With dogged determination and a love of local history, Bradford’s Bob Baker has unearthed what he calls “the holy grail” of Case knife collecting.

It’s a cabinet from Little Valley, N.Y., the original home of Case Bros. knives, marked with their company’s early logo.

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And as with most things involving Baker, there’s a heck of a story around it.

“This is a rare, one-of-a-kind Case Bros. Cutlery cabinet that dates back to the turn of the century,” Baker said. “I found this extraordinary cabinet less than 1 mile from the original Case Brothers Cutlery factory that burned to the ground in 1912.”

To tell that story, we have to start with this one.

“I’ve always been a bit of a picker,” Baker said, referring to his hobby of digging through overlooked spaces, negotiating for collectibles, and uncovering the history behind the items he finds. “And I really love history, especially local history.”

He collects several things, like license plates and Case knives, and items relating to the area’s past — like a theater poster from the old Shea’s Theatre in Bradford. Friendly and outgoing, Baker tends to befriend others he meets while buying or selling collectibles. One of those was Morris Lanning.

Baker gave the back story to the friendship: “I worked at Case for over a decade, from 1990 to 2001. I started there at the factory floor and was promoted 11 times in 11 years. I hold some patents for Case knives like the Hobo.”

In his collection, he had a Case Bros. license plate from the 1950s. It was in rough shape, but that model was hard to get. When he found another one, he sold his first one online. The buyer was Lanning, who lived in South Carolina.

“He reached out through Facebook because he saw I was from Bradford. He asked what I knew about Case. We were instant friends,” Baker said.

Lanning asked if he ever came across anything Case related when he was out picking; Baker said not very often.

A framed display holds knife blanks and a printing block bearing the Case Brothers Cutlery name.

“It was probably a week after he mentioned that when I found the cabinet,” Baker said.

He explained another picker had told him about a man near Little Valley who had a lot of stuff, but wasn’t very willing to part with it. Baker ended up in the area doing work for his contracting company, and called the other picker for directions to the man’s property.

Baker’s a determined guy, and was hopeful he’d be able to work with the man.

“This guy didn’t trust me right off the bat,” Baker explained. “I got him to agree to show me around. He had a lot of rare, old antiques that I wanted to buy. Every time I found a piece I liked he said ‘it’s not for sale.’ Everything that’s not for sale, he’s got a story to go with it.”

Baker listened to the stories for hours while he looked at the man’s collection.

“After about five hours of that, I’m kind of frustrated and about ready to give up. The last outbuilding he takes me in, I see it,” he said, referring to the Case cabinet. “I almost had a heart attack.”

Rather than let on that he was excited, he bypassed the cabinet and walked farther into the building. He looked through all kinds of oddities before starting back out of the building. He mentioned, “What about that old Case brothers cabinet, would you sell that?”

The man said yes. He named a price — more than Baker had on him at the moment. “I said, ‘I’m interested. I will take some pictures of it and come back and buy it off of you.'”

There was no cell service at the site, so Baker pulled over miles down the road and sent the pictures to Lanning. “He said, ‘Oh my God, Bob, you have to buy it.’ He offered to send the money by PayPal, but I told him the man didn’t have anything like that.”

By the time Baker got home, it was too late to drive back that night. He was worried the man might change his mind if he waited. “That night neither Morris nor I slept,” Baker said.

First thing in the morning, he went back, and bought the cabinet.

“I thought about keeping it,” Baker said, “but I knew this had to be seen. Sometimes it’s about putting something in the right place.”

Lanning has Wagon Wheel Antiques and Cutlery in Easley, S.C., a knife museum and store he runs with Lesa Cobb. That is the right place for the cabinet, Baker said.

One-hundred years of dirt and grime were cleaned off the piece, and the details of its hardware and paint job were researched, and it all checked out. The collectors had one important question: How did the cabinet survive the devastating Case fire in 1912?

“We believe that cabinet was in the horse-drawn wagon for when they were jobbers,” Baker said. “If you look at the top, it’s not leather. It’s the actual stuff they would have made the headliner out of in a Model T.”

The top looks like it would have been used to display knives that were transported in the drawers for salesmen out on the road.

The man it came from had bought the cabinet at an estate sale in the 1970s. It was full of costume jewelry. He had sold it once, but regretted it and bought it back for more money.

Dust and grime cover the Case Bros. cabinet before cleaning. Bob Baker found the piece less than a mile from the company’s original Little Valley, N.Y., factory, which burned in 1912.

“You can tell this thing has lived a life,” Baker said. There are scratches and dings, as one would expect from its age, and signs that it was created as a printer’s cabinet before being repurposed.

The cabinet is now at Wagon Wheel Antiques, on display with Case ephemera from the same location where Baker got the cabinet. Introducing the cabinet to his collection was an event for Lanning, one where Baker was invited to share stories of working as a process engineer at Case and of finding the piece.

Baker and his wife, Vickie, went down for the event.

“I knew that Morris was planning a big event down there,” Baker said. It was a secret, and he had a difficult time staying quiet. “I had to keep my mouth shut, it was killing me to do it but I did.”

Referring to the event, Baker said, “He spoiled us, he treated us like royalty. It was a big deal. He had shirts made up.”

He’s happy the cabinet ended up where it did.

It’s important to me that it went to somebody who appreciated it like I did and people could see it,” Baker said. With a laugh, he added, “I love to brag about everything I find.”

This find may well be the piece that “started the dynasty,” he said. And that is something to brag about.