I was at a gunshow and asked a fellow why that old Buck 119 Special was 50 bucks and he said it was vintage and better than the new bucks- Pre 78 or something if I remember correctly... I saw nothing "special" about it.

Can a Buck collector enlighten me? Is there a "Pre 64" type era for Buck as there was for Winchester?

Not sure about the timeframe, but once upon a time Buck used a high chromium/vanadium alloy (at least that was what the advertised) "renowned" for it's edge holding ability. I can tell you this much for sure, the older Bucks hold their edge FAR better than the newer 420 HC knives do!

On the down side the older Bucks have more brittle blades too, sadly I found this out the hard way (I own no older Bucks anymore they have died/been lost).

As I recall the last Buck folding hunter I had, which was supposed to use the "good" steel, I bought new in the early 80s from Kmart.

ASS_CLOWN

You can get some of the Bucks custom made ,the very best steel and the handle material of your choice.To me that would the best way to go.

I don't know what the time frame is either but I can tell you older ones are by far, harder steel. Take an "Old" Buck and a new one and run them across a medium grit stone and just LISTEN to the difference, the old one will sound like it is tearing up that stone! A much more "Gritty" sound.
My lockback and fixed blade were bought back in the late sixties. A good source for the old ones is in Pawn Shops.

That old Buck had 440C blade steel. 440C is a pretty darn good using steel and is actually used by a number of custom knife makers. Buck does a good job with their current 420HC for a compromise of edge holding and ease of resharpening. The real deal if a fellow likes the 110 folder is to have a knife built in the Buck Custom Shop. You can get either ATS-34 or BG-42 in the custom house along with your pick of handle materials and bolsters. That may sound expensive but it's only about twice the cost of a Wal-Mart Buck knife. A better buy yet is one of the Cabela's Guide series Buck's with S30V blade steel. S30V is an excellent steel, top notch, and much better than the factory 420HC.