Another silly commemorative Kabar auction

[DRE66]

Looks like the guy who bought the "Korean War" knife pulled the auction early. Wonder why?

[reschenk]

There is currently a listing (http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-ORIGINAL-M1832-NOS-Date-1839-ARTILLERY-SHORT-SWORD-Unissued-Old-Stock-/122356267414?hash=item1c7d007996:g:aygAAOSwWxNYo3HL) for a M1832 foot artillery sword with an even more outrageously BS story:

 

In reality, this sword is one of the well-known and well-documented 1839-dated reproductions produced by the infamous House of Swords back in the 1980s. Although like most HoS fakes, these are well made quality repros, but they can be distinguished:

- The beak on the eagle on the pommel is too straight and lacks a hook

- The eagle above the Ames address is wrong - has a chicken-like head, and poorly executed feet

- The "UNITED/STATES/1839/WS" markings are left justified as opposed to center justified as on originals

- The "MS" font is slightly different than the originals

- The rivets are too bright and silver. This is because they are aluminum-based rather than iron

- In the case of this sword, the total lack of aging. Even if stored in controlled environment, leather especially will show signs of age after 180 years.

 

Clearly this arsenal old stock story was concocted to explain the implausibly new condition of this fake. Most examples of the HoS repros I have seen have had some aging and slightly less overly sharp stampings. I'm almost inclined to think that the lister is ignorant of the truth and relaying a story given to him because of the ridiculously high asking price, $4,499. If genuine, this sword wouldn't be worth anywhere near that price.

 

 

Well mark one up for the good guys! I wrote to the lister and provided him the above info. He ended the listing early because of an error in the listing and sent me a nice note thanking me for the info. He stated he was just going by the late owner of the collections notes. It's nice to see someone honest who will correct a mistake when shown the truth.

 

 

[sactroop]

FYI, auction for the Camillus knife was ended early with the bids cancelled.

[jw517]

It will be back.

[tom63]

Another eBay knife. A good story; an even better imagination!! Code Talker Knife Looks like a Vietnam era (or later) Jet Pilots Knife to me.

[sactroop]

When I first read Code Talker Knife, I thought maybe it was one of the knives that Camillus made for the movie.

[tom63]

Another eBay knife. A good story; an even better imagination!! Code Talker Knife Looks like a Vietnam era (or later) Jet Pilots Knife to me.

 

Here are a couple of photos of the "WW2 Code Talker Knife" in case the link disappears.

 

[DRE66]

Not even a mil spec knife but a Japanese copy. His ad reads: Could be a "Code talker" knife. He should have added: or could have belonged to an 8 year old kid with an active imagination. ?