A place to discuss & share pictures of counterfeit knives. Please be sure to alert the AAPK community if you spot one. Also make sure to ask questions if you are not certain about the authenticity of a knife you are considering buying or selling. There are plenty of great people here willing to help.
Here’s an interesting listing for a fake Case Tested cattle knife. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115915149018?h ... R5bn2Z3SYg Seller’s listing says it’s from an estate sale in Kentucky. This is what happens when a collector buys a fake, passes on with it in their collection, and the heirs sell it. I suspect the only person in the chain of events who knows it’s a fake is the guy that made it to begin with. Now some other unsuspecting collector will buy it, and the whole mess starts all over again!
From the shape of the blades this one probably was a Kutmaster. (Note the curved spine on the spey blade). The tangs were shaved and re-stamped, a Case shield (too small for the pattern) was attached, and off it went. Another “Kentucky wonder”! Wish I had a dollar for all the fake Case knives in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Ken
Attachments
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.
When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.
Typical to see these fakes with all blades stamped. To the unsuspecting buyer this reinforces the fallacy that it is a Case knife. The new German made goldstone celluloid handles look to be outgassing which is the norm for this material.
Many of the similar fakes sold on eBay have been purchased "from estates" which I always take to be the sellers' instant disclaimer of authenticity.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
I agree. When I saw it I had the thought that the one thing that could save a future collector from being burnt on it was if the outgassing celluloid destroyed it.
Ken
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.
When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.
Ya Ken, the knife fake capital of the world, TN and KY. Dunno if you've ever been to any of the "southern" shows but when I went to the Dalton show years ago there were many fake Case knives there and all the good old stuff like NYK, Walden, etc were buffed to mint with what we in the northeast call a "smokey mountain haze" on the blades from simichrome as a final polish.
I don’t know for sure why there are so many counterfeits in that area. There are certainly a lot of good honest knives there also. FWIW I have a theory. The Tennessee and Kentucky area was among the first when knife collecting began becoming popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Knife collecting promoters at that time, like Jim Frost and Jim Parker, were from Tennessee, Colonel Robert Mayes from Kentucky. There were others.
To take advantage of that trend and all the new “green” collectors in that area, someone (maybe more than one) went into the business of turning inexpensive knives that could be readily acquired, into more desirable (more expensive) counterfeit old knives. They could fool many if not most of those new collectors, and turn a quick profit. Most of those fakes went into collections, many in Tennessee and Kentucky.
As those collections are sold the knives re-surface for us to see. And ignorant (not derogatory - it means uneducated) collectors are buying them. Some sellers are ignorant also, but some know exactly what they are selling and don’t care. It’s all about the money. JMO. The evidence is that soon after that time the NKCDA (which became the NKCA) was formed, with one of its stated purposes being to fight counterfeits and counterfeiters.
Ken
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.
When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.
Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Thu Sep 14, 2023 4:23 am
Here’s an interesting listing for a fake Case Tested cattle knife. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115915149018?h ... R5bn2Z3SYg Seller’s listing says it’s from an estate sale in Kentucky. This is what happens when a collector buys a fake, passes on with it in their collection, and the heirs sell it. I suspect the only person in the chain of events who knows it’s a fake is the guy that made it to begin with. Now some other unsuspecting collector will buy it, and the whole mess starts all over again!
From the shape of the blades this one probably was a Kutmaster. (Note the curved spine on the spey blade). The tangs were shaved and re-stamped, a Case shield (too small for the pattern) was attached, and off it went. Another “Kentucky wonder”! Wish I had a dollar for all the fake Case knives in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Ken
IMG_5859.jpeg
I notice that the "C" curves around and touches the top of the "A" as is typical of most all these KY....TNN modifications.
I am one of those kENTUCKIANS that got stung by the bee of Case knife ...collecting..selling...trading..swapping..are terms that better identifies our passion. That being said, I, among other initial "collectors" have a somewhat expertees in fake identification. I, no doubt and others, in our passion to latch on to the old tested era knives soon felt the sting of being "burnt" by these well constructed "fakes' . These authentic tested knives were the gold nuggets for early "collectors" and fetched as much as $15 maybe even $25 in the early to mid 60's relative to their condition and pattern. Being shocked by the realization that we were being duped by someone that had the audacity to make a fake "CASE" was devastating to our honorable culture. It is my contention that these well constructed clones were not contrived in some redneck blacksmith shack but instead assembled in a relatively modern knife manufacturing establishment. And sad to say these are currently being produced evidently as seen by the number of new looking products seen on ebay. Thanks to AAPK's bevy of experts we can now learn how to identify these "fakes". THANKS AAPK
The new German made goldstone celluloid handles look to be outgassing which is the norm for this material. 
