"Serious" Case Collecting

[TedderX]

I assume "serious" Case collectors want the box the pocketknife came in, as do I.

But with older pocketknives, is getting the original box common or much harder? When I went to my first pocketknife show, There were thousands of pocketknives in felt-lined cases and boxes but I didn't see much original packaging. I don't know if they just hide it under the table or what.

Granted, you're probably not going to get a thin cardboard box from the 1910's and 1920's, but what about from say.. the 1960's and 1970's?

 

[Nature Boy]

I'm no expert, but I don't think many case knives were individually packaged until the mid '80s. Before that, knives were sent to dealers in boxes of a half dozen.
You can still find those 1/2 doz. boxes around, the last of which were the "pumpkin" boxes, I believe.

 

[TedderX]

Can anyone confirm that?

 

[jc57]

History of the boxes, 4th post in this thread: https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?t=1056. That post is from Steve Pfeiffer, the author of two books on Case knife collecting. He did a lot of research when writing his books. If you need more confirmation than that, drive up to Bradford, PA and ask them at the factory yourself.

As you can see, his post confirms what Mike said, pretty exactly. Mid 1980s (late 85 to be exact) is when they went to individual boxes.

 

[TedderX]

So did they put half a dozen of the same pocketknife or a set of different pocketknives with the same handle colors or what?

 

[toppygray82]

History of the boxes, 4th post in this thread: https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?t=1056. That post is from Steve Pfeiffer, the author of two books on Case knife collecting. He did a lot of research when writing his books. If you need more confirmation than that, drive up to Bradford, PA and ask them at the factory yourself.

As you can see, his post confirms what Mike said, pretty exactly. Mid 1980s (late 85 to be exact) is when they went to individual boxes.

You my friend.

You are an asset here.

Alwaya jumping and enlightening us with your knowledge .

I have yet to see one post that you have not contributed.


Keep it up.


You are a walking dictionary when it comes to traditional knives.

[emoji109]

I assume "serious" Case collectors want the box the pocketknife came in, as do I.

But with older pocketknives, is getting the original box common or much harder? When I went to my first pocketknife show, There were thousands of pocketknives in felt-lined cases and boxes but I didn't see much original packaging. I don't know if they just hide it under the table or what.

Granted, you're probably not going to get a thin cardboard box from the 1910's and 1920's, but what about from say.. the 1960's and 1970's?

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[Nature Boy]

I don't have one of the pumpkin boxes, but I took these photos from the internet to illustrate what I mentioned above.

 

[Nature Boy]

I don't have one of the pumpkin boxes, but I took these photos from the internet to illustrate what I mentioned above.

 

[Rookie82]

I've been going to knife shows for over 30 years, and I don't recall ever seeing boxes with the knives for anything pre 80's, no matter which knife brand. I don't think the trend of collecting the knife inside it's box really started until the late 90's and 2000's. If you had a box from a tested era, it would probably be worth more than the knife.

 

[Ice Tigre]

I'd been wondering if some people collect just the boxes? Without knives? Since there are So Many sales of Just boxes, either singly or in groups on the auction site... Seems weird to me, even if you want an equivalent box for a knife, not necessarily the Exact one your knife came in... but then, I'm not really a collector..