Case buffalo dots

deltablade

deltablade

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What is the significance of the number of, and presence or absence of, dots on the Case Buffalo knives?
 
If you are talking about the x's and dots on The tang it is a dating system for all the details go to case dot com and click on the case college link. But basically starting in 1970 they have a new tang stamp every ten years. They put 5 x's and 5 dots the first year of the stamp and then remove a dot every year for the first five then remove an x every year the next five.
D890EC98-E1FD-4FD5-8FA5-DE03D45B8982-721-000000F0E556B6F6_zps47103b97.jpg

Here is an example from the case mini trapper I had in my pocket. Sorry bout the photo quality (cell phone ) any way 5 x's 4 dots with long c stamp dates this knife a 2011
 
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I am a case nut and have most of the tang stamps memorized if you have a picture of the knife where I could see the stamp I can tell you the date. If it is older than 1970 you can only get an era or aprox date from the stamp alone.
 
PaulBosley said:
I am a case nut and have most of the tang stamps memorized if you have a picture of the knife where I could see the stamp I can tell you the date. If it is older than 1970 you can only get an era or aprox date from the stamp alone.
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For my birthday my dad just gave me an old case buffalo knife he bought in a second hand/antique store when I was a kid in the early 70's. I remember when he bought it. On one side it says handmade and on the other side Case xx P172. It also has the buffalo on that side. How old do you think that one is?
 
The 'Xs and dots' scheme wasn't used until 2000 and later, I believe. In the '70s and '80s, only dots (no Xs) were used, with the typeface/font of the CASE lettering making most of the difference between '70s or '80s vintage (the 'lightning S' in the CASE stamp was first seen on the '80s knives). In those two decades, 10 dots were on the tang in the first year (1970 or 1980), and one dot was removed for each subsequent year, finishing with one dot left in the last year of the decade ('79/'89). A version of the 'dot' scheme was also used in part of the '90s, though some vintages had the actual year stamped on the blade tang (1990-93, I believe). The '90s dot scheme started in '93 with 7 dots, working down to one dot left in '99, again with a new variation in typeface/font for the CASE stamping.

Here are some images linked from Case's own 'Case College' site, featuring different tang stamps:

( images linked from site -->: http://www.wrcase.com/case_college/tang_stamps/ )

1970s (1971 shown, with 9 dots)
1970-1979(1).jpg

1970-1979(2).jpg



1980s (1985 shown)
1980-1989(1).jpg

1980-1989(2).jpg



1990-1993 (1992 shown)
1990-1993.jpg



1993-1999 (1993 shown)
1993-1999.jpg



1997-1999 (1997 shown)
1997-1999.jpg



2000-2009 (first use of 'Xs and dots' scheme; 2000 shown)
2000-2009.jpg



2010-present ('Xs and dots', rearranged; 2010 shown)
2010-Present.jpg



David
 
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bhauer said:
For my birthday my dad just gave me an old case buffalo knife he bought in a second hand/antique store when I was a kid in the early 70's. I remember when he bought it. On one side it says handmade and on the other side Case xx P172. It also has the buffalo on that side. How old do you think that one is?
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The collecting guide* I refer to lists the P172 Buffalo in the years 1969-1972 only. If it's 1969, there'll be no dots on the blade (just 'CASE XX' over 'U.S.A.' I believe). If it's 1970 -> 10 dots below the 'U.S.A.'; if 1971 -> 9 dots, and if 1972 -> 8 dots. The 'P' in 'P172' is apparently a reference to the Pakkawood handle material. Other versions of the '172 pattern were in stag (5172), imitation tortoise shell (7172), green bone (6172) and yellow composition (3172).

