Serious knife collectors only deal in mint knives. That means, as it left the factory. Not carried or sharpened by the end user. Case knives are all dated. Just like a coin but not as obvious. That's what adds to collectability.
Bulldogs were
all handled in stag. There were three main variations. The
XX Bulldog, made prior to 1965. The
Transition Bulldog, made only in 1965. Lastly, the
USA Bulldog, made between 1966 and 1969. Here are the wooden boxes, they came in.
Only, the
Transition model came in a black painted box.
In 1970, the stag handled bulldog was discontinued. Enter the Buffalo. Packawood was used for handle material. This model continued to be made throughout the 1970's.
In 1980, the Boss was introduced. It was handled in packawood but was the first lock back, in this model. It had a different bulldog, on the blade that was acid etched. Not deeply stamped, like the original bulldog. It replaced the Buffalo.
In the early 90's, Jim Parker of Parker Frost Cutlery, bought out Case. He kept the name and flooded the market with collectable Case knives. Pissed me off, cause he reintroduced this Clasp pattern, that was
discontinued............the main reason I collected this pattern. That is when the celluloids, stag, buffalo horn, exotic woods, dyed cow bone, pearl and abalone hit the market. Forcing me to keep filling my collection. Seemed like once a month, a new handle material came out. This lasted for over a decade. Couple of examples:
Top one is called candy stripe.
Bottom one is pearl, of which, only 10 were produced.
Another ten, were sans the XX on the blade.