Appaloosa bone Case XX Barlow-opinions requested

Bugdoc

Bugdoc

Joined
Oct 29, 2016
Messages
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Evening everyone. Got my own opinion but would like to hear from you. I just picked up an Appaloosa bone Case XX Barlow from an online knife seller (not BF). Price was middle of the pack for this type of Case. (I’ll freely admit that lust got in the way a bit on this one…..)

Seller described it as ‘Mint Vintage 1970 1 Dot. Case Barlow. Beautiful Appaloosa Bone Handles, no cracks. Both Blades clear, no Blemishes.’ While it’s a looker all right, I see some blemishes making it not ‘mint’ in my book. (Seller did not divulge these BTW.) While this one wasn’t meant for the safe, it would definitely swing quite a ways in that direction, never an EDC.

What do you all think? From what I found, some blade rub in a factory EDC is generally considered OK, but never in a custom job, while in between is personal choice. This looks to be an unusual Case offering, but not rare. Seller has already offered to take it back. Should I oblige him? And just how bad is that blade rub? Lastly, I’ve made this as a 1979 CV knife, not 1970. Agree?

(Then there’s the matter of my feedback on this sale, quick response to my inquiry, sure seller will return my money, no harm meant etc etc, and next month he'll be listing: ‘Mint vintage 1970 Case Barlow…’. 1st world problems.):eek:

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Yes, a 1-dot is a 1979. So it's technically in the 70s series of dots, and the 1-dot in that series is 1979. From that perspective, it's not really a lie, just misleading (or assumes that the buyer understands the tang stamp patterns).

The blade rub would not be an issue for me, especially if you plan on it being a user, but the bone separation would be.
 
To my understanding, "mint" means "unused", rather than, "unused and perfect".

However, in my opinion the seller should have stated the issues.
 
No idea about the bone, sorry. I don't know what you paid for that knife but similar ones seem to run for $50-ish on the big auction site from that general 70s time frame. Not a bad price for good user knife. I like the Case Barlow pattern and have 3 of them (none from that era, however).

You might ask over in the Maintenance, Tinkering, and Embellishment subforum what you might want to do about the bone.
 
To me, minor blade rub out of the factory doesn't make a knife "not mint", as long as that is all that's wrong with it.
 
I would be unhappy with the bone separation regardless of price, since it wasn't divulged prior to sale. Appaloosa bone is beautiful, but I'd send it back.
 
It would depend on what you paid for it . You were probably mis-lead with the sellers claims but it comes down to how good a deal you got.
For $100 , you should have got it in MINT condition and a 1970 Case Barlow with Appaloosa Bone . No Blade Rub and No Bone Separation
If you only paid $30 for it , you got a good deal . It appears that the knife was almost never used .
I have bought used knives that look worse than that and was happy to get them , but it just depended on what i had to pay for it . I once drove 340 miles to get a chance on getting an old Red Case Barlow at an auction. It is in worse shape than yours and I paid $30 for it and was very happy to get it.
You were Mis-lead , but are you happy with the deal ???

Harry
 
Looks to be a nice example but the seller should have disclosed the bone and rub mark. It is possible the seller is not a knife person and did not think anything of those issues.

The knife is pushing 40 years old, bone is a natural material and there can be movement due to age in bone, have seen that in several of the vintage knives I own. The blade rub is not uncommon, have seen that on several Case knives and others.

If you are not happy with it I would send it back but as Harry stated if you paid a reasonable price for it I would probably keep it, it is a nice looking and very usable Barlow.

Pic is one of mine showing blade rub on the pen blade.

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Thanks folks. Augie, your beauty reminds me of why I pulled the trigger so fast-the Appaloosa is gorgeous. This seller has "Knives" in his store name so should have known better, but his few ratings suggests inexperience so I'll give him the benefit of doubt.

You've confirmed what I had thought-that at his price point it should have been in better shape, not to mention the the true condition divulged. I 'll be sending it back.
 
Case would fix the bone cover for free; not sure if they could fix the blade rub.
 
brownshoe said:
Case would fix the bone cover for free; not sure if they could fix the blade rub.
Click to expand...

But I doubt if they can supply any of that type of bone anymore....

The gap is all too obvious, was it shown on his pictures though?
 
Neither fault was noticeable. We've been back and forth a bit. He seems genuinely interested in learning. Money has been refunded and I have not sent the knife out yet. Been a learning process for me too for sure.
 
Will Power said:
But I doubt if they can supply any of that type of bone anymore....

The gap is all too obvious, was it shown on his pictures though?
Click to expand...

They should bo able to use the existing covers, at least that's what they did with an ebony Caee I sent in for a similar problem, but at the butt of the handle.
 
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