All About Pocket Knives

Hello are you friendly I’m sure patriotic knife zealots out there!

My wife’s father passed and he was a BIG case dealer. We have tons we are going through, posting etc. and we have some things that, despite me pouring over this world for MANY MANY days now, I would like to ask for your professional help.

I believe this collection was given to him by Shepherd Hills Cutlery, though not positive.

My questions are:

1. What is this worth?
2. Does this have a specific name or is it just a big ass collection of knives in a display case?
3. How would you ship it? Take all knives out, wrap separately and ship, it just pack the inside with peanuts and bubble wrap the crap out of the outside?

Any help on this or how to go about selling it would be helpful.

Thanks in advance and God Bless!

Adapptiv,

First off, condolences to you and your wife for your loss. It's got to be hard going through his things and collections.

You and your wife have an awesome Case knife collection that is more than likely worth thousands of dollars. Just how much exactly, I don't have a clue. Other more prominent Case collectors will be along to provide more insight.

If you and your wife are determined to sell this collection, I would recommend selling them individually. There could very well be some very rare, hard to come by knives in that collection. Again, others will be able to provide more insight. Be careful about finding someone who will buy the whole collection...they "may" lowball you on its worth. I highly recommend you conduct your own research and educate yourself on what you have to get a fair market price for the knives, if you are bound and determined to sell them.

Good luck on your endeavor and whatever direction you take.

WOW.....Sorry I can't help with your questions though. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help.

Once again...WOW!!

Ken

What you have was put together by the Case factory. It appears to be a completer display board of all of Case's standard production folding knives in 1980. It is similar to what Case would put together as a display for a retail hardware or sporting goods store. However, if it was made for a retail store it would have either a price sticker or at least an ID number sticker for each knife.

The plaque YANCEY SPECIAL 1980 most likely means that the display was put together for Yancey Pleasant, who was Case's sales representative for Virginia and West Virginia.

I can only assume that he had this display out together possibly to display the Case line at trade shows, but I really do not know. I have photos of a similar display with a similar plaque (also YANCEY SPECIAL) but from 1977.

Personally I would try to sell the display all together rather than breaking it up.

I am always interested in buying collections, so PM me if you decide to sell any or all of the knives that you have.

Wow thank you so much for the detailed and informative rwply!

Showing that you know what you’re talking about, this collection is in West Virginia.

We have a few of these collections and we aren’t sure which ones we are selling yet, but most of them will be sold. We may hold onto one in honor of my father-in-law.

I know it’s very hard to tell from the photos but do you have any idea what a collection like this might be worth?

Thank you so much again for all of the advice and great information. God bless!
We have a few of these collections and we aren’t sure which ones we are selling yet, but most of them will be sold. We may hold onto one in honor of my father-in-law.

I know it’s very hard to tell from the photos but do you have any idea what a collection like this might be worth?

Thank you so much again for all of the advice and great information. God bless!

Chris

Thanks to all for the replies, it is very appreciated.

Whoever suggested breaking it apart to sell separately; I thought of that of course, and would be much more apt to do it if we didn’t have a few thousand Case knives already to sell individually.

Again, with all sincerity, thank you.

Chris

And thank you KLJ77, he was a great guy and we miss him a lot.

He never spoke at all about any of his collections though, so I’ve had to become a Case knife, coin and sports card expert real quick.

Chris

Chris please accept my apology for being somewhat callous for not expressing my condolences.

Was just in awe of the Knives at the moment.

Again..to your wife and yourself, my sincerest respect and condolences.

Ken

First: condolences, Adapptiv .

Second: I am not a Case collector, so I have no specific knowledge of the value of your knives. But, based on my Ebay searches, Case knives always sell for more than I would pay! So if you have around ninety to a hundred pristine Case knives in that display, I would expect to see them sell for over $50 each individually. Probably over $100 for an average, or maybe higher. So if each knife is valued on it own, that collection is probably worth well over $10,000. Here is the problem with selling the display as one item, as I see it. In my whole life (I am 66) I have not spent $10,000 on knives. I do not know haw many folks in the world would consider a one time purchase of $10,000 for a knife collection, but I am pretty certain that it is a small number. And from what I have read, the dealers who buy collections only pay about 10% of the retail value.

You say that you also have thousands more knives to sell. It seems to me that your best approach might be to consider that you now have a second job. By day you do whatever you do, by night you sell knives. Yes it is a pain to ship knifes every day, but on the other hand selling them individually on Ebay would bring in a steady stream of income for a few years.

