W R Case Toenail Reference List: TESTED XX - XX USA Lighting S Era
In light of the two recent eBay sales of Case XX USA Dotted Series rehandled toenails (a red bone & a pearl handled), I have taken it upon myself to prepare a “reference list” of toenails produced by WR Case after its Bradford Era. I have attempted to compile a complete list using my collection, information from Case and various resource books.
TESTED XX (1920- 1940)
Green Bone- Raised ‘Case’ Bowtie* shield; Long C tail stamp- This is stamp very rare per Sargent. Witcher states this stamp used on the larger knives
Brown Bone- Raised ‘Case’ Bowtie* shield; Long C tail stamp
Brown Bone- Raised ‘Case’ Bowtie* shield; TESTED XX straight line tang stamp
Green Bone- Oval shield; Long C tail stamp
Brown Bone- No shield; Long C tail stamp
*“Raised Bowtie shield used in very early TESTED XX era”
XX
Green Bone (1940- 1955)
Rogers Bone*
Red Bone (1940- 1964)
Brown Bone (1953- 1964)
Laminated Wood (1964- 1965)
Lam Wood first used in 1964 per Mrs. Dewey Ferguson’s “Price Guide To Romance of Knife Collecting”
*Joe Seale writes “I do not recall ever having seen anything in print as to the time period of early Rogers bone on 6250 XX knives. It is my opinion that none of the early (greenish brown) Rogers bone was made after WW11. It would seem to follow, that the early Rogers bone from the CASE TESTED era was used up during the early l940s. I have nothing from the Case factory to prove this supposition.” NOTE: Joe seems to also be indicating there is a Rogers bone TESTED XX. I’ll follow up on that with him.
Photo-Toenails Top to Bottom: Brown, Rogers, Green, Dark Red, Pretty, Pretty, Red, “Light Red”. Not pictured- Wood handled transition.
While the list of the XX toenails is what is commonly accepted by the “experts,” we know there were many variations of the colors- even to the point many dealers have names like Dark Red bone and Pretty Bone for these variations of Red Bone, however they don’t make any list, nor does Rogers Bone for that matter. Obviously, there are even some slight variations among the different colors, ie, light red and differing pretty ones.
XX USA
Brown Bone (1964- 1965)
Red Bone (1964-1965)
Lam Wood (1965- 1970)
XX USA Dotted Series
10 Dot Lam Wood (1970-1971) Plain Blade
9 Dot Lam Wood (1971-1972) Plain Blade
8 Dot Lam Wood (1972-1973) Plain Blade
7 Dot Lam Wood (1973-1974) Plain Blade
6 Dot Lam Wood (1974-1975) Plain Blade Discontinued
6 Dot Lam Wood (1974-1975) (Elephant Etch first used)
5 Dot Lam Wood (1975-1976) (Elephant Etch)
4 Dot Lam Wood (1976-1977) (Elephant Etch)
3 Dot Lam Wood (1977-1978) (Elephant Etch)
2 Dot Lam Wood (1978-1979) (Elephant Etch)
1 Dot Lam Wood (1979-1980) (Elephant Etch)
Case Limited Edition:
3250 Gold plated blade Bradford Bonanza etch. 1 0f 600 made for Smoky Mtn. Knife Works. “Yellow Gold” on pen blade. Made in 1983 Yellow Composition handles.
XX USA Lighting S Dotted Series
10 Dot Lam Wood (1980-1981) Bradford Bonanza
9 Dot Lam Wood (1981-1982) Bradford Bonanza
Case Limited Edition:
A6250 Appaloosa Bone with National Knife Museum etch. 1 0f 2600 with serial number; 200 without serial number. I understood this was actually a set, however have been unable to verify this. I do know I have three variations of this appaloosa knife.
We have seen steady increases in value in the WR Case knives through and including the XX and XX USA Dotted Series. I know many collectors have started their collections with these knives as they tend to be more readily available than some of the older Case knives. Hope this list helps you as you build your collection. It is likely there are some examples I failed to identify, so if you have one in your collection please let me know and I’ll update this list.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
The appaloosa bone NKM knife was part of a set of 4 knives,matching serial#s in a padded case.