American Premium Guide to Knives and Razors

Jim Sargent's book, American Premium Guide to knives and razors is not a let down if you are into Case or Queen knives. If you have bought other guides and been disappointed by how many advertisements were in it you will be very happy with this book because there are none. Most of the pictures are black and white but they are detailed and easy to see. There are color pics and these are quite good but few. Even still, going through the pictures is akin to walking into a knife museum. There are sections in the book for Crandall and Remington but not as detailed or lengthy as the Case and Queen sections. Still these smaller sections are very good compared to anything else I've found. The Case fixed blade section of this book is about as good as any I have ever run across with information I have never found anywhere else for any price. This section even details the differences in sheaths from different eras and how to date the knife by the sheath if necessary. I would recommend this book to any Case, Queen or Remington collector. It is not going to cover other manufacturers in detail so if you are looking for values on your Spyderco knives this is not the book you want. What it does cover for the Case, Queen, and Remington collector is perhaps some of the most comprehensive and detailed information for these knives as you can find anywhere at this writing. It is a great guide for these brands. I've said, "WOW, I did not know that" more times since acquiring this book than any other knife guide I've ever purchased.

No one book can completely cover even one subfield of knife collecting and values anymore, but this is probably one of the five or six essential reference works for knife collectors. I bought it mainly because I've been a case collector in the past, and it's also especially strong on pocket knives, and Case is the most well known and most collectible of the factory production pocket knives. The book covers all the other main names in that field, including Buck, Schrade, Remington, Queen, Camillus, Parker, Kershaw, Schatt and Morgan, Winchester, and many other lesser known names. But it also covers fixed blades, limited editions and semi-custom, and custom knives are covered as well. But this book is considered to have the strongest coverage of any collector's book on Case, and it's probably an essential reference work for any Case and other American pocket knife collector.

This book has chapters on many of the quality but lesser known American cutlery brands along with extensive check lists and illustrations. It does the same for many straight razor makers. For those who collect the brands covered herein, this book is essential.