( * = 'Official Price Guide to Collector Knives', Fourteenth Edition, by C. Houston Price; copyright 2004)


David
 
Mine appears to have been made somewhere between 1940 and 1965. It only has the CASE XX and below that is P172. On the other side is "handmade USA" with 5 dots below that. I would never sell it but do they have much value to collectors?
 
bhauer said:
Mine appears to have been made somewhere between 1940 and 1965. It only has the CASE XX and below that is P172. On the other side is "handmade USA" with 5 dots below that. I would never sell it but do they have much value to collectors?
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If the 'XX' is below the 'CASE' (two lines, in other words) then it would be 1940-64. If 'CASE XX' is on one line AND there's a USA mark on the blade, it's 1965 or later. The five dots on the blade would likely imply 1975, and that should be the strongest indicator of age. No dots were used prior to 1970.

1965 was the first year that manufacturers were required to put country of origin on their products, so Case started using the USA mark during that year also. The USA mark was not on Case's stamps prior to 1965. Blades that were first produced in the 1965-69 era and later are sometimes referred to as 'USA blades', and the prior 1940-64 knives were usually called 'XX era' blades, due to the solitary 'XX' below the 'CASE' stamp (seen below).

1940-1964 stamp:
1940-1964(1).jpg




David
 
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Thanks for saving me all that typing. I believe your knife is a 75. Usually on most case knives the dots are on the pile side but there are several exceptions this being one. Many limited runs of case knives have been made over the years that don't follow the regular case tang stamp system. Most are listed on case's web site under the case college tab.
As far as value I'm not allowed to discuss you have to have at least gold lvl membership.
 
It's definitely 1970's. CASE XX on one line. I cleaned the oil off on the other side and looked through a magnifying glass. There are at least 9 dots. The last few are right up against the bolster and hard to see. So does that make a difference on that change the date of manufacture?
 
Through a magnifying glass it's either 9 or 10 dots. This knife had quite a little hunting use over the last 40 years. It cleaned up really well but the dots run at an angle and the last one or two are a bit behind the bolster. I was sure he bought it in the early 70's.
 
bhauer said:
It's definitely 1970's. CASE XX on one line. I cleaned the oil off on the other side and looked through a magnifying glass. There are at least 9 dots. The last few are right up against the bolster and hard to see. So does that make a difference on that change the date of manufacture?
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Yes, if it's 9 dots --> 1971; if ten dots --> 1970. See the description of Case's dot-dating scheme in my earlier post (#6), and there's also a pic there of the most common version of the 1971 stamp, with 9 dots (though yours is a bit different, the number of dots and the font used for the stamp are key to ID'ing the age).


David
 
Excellent! Thanks for clearing that up. It makes sense that it was made in 70 or 71.
I remember when I was a kid I would sneak it out of my dads bedroom after he went to work and take it to school with me. No one ever knew I had it and I would put it back before he got home. I still remember having it in my pocket on the school bus. To a young kid it was an enormous knife!
 
bhauer said:
Excellent! Thanks for clearing that up. It makes sense that it was made in 70 or 71.
I remember when I was a kid I would sneak it out of my dads bedroom after he went to work and take it to school with me. No one ever knew I had it and I would put it back before he got home. I still remember having it in my pocket on the school bus. To a young kid it was an enormous knife!
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It STILL is, even in this tired adult's eyes. :D

Yikes, how times have changed. Sneaking a knife like that into school these days would tend to get some folks a little 'nervous'. :eek:


David
 
Yes. Today if a kid had a knife in school it would be big trouble. I always had one in my pocket since the time I was 6 or 7.
 
I have a case buffalo that has 10 dots with HAND MADE USA below and CASE XX with P172 below. Is it rare I haven't seen any descriptions like it so far.
 
Bh, sometimes if you partially close the blade you can see the lower part of the tang better, to see all the dots. Might help.
 
Actually, on the P172 Buffalo there was no 10 dot 1970. Dots weren't used on the Buffalo until 1971 (9 dots). The only "10 dot" version is 1980. Although there was an error in 1980 where the 70s era stamp was used and 10 dots were stamped on the back side of the tang. These are pretty rare, but no one knows exactly how many made it to the open market.
 
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