Cost of Case knives in the 1920s 30s ?

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HoleInPocket

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I know there are a number of knowledgeable people here on the history of Case. I’m curious, were Case knives more expensive than other knives in the 1920s? The 1930s? 40s? Were they made better than other brands you could have picked up at the time? If they were simply a working knife then and are now largely a collectors knife, when did that happen? Thanks!
 
Thank you for that eisman. Really cool stuff there. I’m wondering more in terms of reputation I guess. Like if you had a Case knife did people comment on how nice the knife was and say that they couldn’t afford one? Or was their quality about the same as everyone else and they just ended up lasting as a brand for a mix of reasons.
 
HoleInPocket said:
’m curious, were Case knives more expensive than other knives in the 1920s? The 1930s? 40s? Were they made better than other brands you could have picked up at the time? If they were simply a working knife then and are now largely a collectors knife, when did that happen?
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They were not considered a "premium" brand, like Cattaraugus, New York Knife Co., and Robeson. As far as I know, they were a "working man's knife", in the same class as say Schrade and Russell.
When did they become "collectable"? When did people start collecting knives?
"Back in the day" most folk owned one,  maybe two, rarely three knives: One for every day use, if they hunted, a non folding sheath knife, or possibly a two blade slipjoint folding hunter. The latter could have doubled as their every day knife, and  maybe a fancier knife for Church.

I believe "collecting" knives is a recent phenomenon. Growing up in the 50s to 70s, I didn't know anyone that "collected" knives. (or watches, firearms, pens, and automobiles or motorcycles for that matter.
Postage Stamps, milk glass, nick knacks, LP's (if they had a record player) and Currier & Ives plates were what folks "collected", for the most part.
Admittedly, some who were in the trades collected antique tools related to their field. However, they were in the minority.

I don't know when collecting knives became a "thing". My guess is that is when CASE (along with Schrade, and the various Imperial-Schrade brands, among others) became "collectable".
 
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I personally find it hard to believe that there was ever a time with folks who had money to waste where at least some folks didn't collect just about anything you can think of, including knives.

Most folks today own 0 pocket knives. When most folks carried one I'm entirely confident some had many to choose from.
 
Don't know really, but made me think of an off topic thing I remember from when I was a young kid in the '50s.
My grandfather, Pop, was an over the road trucker and toted Case knives ... he had 3 or 4 different ones.
He had his pocket knife out one day at a family gathering and someone said something or asked about the knife.
Pop quite proudly said with a smile that a fellow trucker had earnestly offered him $2 for his knife.
... I didn't know what "earnestly" meant
 
As I remember, Case transitioned into the "collectable" market during the 1970s after the Case collectors club was formed in 1972.
When Jim Parker bought Case in the late 1980s, he ramped up production and dumped all sorts of "collectable" Case knife variations on the market in an effort to fix the company's poor financial situation. He also created the Case Classic series of collector knives that were mostly made by Queen.
 
I think they had to make that transition to survive. Times were changing, and you did not have that "every man and boy had a pocket knife on them" mentality, or at least it was a shrinking customer base. That is when they got the idea of collecting, where you were selling knives to the same people, over and over, rather than just one knife to everyone.
 
I think it is true that collecting is a modern thing, possibly to keep the sales coming, as people shifted from always having a knife to not needing a knife in the modern society. I think A good pocket knife was affordable and possible someone could have more than one, or just happened to pick up more over the years, but I am also finding that most just had one knife they used to almost being worn out before they would get another one. Interesting topic about Case And the market then, much different than today’s market. Keep the thoughts coming.
 
Thank you all for the great responses. I’m not a big knife guy. I have both pocket and fixed blade knives but I’m not a collector.. Case is interesting to me because they are an American company that have been around for so long and are seemingly still producing knives with a similar look and quality as they did 100 years ago. However they are now considered to be expensive knives (at least to me). Then I look at brands like Victorinox and Mora who have also been around about as long and are still putting out very high quality knives but at budget prices. It’s been mentioned above and I guess I agree that Case changed their business model and products at some point to go after collectors. Correct me if I’m wrong but it seems that their budget offering is the Sod Buster. I own one Case knife, a mini Copperlock and I love it. Great, good looking little knife.
 
Case knives with bone scales were typically priced around $2 in the early 1940's. The average salary back then was about $30 per week give or take. Today's average weekly salary is slightly above $1,000 per week. An average production Case knife with bone scales goes for about $75 or so. So your paycheck was about 15x the cost of a Case knife back then, today your paycheck is about 12x the cost of a Case knife. Case knives of the '40's were made of superior quality too. Of course that doesn't answer your question, but I thought it was an interesting observation. Best I can tell, Case was considered a middle of the road or perhaps second tier knife back then, but your mileage may vary. I own some absolute gems from that period and some that were apparently made on a Friday afternoon but they were right on par with Schrade, Camillus, Remington, and even Ulster.
 
Excellent historical pocket knife info can be gleaned from the Catch Bit Show podcast with collector/historian Neil Punchard, custom maker/historian Mike Moran and custom maker and general stooge Jason Ritchie. ;)
 
I wish I could remember which knife book author (Sargent, maybe) attempted to explain the Case collecting phenomenon. The author's argument suggested that Case was a natural choice for collectors because Case had an easy to understand pattern numbering system, combined with several tang stamp changes over a 6 year period that made it easier for collectors to identify the era the Case knives were made. In 1965 Case added "USA" to the CASE XX stamp, and the 10 dot system in 1970.

The author claimed that the tang stamps help spur a "gold rush" stampede to buy up the older CASE XX tang stamped knives lingering in old hardware stores, etc.
 
