Original US WWI 1917-1918 Knuckle Trench Knives

Here's a few of my authentic American World War One trench knives made for trench warfare in 1917 and 1918.
For much of America's involvement in the First World War, American soldiers(known as "Doughboys" back then) carried the 1917 triangular bladed trench knife. They were made specifically to pierce thick German trench coats, then the triangular blade was banned for use in warfare because blades with 3 edges cause wounds that often don't heal and are difficult to stitch up.
Today these knives are rare collectables and believe it or not the leather sheath for the 1917 trench knife can be worth just as much if not more than the knife itself since so many of the leather sheaths have been damaged or destroyed from age or mishandling.
Towards the end of the war 1917 trench knives were replaced with the double edged 1918 "Mark I" brass knuckle knife but by the time they were issued to the troops, WWI was pretty much over so they were put into storage then reissued during WWII.
The first row of 1918 trench knives shown were made in France under contract before American makers could take over production and are the most likely ones to have seen combat during WWI. They have blades marked "Au Lion".
The ones to the right are American made and are marked "LF&C 1918" for the company "Landers Frary and Clark" and "OCL 1918" for "Oneida Community Limited". There were other makers of these knives but their knives are very hard to find and expensive.
The two shiny trench knives on the bottom are presentation pieces that have been polished during WWII. The one on the left was entirely chrome plated and they attempted to remove the "US 1918" marking on the handle before plating it.
The presentation knife to the right has had its blade polished and the handle was gold plated and etched "PRESENTED TO..." with the soldier's rank, name, battalion, and regiment.
There's two without blades, the one on the left was altered to be used as regular brass knuckles long ago(probably during WWII) and the last one marked O.C.L. is one of the rarest out there because only prototypes were made and the Army decided not to use them.
Beware if you buy these knives, there are many fakes out there especially for the 1918 knuckle knife!
First knife in the video all the way to the left is a machine gunner's bolo knife made by Plumb in 1917.
To see many more knuckle knives be sure to check out the "Brass Knuckles Collector Club" in yahoo groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/brassknucklescollectorclub
Enjoy the video!

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• World War II

[jimsoden]

Fascinating...cool stuff, Dan! :-)

[GunOwnerDan]

@jimsoden

Thanks, glad you like the video.

[gonfley]

wow those look nasty. They sure knew how to do a brutal knife back then, great stuff.

[GunOwnerDan]

@gonfley

Thanks, trench warfare was very brutal for sure.

[inoxesox]

awesome collection!

[GunOwnerDan]

@inoxesox

Thanks! I got the chrome plated one at :45 about a week ago, I think it looks a lot like your knife.

[natritious1]

I have one of these knives but the black tarnish was partially cleaned off of the blade. Have I reduced the value of my knife? How much do these guy's go for?

[markobyrne1]

Very cool! Nice collection, good music, good vid. Semper Fi.

[losttrails87]

@GunOwnerDan its too bad you didnt have the blade for that OCL, The blades looked way different, do you know how much an OCL prototype would go for? or are the few that were made in museums? sounds like you kind of know your stuff. liked the vid.

[MrTEXAN79]

Very nice!!

[ROOR20002]

@GunOwnerDan Thanks for the reply. Have a Happy New Years!

[jimsoden]

:-) Keep 'em comin'! :-)