"knifeaholic' is one of the most knowledgeable Case collectors and is a person you can trust for honest & fair advice. He offered to help and i strongly suggest you take him up on his offer and see where it leads. It will be a good start and will help you develop a plan which is needed when dealing with a large collection.
kj

Since the knives appear to be from 1980, they would not likely average $100 each if sold individually. Pretty easy way to verify that, and has been pointed out to Chris in previous posts regarding his inherited collection, is an advanced search of Ebay sold listings on a random sampling of knives from the board. There are some stags and others that will be over $100 easily, but there are a lot of Delrins which will more than offset them.

Good luck with it whatever you decide.

Ken

I feel led to 'clarify' a statement I made in my original post.

I made a comment regarding selling the Case knives to be "careful about being 'lowballed'. This was a generic statement, and NOT intended to offend anyone here or elsewhere, but it is a part of reality. I apologize if my statement offended anyone on this forum.

Many respects to all AAPK members...

kootenay joe wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:41 am "knifeaholic' is one of the most knowledgeable Case collectors and is a person you can trust for honest & fair advice. He offered to help and i strongly suggest you take him up on his offer and see where it leads. It will be a good start and will help you develop a plan which is needed when dealing with a large collection.
kj

I completely agree with KJ's assessment of Steve's, (knifeaholic), knowledge and integrity. He has also written a book on Case knives, which is probably the most current and up-to-date book available on the subject. If I were in your shoes I would definitely contact him, because I am not a Case guy, and he is.

I hope Steve is not the only one that buys Case Knives on here

First off, so sorry for the loss of a loved one. Always a hard time.

I’m no expert by any stretch but I would guess your collection to be worth $7500 to $8500.
I don’t know or have advice about the collective value of the set or the implications that the set being assembled for a certain individual may have on value. As has already been said, Knifeaholic is most likely your man. I wish you the best!! Great knives and thanks for showing them here.

Awesome display and what a cool grouping of patterns. I wonder if any pattern isn't included?

1967redrider wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:51 pm Awesome display and what a cool grouping of patterns. I wonder if any pattern isn't included?

I'm pretty certain it represents the entire 1980 pocket knife line of "standard product" knives, plus the limited run "Red Scroll" stags.

Thanks, Steve.

No worries man, thanks for the kind sentiments.

petesknives wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:03 pm Chris please accept my apology for being somewhat callous for not expressing my condolences.

Was just in awe of the Knives at the moment.

Again..to your wife and yourself, my sincerest respect and condolences.

Ken

If you would like to talk about this and other items we have, PM me with your info and I will contact you, thanks!

Chris

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:06 pm What you have was put together by the Case factory. It appears to be a completer display board of all of Case's standard production folding knives in 1980. It is similar to what Case would put together as a display for a retail hardware or sporting goods store. However, if it was made for a retail store it would have either a price sticker or at least an ID number sticker for each knife.

The plaque YANCEY SPECIAL 1980 most likely means that the display was put together for Yancey Pleasant, who was Case's sales representative for Virginia and West Virginia.

I can only assume that he had this display out together possibly to display the Case line at trade shows, but I really do not know. I have photos of a similar display with a similar plaque (also YANCEY SPECIAL) but from 1977.

Personally I would try to sell the display all together rather than breaking it up.

I am always interested in buying collections, so PM me if you decide to sell any or all of the knives that you have.

Chris, why don’t you just PM him instead, as he said.

Ken

Adapptiv wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 4:13 pm If you would like to talk about this and other items we have, PM me with your info and I will contact you, thanks!

Chris

knifeaholic wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:06 pm What you have was put together by the Case factory. It appears to be a completer display board of all of Case's standard production folding knives in 1980. It is similar to what Case would put together as a display for a retail hardware or sporting goods store. However, if it was made for a retail store it would have either a price sticker or at least an ID number sticker for each knife.

The plaque YANCEY SPECIAL 1980 most likely means that the display was put together for Yancey Pleasant, who was Case's sales representative for Virginia and West Virginia.

I can only assume that he had this display out together possibly to display the Case line at trade shows, but I really do not know. I have photos of a similar display with a similar plaque (also YANCEY SPECIAL) but from 1977.

Personally I would try to sell the display all together rather than breaking it up.

I am always interested in buying collections, so PM me if you decide to sell any or all of the knives that you have.

Email sent, thanks.

Steve