All About Pocket Knives

Here is a 3" pearl senator pen with sunk joints and milled liners. This was a top end knife. The tangs are worn but might be "Case Bros" in arch, over "Cut" and on secondary there looks to be something under the "Cut". It could be the top portion of "CO" ? but looks more like 3 characters, not 2.
I would like to know how you read these markings and what date range would you assign to it.
If it is Case Bros. Cut. is this a fairly rare marking ? Not directly related to the Big Case ?
I obviously need help here. Thanks,
kj

Roland here's one I have. If you enlarge the picture you can see the stamp pretty well and there is evidence that the stamp is pre 1900 according to some folks .

Nice knife KJ. Looks like a rare early Case marking. Is there anything under the word CUT? perhaps "CO." That would be c.1912 or earlier. Looks like the bolsters are beveled to help retain the pearl handles, is that correct?

looks like gsmith was type a little faster than me.

From Alan Swindels book.

I like how the pearl is attached to the knife, no pins dovetailed under a grove in the bolsters. Neat knife.

Harold

Thanks for this help. I think my knife has the same stamping as more easily seen on Greg's knife. I can just see the top bit of what likely is "CO". Yes the bolsters are slanted to allow edge of pearl to slide under.
You can feel that it is a very well made knife. 1900-1912 according to Goins.
Is this company related to W.R. Case ? or to Cattaraugus Knife Co. ? Early on there seems to have been quite a few different knife companies all with "Case" in their name.
kj

Roland, Case Brothers was started by W.R. Cases three brothers after their affiliation with Cattaraugus. W. R did not join them and later started W.R. Case. Case Bros. went out of business in 1914.

Case Brothers Cutlery is generally thought to have operated from 1896-1915. At first the Case family brothers Jean, John D., and Andrew operated a jobbing business, many of the knives they sold were made for them under contract by C. Platts & Sons. In 1900 they opened their own factory in Little Valley, N.Y. to produce their own knives. That factory burned in 1912 leading soon thereafter to the company going bankrupt.

Along with these three brothers, the fourth Case brother William Russell "W.R." Case, had also been employed at Cattaraugus. But when the four brothers left Cattaraugus, W.R. went into farming and did not join Case Brothers Cutlery. (Side note -their sister Theresa was married to J.B.F. Champlain, owner of Cattaraugus.)

W.R. Case had three children. Debbie, J. Russell, and Theresa (not to be confused with her aunt Theresa Case Champlin). Theresa married Herbert Crandall (Crandall Cutlery Co.), Debbie married Harvey Platts, son of Charles Platts (C. Platts & Sons Cutlery). And in 1902 at age 24, J. Russell (who had been employed at Case Brothers) with backing from his father W.R., started his own cutlery company. He named it after his father, W.R. Case & Son Cutlery Company. In competition with his uncles at Case Brothers.

Following the fire and bankruptcy of Case Brothers, W.R. Case & Sons acquired the equipment, inventory, and "Tested XX" trademark of Case Brothers Cutlery.

Ken

Greg & Ken, thank you. That's a complex family history, but important in understanding the relationship between at least 4 knife companies. I did not know that W.R. Case was started by the son who named the company after his father.
kj

Nice old knife kJ.

I have one with the same stamping but it is a shadow. Never quite determined the pattern number for sure but 3 inches long like yours.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30028&hilit=Case+bros+cut+co

Jerry

kootenay joe wrote:Greg & Ken, thank you. That's a complex family history, but important in understanding the relationship between at least 4 knife companies. I did not know that W.R. Case was started by the son who named the company after his father.
kj

I'm just speculating but in addition to the financial backing he got from his father, what with J. Russell being only 24 years old naming the company for his father gave it some added credibility. In that mindset, he also put W.R. and grandfather Job Case's pictures on the company's letterhead. Job never made or sold a knife or had anything to do with cutlery but Job's likeness is still used by Case to the present day.

Way more than those four cutlery companies were founded or managed by Case family descendants and in-laws. Levines Guide has an interesting two-page "genealogical tree" explaining the multiple connections of American cutlery companies to the Case family.

Ken