Case Canoe date?

[CLEARY BUCKLEY]

Hello,
I have a green bone Case canoe knife #08974 that I inherited from my father. The tang stamp with 5 dots and 5 X's appears to be for year 2000...but the thing is that my dad died in 1995, (or maybe 1996, I know I should know this by heart.) Did they apply the stamp earlier than 2000?
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm confused.
Thanks for your help.

 

[Railsplitter]

That is strange indeed. To the best of my knowledge, Case started using the dot system in 1970 but they only used dots, not X's until 2000 when they started using both.

There must be a logical explanation but I don't know what it is.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

The 'dots & Xs' date stamps are definitely 2000 and later. Might post a pic of the blade's date stamping, and the whole knife for that matter, to help with clarification.

 

[jmh33]

Was the blade ever replaced at some time??? John