Skeleton Case Hardened Blue Gem Patterns

Skeleton knives, as with other knife reskins, have an almost cult-like following in the CS2 fan base. These blades have a unique appearance, with the hole between the edge and handle used in unique inspection and use animation. With the introduction of the Case Hardened skin family, the rare blue copies of this knife granted the design even more value, and having a Blue Gem Skeleton quickly became a mark of status.

Inexperienced users can easily get frustrated trying to differentiate one Skeleton Knife Case Hardened Blue Gem from another. The Case Hardened family is pretty unusual among CS2 skins, with the price for a particular copy depending on both wear index and pattern number. The latter defines the proportions of blue, bronze, and purple colors on the blade, and it’s uniquely important for Case Hardeneds.

Also, you should keep in mind that a Case Hardened skin can look very different depending on which angle you view it from. For instance, there are patterns where the front side has plenty of cerulean hues, while the reverse one is almost totally bronze. The opposite is also true, making determining what is and is not a Blue Gem quite difficult. Case Hardened skins also tend to have an equally confusing price range, with seemingly identical items having widely different price points.

In fact, each Skeleton Knife Case Hardened Blue Gem pattern has its own price range, and to make sense of it we need to view the situation in more detail.

What are the Differences Between Skeleton Case Hardened Patterns?

Case Hardened skins became one of the first in CS:GO to mix diverse colors, forming a unique weapon finish. The real-life process of case-hardening is a way to increase surface durability of metals using special chemical compounds, and those leave unique finishes of blue, purple, and yellow as a side effect. Valve liked the visuals, and included a thousand variations (patterns) of Case Hardened into the game.

The CS community has collectively decided that rare copies with a lot of blue dye look great, making them highly desirable and increasing their prices to previously unimaginable levels (which is honestly unsurprising, considering how rare knife skins are to begin with). Moreover, players then discovered that there was a group of Skeleton Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns almost entirely covered in blue.

While there’s lots of patterns that didn’t make it into this elite list, they still look pretty cool and can command four-digit prices.

Depending on the amount of blue on the knife, all Blue Gems are divided into four tier levels, with the following approximate proportions:

1. Tier 1—95+% of the surface is blue;
2. Tier 2—80% to 95%;
3. Tier 3—65% to 80%;
4. Tier 4—50% to 65%.

Of course, Tier 1 knives are the most expensive and can cost more than $10,000, while the price tags for tier-4 copies usually stay below a thousand bucks. The summary table with all the Skeleton Blue Gem patterns looks like this:

Skeleton Case Hardened Seeds

You should note that there are some issues with the Skeleton Case Hardened Blue Gem seed allocation. Generally, all four tiers look how you would expect them to and have corresponding prices, but the devil hides in the details.

1st Tier Skeleton Case Hardened Patterns (Blue Gem)

Let’s start the review of the elite tier with one of the best patterns of the Skeleton Case Hardened Blue Gem knife you can get. We’re talking about the #169 paint index, which boasts an almost-ideal blue blade on the main side. According to the info we’ve found on forums, such a copy was sold in the summer of 2024 for more than $26,000, and it wasn’t even a Factory New one! However, there is no arguing that it looks great, and is extremely hard to come by.

Another tier-1 example costs almost ten times less because of an easily noticeable bronze-like tip of the blade’s edge. Even the Field-Tested wear doesn’t save the price for the #58 pattern, which hovers around 2,700 bucks. It’s surely not the best Blue Gem Skeleton knife around, but owning it is still very prestigious.

2nd Tier Patterns

Although it is what Skeleton Blue Gem pattern you get that usually determines the price of a knife, the following copy shows that condition can also impact it. The #556 pattern belongs to the second tier, but the knife's Battle-Scarred condition poisons the whole impression. Interestingly, the reverse side of this knife has almost the same amount of azure hue as the front, but it doesn’t save the price tag, which stands just below $600 (a steal for collectors).

Contrastingly, some tier-2 patterns with a better wear index look much better. For example, the #262 pattern looks pretty much the same as the tier-1 seed #58 and has almost the same amount of blue on the reverse side. A Minimal Wear copy looks pretty solid in-game, and will cost you an upward of 2,500 dollars.

We have one more knife from the second tier to show you, and it is kinda mediocre by the standards of the group. The #210 pattern has enough blue dye on the main side to call it a Blue Gem, but the Well-Worn condition spoils the whole impression. The price tag is also a median between the upper two — slightly more than $1,600.

3rd & 4-th Tier Patterns

The bottom two tiers are sometimes regarded as not being true Blue Gems, but some examples still deserve your attention.

The #601 pattern belongs to the 3rd tier and has enough blue hue on the blade’s front side, but once again, you should pay attention to the knife’s condition. Of course, the Battle-Scarred copy won’t cost you all the money in the world, but it looks mediocre compared to a factory new one.

At the same time, the Skeleton Knife Blue Gem pattern #915 in the Minimal Wear condition looks nice and reminiscent of those from higher tiers. At the same time, the price for such a dagger is pretty democratic, standing on the $1,200 level to obtain it, and for a reason.

Tier 4 is similar to the third one in a sense that the wear significantly impacts the prices of these items. For instance, the #619 pattern could cost much more than $800 at high wear, while a Well-Worn copy will cost you several times that.

A Factory New #959 knife shines in the artificial sun and looks really nice, even with half of the edge being non-blue. The latest deal on it was closed for $1,800, which is quite low for a Blue Gem.

The #179 pattern is one more interesting variant among 4th-tier seeds. This option has near-symmetrical painting from both sides of the blade with enough blue dye, with the price once again depending on the wear index. The latest traded one was in Field-Tested condition and went for $1,200.

Conclusion

As you can see, the trading value of Skeleton Blue Gem depends on both pattern index and wear condition. The latter impacts the knife’s appearance in the game and how it shines under light, while the pattern represents the amount of blue color on its surface. Still, if you want to sell or buy a Skeleton Knife that has a claim on the Blue Gem status, you should compare it with others on the market to choose the optimal price.