All About Pocket Knives

Interesting one. Here's the description and photos:

CASE & SONS BRADFORD PA Jig Bone Whittler Knife 1905/1914 Vintage Factory Second
Note : All Blade Tang Stamp The Same. Has A Small Circle Dill Place In Each Stamp.

Interested to hear the experts' thoughts on this one. The research I did on the tang is that if it reads without the W.R. in front of Case & Sons then it typically would not have a comma after Bradford.

Thanks!

I may be wrong but all those I’ve seen that are stamped CASE & SON’S have an apostrophe (‘) in son’s. That stamp with the apostrophe was only used 2 years or less. If they’re not stamped CASE & SON’S, then they are stamped W.R. CASE & SONS, or W.R. CASE & SON (with the “W.R.” included). I’ve never seen a legitimate CASE & SONS (without an apostrophe). Be interesting to see what Tom McCandless says about it.

My guess is the drill bit mark was done by someone to denote the knife is a fake.

Ken

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:59 pm My guess is the drill bit mark was done by someone to denote the knife is a fake.

I agree that the tang drill is meant to identify the knife as fake. I have seen several highly suspect knives over past couple of years with the tang drilled like this. I have not paid attention to know if they are all being offered by the same seller or not.

from me on this particular knife.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:59 pm I may be wrong but all those I’ve seen that are stamped CASE & SON’S have an apostrophe (‘) in son’s. That stamp with the apostrophe was only used 2 years or less. If they’re not stamped CASE & SON’S, then they are stamped W.R. CASE & SONS, or W.R. CASE & SON (with the “W.R.” included). I’ve never seen a legitimate CASE & SONS (without an apostrophe). Be interesting to see what Tom McCandless says about it.

My guess is the drill bit mark was done by someone to denote the knife is a fake.

Ken

I will give my take on these stamps keeping in mind that no one knows the whole story. 1st I will say that the really only information that is available that I am aware of was compiled by the late Bob Wurzelbacher. Bob was a guy that really enjoyed collecting the old Case knives and had a super collection. He once told me he spent well over a million dollars to purchase three or four collections. Bob stated in Volume 7 of the late Jim Sargent's edition that this era only lasted from 1903-1905 and was brought about by Harvey Platts coming aboard W R Case & Son. Indeed he says they were stamped Case & Son's with an apostrophe. In my experience they are actually stamped CASE & SONS and do not have the apostrophe. He explains that the W R Case & Sons name started when Harvey Platts went West and Herbert Crandall, another son in law joined the firm. He does state that there is very little documentation to support any of this.
When I wrote my book "OLD KNIVES, XX and MORE" I had already done considerable research on these eras and will give my opinion. In conversations with my good friend Tony Foster we have discussed this and he doubted that it was a separate era at all. He said most Case Knives with that stamp are small knives however this is not always the case. I have had larger knives that are stamped CASE & SONS and well as the smaller examples. Tony was quick to say "nobody knows". I have owned CASE & SONS knives, probably still do, that are pictured in Jim Sargent's books and they are all stamped CASE & SONS. Some have secondary blades stamped W R Case & Sons. One thing that I take issue with with Bob is that W R Case & Sons era started around 1905, whereas I don't believe Harvey Platts went west until much later and Herbert Crandall was still producing knives stamped Crandall Cutlery much later than 1905. When I wrote my book I didn't recognize it as a separate era from W R Case & Sons. Am I right? in my opinion , "nobody knows".
Now as far as commenting on the knives that you see with the drill marks I will say that some, not all, of these knives do appear authentic to me although I have no idea why the drill marks were placed in these blades. That they are "seconds" theory that they use is suspect to me.

Tom McCandless

Thanks for that info Tom. I have at least one Case & Son's that I’m pretty sure has an apostrophe. It’s a small candy stripe R258. There’s a picture of it posted here on AAPK somewhere. I’ll have to dig it out and look at it again.

Ken

Edit: Here’s the post with a picture of it. viewtopic.php?f=66&t=43896&p=443319&hilit=R258#p443319 The picture is inconclusive so I’ll see if I can find it and look again, and see if I can get a better picture either way.

Mumbleypeg wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 2:51 am Thanks for that info Tom. I have at least one Case & Son's that I’m pretty sure has an apostrophe. It’s a small candy stripe R258. There’s a picture of it posted here on AAPK somewhere. I’ll have to dig it out and look at it again.

Ken

Edit: Here’s the post with a picture of it. viewtopic.php?f=66&t=43896&p=443319&hilit=R258#p443319 The picture is inconclusive so I’ll see if I can find it and look again, and see if I can get a better picture either way.

Thanks Ken, I would be very interested in seeing it. Exactly the thing I enjoy researching! Interesting to note that in Volume 6 of Jim Sargent's book, Bob calls for the stamp of CASE & SONS on these knives without the apostrophe.

Tom

A couple years ago There was a seller on Ebay with a lot of knives with drilled marks in the tangs.Many different brands, and all fakes in my opinion. He was trying to pass them off has salesman samples.
As for the OP knife,I don't like the bone on it for the era.It has some other things I would want to compare to a known legitimate knife.

Thank you all, man there's some vast knowledge here and it's a treat to be able to hear everyone give thoughts on this.

Dan

Here are some mark pictures for comparison.