The new edition features 504 large-format pages of information, photographs, and values, including 32 pages of color photos that show the true beauty of these knives. It retains the detailed listings for W.R. Case & Sons knives from the company's beginnings through the Bradford, Tested, XX, USA and 10-dot 1970 knives, and adds "Dots" knives into the late 1980s. It also includes directly related firms like Case Brothers, Case & Son, Case Mfg. Co., and other related brands like Clauss, Standard, Kane Cutlery, J.D. Case, Platts, Primble, Little Valley Knife Association, and Crandall. Case fixed blade knives and Hawbaker muskrats get their own sections, which are also extensively revised. The section on Case related razors that was removed from the last edition is back in this new 7th.

The section on Queen folders and fixed blades now spans 82 well illustrated pages, and is a must for everyone interested in the knives of Queen, Queen City, and Schatt & Morgan.

Note: The Remington section featured in previous editions has become a casualty of the expanded Case and Queen sections.

BOOK REVIEW
Reviewed by Knife World Staff

The latest edition of Jim Sargent’s very useful price guide arrived a few months ago. As with each previous edition, Jim has changed things up a little, and a nice bonus has been added as well (we’ll get to that later). Let’s take a closer look.

The American Premium Guide to Knives & Razors, 7th Ed. covers Case, Case family, Queen, and Queen related knives – both folding and fixed blade, and in detail unmatched by any other book. Case and Case family razors and memorabilia are addressed as well. (The Remington section that was a staple of every previous edition has finally been sacrificed, to make more room for numerous additions to the Case coverage.)

Evidence of these additions and revisions can be found in nearly every Case-related section, from adding a few new discoveries to the early Case knife listings to the use of photo editing software to improve some of the less impressive photographs throughout the book. The most significant additions are the new listings for “dotted” Case knives made between 1970 and 1988, and the listings for Case limited edition knives of roughly the same period. The growth of collector interest in Case knives of the 1970s and ‘80s has been evident for several years now, and the latest editions of four major price guides (this book, Parker’s Pocket Knife Trader’s Price Guide, The Standard Knife Collector’s Guide and The Official Price Guide to Collector Knives) have all been expanded to reflect this growth. (Honestly, it was about time!)

Another area that has seen significant updates is the superb section on Case fixed blade knives – reorganized, with lots of added detail on things like stags, Kodiaks and Case catalogs, this is far and away the best resource on the subject. The excellent section on Case and Case family straight razors that was absent from the 6th edition also makes a welcome return.

The Queen knife section has seen relatively few content changes since the 6th edition, beyond updated values, but if you didn’t buy the last book you really have no idea what you’re missing. Primarily focusing on Queen and Queen City knives with some Schatt & Morgans thrown in for good measure, Sargent’s book has clearly established itself as THE price guide for Queen knives.

Finally, collector values have been carefully revised throughout the entire book. With regard to Case, these values are generally considered to be more in line with the other books on the market than those in the more optimistic Parker book.

And now, the BONUS: tucked inside the back cover of this book is a DVD-ROM containing the complete book in PDF format. This isn’t for watching on your TV set; instead, you pop it into your computer’s DVD drive and open a PDF file with Adobe Acrobat Reader (a free program that you may already have). This disk allows you to search the entire book for all occurrences of a word or phrase (i.e. “new grind” or “5254”), to print out specific pages for your use, and even to zoom in on the photographs for a better view (don’t expect miracles, the photo resolution is somewhat limited). The DVD should prove very useful to every collector with a modern computer and the urge to explore this disc.

In short, The American Premium Guide to Knives & Razors continues to evolve into a more detailed, more specialized reference book, which will make it the go-to resource for most devoted Case and Queen collectors. The price paid for this detail is the loss of some useful coverage that has been a part of this series over the years – such as Remington. If you collect Case or Queen knives, of course, this is a great tradeoff; if not, well, there are other books on the market.

Before closing, I do have just one complaint – with the title. This book doesn’t attempt to evaluate all collectible knives and razors, it tries to do the best possible job of evaluating the cutlery of Case, Queen, and closely related firms. It’s high time for the publisher to promote Mr. Sargent’s excellent book as the Case/Queen guide that it is, and not continue to mislead potential customers into thinking that its scope is broader than that. End of rant.
**

Softcover, 504 pp. (with 32 pp. color section) includes a free DVD (PC & Mac compatible) which contains the entire book in PDF format -- completely searchable!

Availability: Usually ships the next business day.

$27.95