Collecting is something that people with disposable income do. There are multiple times in history when this has impacted the middle class, but the latest extended period is a carry over from the post WWII boom. You can see this happening now in places like Asia, as they transition to a higher GDP.
 
afishhunter said:
I believe "collecting" knives is a recent phenomenon.
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Arathol said:
Case transitioned into the "collectable" market during the 1970s after the Case collectors club was formed in 1972.
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cbach8tw said:
I think it is true that collecting is a modern thing
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Carboniferous said:
The custom knife-collecting boom began in the late 1960s and continues to the present
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I remember I've read somewhere that in USA, around year 1970, more strict gun laws were set, and gun collectors switched from guns to pocket knives, and that knife manufacturers felt the demand (and potential income increase) and that was what started the whole thing of making knives intended to be an eye candy, not a working tool to cut with. I think it was some article about Schrade. I also recall it said that's why collectors have much more interest in pre-1970 pocket knives nowadays.
 
The gun control act of 1968 made law that guns couldn’t be mail ordered and had to go through a dealer and that all guns had to be serialized. In part because of JFKs assassination; whereby the gun used to perpetrate the crime was purchased mail order.

I don’t think it had any impact on knife collecting. Folks that were into guns back then continued. Kids with paper route money bought their rifle from the local hardware store instead of the circular but it didn’t make a big impact.

Another aspect, is guns are not a 1 shoe fits all applications model. A rifle for big game, a 22 rifle, a shotgun for birds, a handgun for self defense. That is not a gun collection any more than a stockman, a buck 110, and a case ridgeback are a knife collection. It’s just having the basics covered for your outdoor activities.

I don’t consider myself a knife collector. I have something like 40, but not counting junk and broken knives maybe 20-25. I use all of them though.

Knives are easier to acquire than firearms. They are cheaper on the used market, and often given as gifts. I received a new to me buck 110 the other day in fact as an impromptu gift from a new friend.
 
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coolhand68 said:
Today's average weekly salary is slightly above $1,000 per week
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I can believe the average U.S. salary is about $1,000 per week.
However, I find it difficult at best to believe the average hourly wage is over $25 an hour, for a full-time 40 hour work week, or even $12.50 an hour, for that matter.
Full Time and formerly Full Time hourly manufacturing and services employees who had their hours cut from 40 plus hours a week making them Part Time employees, no more than 35 to 39 hours a week, even without a cut in their hourly rate, sure aren't bringing home a grand a week.

Business Executives, Priests, Active Duty Military, Politicians, Police/Fireman, etc., and some tradesman receive a salary.
When you're on salary, it doesn't matter if you work <1 minute or 180 hours and more in any given pay period. Your pay is the same.
Also, there is no such thing as "over-time" when you're on salary.
When I was a fabrication welder, working for my step-grandfather in 1975 to 1977, I was on salary. When I was unable to work because of operations on my right knee and hip, I still received my full pay for those weeks.
I was on salary for the last company I worked for (for over 33 years) managing and working retail, night clubs, a vacation rental property in the FL Keys, receptionist, executive secretary, assistant broadcast engineer, and traffic director (among other duties) at a TV station they had. A 12 hour work day was a "short shift." More than once I had 24 to 34~36 hour shifts with no sleep during the shift. A 120 to 150 hour work week was "normal". No such thing as "over time".

If you earn a wage on the other hand, you get paid a set amount (I believe the current Federal minimum wage is $8.³⁰ an hour, set to increase to $12.⁰⁰ an hour over the next eight or nine years. Most workers make over the minimum wage) for every hour worked up to 40 hours per week. Hours 40.1 to 60 are "Time and a half" or base pay times 1.5. Hours. Any time from 60.1 to 80 hours are at "double time" or 2x the workers base pay. The first 40 is not paid at the higher over-time rates, as applicable. The hours worked at 1.5x are not paid at the 2x overtime rate, should you get into those total hours in any given pay period. (80.1 hours and above are at 3x the base pay.)
The increased pay after 40 hours is called "over-time".

Note that truck drivers required to maintain a log receive a salary (set amount, which can vary for each load) for each mile traveled, and are limited by Federal Law to a maximum of 70 hours during any seven consecutive days. There is no such thing as "over time" for truckers, either.
At midnight truck time you "get back" the hours worked the seventh day prior. Truck Time is the same as your base location time; not necessarily your location if you are an over the road/nation-wide driver.
You can reset your 70 hour clock by being parked in one location and not moving the truck for 36 consecutive hours plus 5 minutes, to be "safe" the electronic log has properly logged your rest.
When I drove expedited box truck, my Truck Time, log, and delivery/pick up times were Eastern time.
It didn't matter what time zone I was in ... which could and did change a couple times a day.
I might start my day in say PA (eastern time) pick up a load going to Texas or points west, and end my 10 hour shift in Central time. When it was a team truck, I might start my next 10 hour shift in Mountain or Pacific time, depending on how close I got us to the next time zone.
I kept my watch, "smart phone", tablet, and laptop on Central time.
The electronic log & truck tracking device was also locked on Eastern time. "Local Time" was irrelevant to my day and the operation of the truck.

It is my understanding that a lot of US employers are cutting the hourly employee's work week to 39 hours or less, making their workforce part-time employees for a variety of reasons, and continue to lower their costs over the last 15 years or so in an effort not to shut down operations.

I would be surprised if the average full time hourly wage earner took home $500 a week.
Part-timers at McDonalds et-al much over $175 a week.
BTW: Dropping fries or building sandwiches, etc. at McDonalds et-al, stocking store shelves, etc. has never been intended as a career to support a family. They have always been intended as a first job to teach high schoolers how to work and follow instructions, make gas money, and maybe hang out with friends after school. Not a life-long career.
 
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