Endless parade of special edition Case knives. Who buys all these?

3-1-1

3-1-1

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So a bunch of years ago (2012 I think?) I joined the lifetime membership for the Case collectors club. It was reasonable enough price-wise since I'm hoping to have a whole lot of "lifetime" ahead of me, and I’ve got dozens of ‘em so it seemed like time. I enjoy the mag and was curious about having a chance at the club-only knives. But after many years, I have only ever bought one (a crimson jig bone Copperlock with a long pull and wharcliffe blade, collectors club shield and no blade etch). Otherwise, they have always been just too busy, flaunting blade etches of WR Case employee signatures, 43rd anniversary of something obscure, bolster etches and what not. An example from the mag I received in the mail yesterday below. I mean look at that thing.... why would someone want it? And really this isn’t just limited to the knives offered to the collectors club. Case is forever putting this type of stuff out. Are any of you buying this stuff celebrating just about anything you can think of? If so I’d be interested to know what draws you to it. Because I’m here all the time, and I don’t see people posting pics of such things here. Most of what I see are classic and tasteful amber and red jigged bones, etc. It would be nice if at least once in a while, Case put out something exclusive to the club that was actually desirable. I know Buck does a nice job of that for their collectors club. Instead they give members the "opportunity" to pay $73 for knives like the below. Thoughts?
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I wish Case wouldn’t put out so much stuff like that.... They make some great knives and I hate to see them cheapening their brand with those kinds of gimmicky editions.
 
On the plus side, I guess it doesn't detract from the variety of knives they offer without billboards. Never a shortage of options with Case. Just seems like a waste. Knives destined for bargain bins or the very back pages of the SMKW catalog.
 
That looks like a great knife...minus the signature on the blade, the unfortunate serialization (just put the number under the existing Case markings), the bolster etching, the herringbone design, and the collector's club logo.
 
Case has a huge & dedicated collector fan base, many of whom will scoop up a lot of these offerings. I'm also a CCC lifetime member, having joined on a whim back in the early '90s when it didn't cost as much to do so. That was when I was just getting into accumulating pocketknives and I responded to an invitation from Case in the mail, no doubt generated from one or two knife magazine subscriptions I had at the time. In the years since, I've also received the same collector publications from Case and I also wondered where all those special edition knives are going (and purchased a couple or three along the way, but not very many).

Having said that, they seem to have their marketing down to a fine art. It's no small achievement that they've managed to stay in business, still in the USA no less, for roughly 100 years or so. I have no problem with them selling these knives to a very eager & willing fan base to keep the bottom line in the black. If it helps them control the costs of doing business in this country without having to outsource overseas, or worse, go out of business completely like so many other cutlery companies have, then more power to them.
 
I'm not a member of the Case Collector's Club but I am a member of the Buck Collector's Club (BCCI) that you mentioned. When Buck puts out a knife for the BCCI there is usually a fair amount of discussion about it. It may or may not sell well but members seem to like to talk about it.

Do these special club knives from Case get a similar reaction among club members?
 
I knew a guy who stopped at every fast food joint that was selling those little plastic Star Wars characters back in the day. He said he had bins full of them in his basement, in the wrappers, of course. The value is in having the full mint collection.
 
I read that Jim Parker started all these limited edition Case knives when he owned the company. You may not like Jim Parker, but he was very good at marketing things. I think the Coke, John Deere, Harley and so forth editions sell mostly to tourists and a few collectors.
 
The collector edition knives are pretty much horrible to look at. Truly ghastly stuff. But from a true collector's mentality, aesthetics isn't really key. It's all about having the whole collection, whether it's ugly or not.

But as long as Case is selling knives, and I can still get ones that are nice looking, I'm cool with it.
 
But a lot of these are just one-off randoms. Not really part of any defined set or series. And in any event, having the whole collection of anything Case, even just a particular pattern or something... yikes!
 
A guy at work knew I liked knives and he told me he collected knives too. Told me he would take a picture next time he had them all out of his safe. I'm not lying, he has the largest collection of "Larry the Cable Guy" knives you have ever seen. Buck, Case, some look like steak knives, gas station knives, lighters and all say, Git R Done. I asked him what was the deal with Larry the Cable guy, and he just said the guy was a comedic genius and he loves everything Larry does, so his in-laws bought him a Git r Done knife as a gift and when they saw he liked it, started buying him one every year, and after this, his wife and rest of the family started buying him Larry the Cable guy knives for every holiday..............so you never know.
 
It must make CASE decent profits otherwise they wouldn't be at it. Having said that, these 'editions' look tasteless for the most part and could make some people assume this is what Traditionals are all about....fortunately not :thumbsup:

If they sometimes offered a run that tried to achieve the look of some of the Old School bone, Red, Green etc with NS or stainless liners there'd be a lot of enthusiasm in places where people have taste;):D
 
jec88 said:
A guy at work knew I liked knives and he told me he collected knives too. Told me he would take a picture next time he had them all out of his safe. I'm not lying, he has the largest collection of "Larry the Cable Guy" knives you have ever seen. Buck, Case, some look like steak knives, gas station knives, lighters and all say, Git R Done. I asked him what was the deal with Larry the Cable guy, and he just said the guy was a comedic genius and he loves everything Larry does, so his in-laws bought him a Git r Done knife as a gift and when they saw he liked it, started buying him one every year, and after this, his wife and rest of the family started buying him Larry the Cable guy knives for every holiday..............so you never know.
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Remind me to tell people when I don't like something. :D
 
Buzzbait said:
The collector edition knives are pretty much horrible to look at. Truly ghastly stuff. But from a true collector's mentality, aesthetics isn't really key. It's all about having the whole collection, whether it's ugly or not.

But as long as Case is selling knives, and I can still get ones that are nice looking, I'm cool with it.
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Yep, can't see myself buying any of those "collector" knives, or their new stuff with thumb studs and pocket clips. But I sure dig their basic trappers, stockmans, and canoes.
 
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