Tang stamps are a useful tool.
That, of course, is the understatement of the century; Tang stamps are a quick way to get a rundown on a timeframe for when a Case knife was turned from parts into a full-on functioning knife, and serve to narrow down a production date within a decade on average. Sometimes that ballpark is exactly what you need.
That said, for those not quite in the know and wanting a more in-depth rundown, since the transition from the myriad of tang stamps of 1905 to the 1930 to a more uniform release that simply stated Case XX in the 1940’s (though, like most rules, there are exceptions, as seen in the Case Metal Stampings tang stamp that ran concurrent with the Case XX stamp from ’48 to ’52, and the often cited Case XX Stainless stamp that ran alongside the traditional Case XX stamp starting at ’52 and concluding use simultaneously with its brother in 1964), As a rule of thumb, since the 1970’s Case has focused on refreshing the stamp every decade, with an even more focused concentration on the year of the blade’s construction starting in 2000, where they took to the dot method, starting with 5 dots and 5 x’s in 2000 and removing one for every year after 2000 that the knife was produced; a practice still ongoing now, as this year has been no exception.
The new Olive Green Tang Stamp Series is here as a testament that Case has made it through the hardest test: The test of time. Each of this nine part series is outfitted with the 2020 tang stamp proudly on its blade, but also has a throwback to some of the classics that were presented along the way, from the Teardrop pattern housing the 1930’s era tang stamp, all the way to the current 2020’s design sitting on a cigar band across the Medium Stockman, doing a delightful job making the series come full circle.
The series can be found here