it 1914-1919. Several years prior to the 1924 date on the Wallace Brown patent drawing.

Ken

Ken,that is one fine old knife!

[Mumbleypeg]

Thanks Roger!

Ken kindly showed us the Case one which was contact made by KA-BAR/Union Cut.

I always find it intriguing when things like this come up, knowing that Wallace Brown, who ran Union Cutlery (Ka- bar), and Russ Case, who ran W.R. Case & Sons, were cousins.

Ken

[Gunsil]

Not only that, but Wallace and Emerson were cousins to Harlow Platts of Western States. Andrew (AJ) Case also worked as a salesman for Union Cut Co. I have never seen a KA-BAR knife that looked like it was made by Case, but there are a few Case marked knives that look like they were made by Union Cut. KA-BAR did make a lot of the earlier Western States hunting knives and both KA-BAR and WR Case & Sons made folding knives for WS early on. Little Valley wasn't a big town, so it was easy for these families to happily intermarry. Of course nothing like having your relatives as your competition in business either. Sadly Laura Bishop whose mother was May Case, one of the Case sisters died last year, she was near 90. I was lucky to get invited to her house in Little Valley where she showed me her own knife collection three years ago. Yes, she actually collected Case knives and though most were used examples there were some remarkable knives too. From Case Bros to XX. They will be passed down through her family. Her husband who was a WW2 US bomber crew had once been shot down in Europe and survived a Nazi POW camp is still with us. I was very happy to meet and talk with them, sweet folks for sure.

[Gunsil]

FWIW, the Case 6001 Tri-fold had no latch. Interestingly, this one is stamped Case Bradford on one side and Case’s Tested on the other, which by most counts dates it 1914-1919. Several years prior to the 1924 date on the Wallace Brown patent drawing.

Ken

Ken,that is one fine old knife!

I think that the Case version used the hunting knife series of marks making it 1923-32 or so. There are no records of Case making any fixed blades before 1923 and those they made after 1923 including those made for them by Kinfolks also carry the Case Bradford on the mark side and Case's Tested XX on the pile side. I also believe the model were made by Union Cut pre-KA-BAR but not as early as 1914. Perhaps Wallace could not patent his until the much earlier Marbles version's patent ran out. There are some with no KA-BAR mark, only Union Cut Co. I have handled a lot of these knives and examined several Case and KA-BARs together even using calipers, they were made on the same dies.

[edge213]

Not only that, but Wallace and Emerson were cousins to Harlow Platts of Western States. Andrew (AJ) Case also worked as a salesman for Union Cut Co. I have never seen a KA-BAR knife that looked like it was made by Case, but there are a few Case marked knives that look like they were made by Union Cut. KA-BAR did make a lot of the earlier Western States hunting knives and both KA-BAR and WR Case & Sons made folding knives for WS early on. Little Valley wasn't a big town, so it was easy for these families to happily intermarry. Of course nothing like having your relatives as your competition in business either. Sadly Laura Bishop whose mother was May Case, one of the Case sisters died last year, she was near 90. I was lucky to get invited to her house in Little Valley where she showed me her own knife collection three years ago. Yes, she actually collected Case knives and though most were used examples there were some remarkable knives too. From Case Bros to XX. They will be passed down through her family. Her husband who was a WW2 US bomber crew had once been shot down in Europe and survived a Nazi POW camp is still with us. I was very happy to meet and talk with them, sweet folks for sure.

That must have been a remarkable visit.

[Mumbleypeg]

FWIW, the Case 6001 Tri-fold had no latch. Interestingly, this one is stamped Case Bradford on one side and Case’s Tested on the other, which by most counts dates it 1914-1919. Several years prior to the 1924 date on the Wallace Brown patent drawing.

Ken

Ken,that is one fine old knife!

I think that the Case version used the hunting knife series of marks making it 1923-32 or so. There are no records of Case making any fixed blades before 1923 and those they made after 1923 including those made for them by Kinfolks also carry the Case Bradford on the mark side and Case's Tested XX on the pile side. I also believe the model were made by Union Cut pre-KA-BAR but not as early as 1914. Perhaps Wallace could not patent his until the much earlier Marbles version's patent ran out. There are some with no KA-BAR mark, only Union Cut Co. I have handled a lot of these knives and examined several Case and KA-BARs together even using calipers, they were made on the same dies.

