Case blades made in Solingen

M

matt hennig

Joined
Jul 20, 2006
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I have an opportunity to purchase a Case Doctors knife two blade pre 1940 that is stamped on the reverse side of the tang Solingen Germany, front tang is W.R. Case & sons cutlery co. Bradford PA,,pattern# 7285. My question is, how long did Case have blades made in Solingen? The knife is mint w/ imitation tortoise handles,but the Solingen has me bothered.
 
I think you are looking at a knife made in 1990 and unless I am badly mistaken 1989 and 1990 are the only years some Case knives were made in Germany. Other than some kitchen utensils that have been made in Japan the rest have been U.S. made since day one and that continues to be the situation.

In 1989 Jim Parker (Pres of Case at that time) contracted with the German firm to produce some limited patterns in pearl, tortoise shell (imitation), ivory and gold stone celluloid.

The patterns were a 2 bladed DR, fishtail, lady leg and a couple of lobster patterns (large and small) if I remember correctly.

I strongly urge you to do a little research before purchasing the knife. I am pretty sure it has been mis-represented to you. If it is what I think it is, you are looking at a 30 to 40 dollar knife and the 1990 date has been removed from the tang.
 
I am going to move this over to the traditional forum.
If I am mistaken, I am sure one of the guys over there can set us straight.
 
The 7285 is definitely a 1989-1990 knife made by Olbertz when Parker owned Case. This can be documented by looking at PArker catalogs from the 1990's.

Case DID have some knives made in Germany in the 1920's era; however they were all small gent's patterns and were marked R CASE BRADFORD GERMANY. Some examples are shown in Sargent's book.
 
Thanks for setting me straight KA, Did not know about the R Case in the 20's. Time to break out Sargent for some study tonight.

Matt,
When those came out you could get them pretty easily for around 20 to 30.
Personally, if I was looking for one now, I would go no higher than 40 or 45 at the most.
 
Well fella's thank you for the insight. I'm learn'n at this and I did go out and get Sargents book at the new Barnes and Nobel today. It pretty much says it all just like KA says. However I went ahead and purchased the knife based on what I could gather out of the 14th edtion C. Houston Price where on page 218,,,,, oh never mind, I got duped. It's still a nice knife and now it has a good home. If you must know $70.00, I bought it before I read your replies.
 
here is a 3 1/4 in, lobster pattern with Toledo style handles, made for Case by Inox. the story that came with the knife is that Parker had these made in 1979 (probably should be 1989) and then sold them himself, and that v. few imported to USA. a nice $35 ebay knife, but i like my C. Bertram H&R pearl lobster better ! roland
 
Hi... That is a nice little gentleman's knife. INOX derives from the French word Inoxydable meaning stainless.
 
rprocter said:
here is a 3 1/4 in, lobster pattern with Toledo style handles, made for Case by Inox. the story that came with the knife is that Parker had these made in 1979 (probably should be 1989) and then sold them himself, and that v. few imported to USA. a nice $35 ebay knife, but i like my C. Bertram H&R pearl lobster better ! roland
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The story as far as I understand and remember....Case in 1978 had a line of knives made in Solingen. I do not know what company made them (INOX is not a company). Most of the patterns made resembled Swiss army knives with the red handles....then there were some small metal handled patterns as well. The knives as imported by CASE did not have any Case markings on them at all, so most collectors do not consider them to be Case knives. Case tried to markes these knives through Case dealers as a low cost imported knife. I recall seeing these knives in stock at a Case dealer in NC in 1978.

Then after the knives did not sell well at all, Case took all of the remaining stock and sold them to Parker, but Jim stipulated that Case had to etch the blades with the words CASE (long tail C with XX) and German Import...or something similar to that....so then Parker sold them at shows and through his catalog operation.

Edited to add: I see that you have posted a pic of the etch, so it is as I thought.
 
Knifeaholic, thank you for that info. and telling me that INOX is not a company. so it is from '78 or '79, a nice knife, but mystery maker. think it could have been H&R ?? amazing how many knives with unknown manufacturers. roland
 
Say Heah Boy and Girls, I need your help too. I teamed up my Case Pawnee fix blade, It has 8 dots that are bigger then the the two dots that are on both sides closer to the Case stamp, It looks like ten dots to me, Anyhow that's not why I'm here, I have a 10" Case fix blade that I teamed up with my Pawnee, I want to use this as my Afternoon Delight set a hot cup of coffee on the open fire and a baked potato, I was using my Mora set, But the 10" blade sure would be nicer this time of the year clearing through the brush. Anyhow, All it has is Case and a etched face inside the large C, I don't care the worth even though it's in excellent shape, Oh, on the other side it's stamped Stainless Steel, and that's it, So it's hard for me to tell when it was made, The sheath is a camo nylon type sheath, I don't care about the value but not finding any info on it and there is nothing showing info on a knife with a large C with a face etched inside it is taxing me. The set is doing the job I intended to do with it. Are all stainless steel Case fix blades made in 440a. if there is no specific type of a stamp on it, Or it also could be a 420 stainless for all I know and could be. Any info would be appreciated, So please Chime in. .. . Paul'ie

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paul'ie said:
Say Heah Boy and Girls, I need your help too. I teamed up my Case Pawnee fix blade, It has 8 dots that are bigger then the the two dots that are on both sides closer to the Case stamp, It looks like ten dots to me, Anyhow that's not why I'm here, I have a 10" Case fix blade that I teamed up with my Pawnee, I want to use this as my Afternoon Delight set a hot cup of coffee on the open fire and a baked potato, I was using my Mora set, But the 10" blade sure would be nicer this time of the year clearing through the brush. Anyhow, All it has is Case and a etched face inside the large C, I don't care the worth even though it's in excellent shape, Oh, on the other side it's stamped Stainless Steel, and that's it, So it's hard for me to tell when it was made, The sheath is a camo nylon type sheath, I don't care about the value but not finding any info on it and there is nothing showing info on a knife with a large C with a face etched inside it is taxing me. The set is doing the job I intended to do with it. Are all stainless steel Case fix blades made in 440a. if there is no specific type of a stamp on it, Or it also could be a 420 stainless for all I know and could be. Any info would be appreciated, So please Chime in. .. . Paul'ie
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You'd probably have better luck starting a fresh thread since this one is nearly nine years old and unrelated to the questions you are asking.
 
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