The use of the hunting knife marks makes sense. Also means the 6001, which is shown in Sargent’s in both the Case Bradford section and in the Tested XX section, may be misplaced. Probably both were made during the post-1920 through WWII “Tested” era. Too bad there are so few Case catalogs from that time period, I think due to Case’s business model relying on sales reps using samples and “shoe leather” rather than catalog sales and advertising, they just didn’t print many.

I guess I’ve run damcon3’s OP thread completely off the rails. Sorry.

Ken

[Gunsil]

It was truly amazing. That year was Little Valley's bicentennial and I met with a few other friends up there. Brad Lockwood is one of them, he grew up there and knows everybody. The year before we were also there and got to see John Burrell, the last Case descendant to actually run a cutlery and he allowed us to go through all the news clippings, photos, and letters in Addie Case's trunk, and Brad also showed us a tub full of the same from his side of the family. John Burrell is also a graciuos gentleman, and sold us a few goodies he had stashed away. But the real treasure was getting to photograph all those early Little Valley and Cattaraugus County photos and news atricles, family photos and cutlery related letters. Not to really stir things up among the KA-BAR guys, but I have a photo of a letter from Harlow Platts to his cousin Addie Case Burrell saying he distinctly remembered his cousin Emerson Brown telling him the name KA-BAR was one derived from "Cave Bear" and that it had nothing to do with "Case Bros" as some books tell. It also did not come from "K-A-BAR as misspelled by a trapper who wrote in that he had killed a bear with his Union Cut Co. Knife. In print and signed by Harlow Platts. Of course it is also sad to see the piles of rubble that until a few years ago were the standing abandoned Cataraugus factory and learning that WR Case's house had been condemned and they weren't finding any benefactors to preserve it. Job's house is in fine condition and recently sold, it sits on the site of one of the Case Bros factories that burned down long ago Part of the Kinfolks factory is still there but it has been integrated into a much larger building. If any of you ever get the bug to go to Bradford for a Case factory tour, make sure you allot time to visit Little Valley and it's amazing knife history and friendly folk. Sometimes I find the history and historical places as or more interesting than actual knives.

Edit, you're right Ken, I got carried away, my apologies

[damcon3]

Well I guess I will find out the value now. I schedule a $.99 auction to start on eBay tonight, along with a few other nice knives.

[Madmarco]

I am looking for a value on this tri-fold I picked up in a large collection. I have seen so few sell and none in this condition. I am not sure yet what I am going to do with this, but the more I look at it the morei like it!16016575720247908390212682303214.jpg16016576118183247715422715014850.jpg

US$232.50!

[doglegg]

Congrats.

[damcon3]

Honestly I thought it would go a little higher, but I am Happy! Hopefully the buyer is too

[Cindylu]

Not only that, but Wallace and Emerson were cousins to Harlow Platts of Western States. Andrew (AJ) Case also worked as a salesman for Union Cut Co. I have never seen a KA-BAR knife that looked like it was made by Case, but there are a few Case marked knives that look like they were made by Union Cut. KA-BAR did make a lot of the earlier Western States hunting knives and both KA-BAR and WR Case & Sons made folding knives for WS early on. Little Valley wasn't a big town, so it was easy for these families to happily intermarry. Of course nothing like having your relatives as your competition in business either. Sadly Laura Bishop whose mother was May Case, one of the Case sisters died last year, she was near 90. I was lucky to get invited to her house in Little Valley where she showed me her own knife collection three years ago. Yes, she actually collected Case knives and though most were used examples there were some remarkable knives too. From Case Bros to XX. They will be passed down through her family. Her husband who was a WW2 US bomber crew had once been shot down in Europe and survived a Nazi POW camp is still with us. I was very happy to meet and talk with them, sweet folks for sure.

That must have been a remarkable visit.

While looking at those earlier knives did you run across any marked with a cursive Case on the handle?