"Commercial" Marbles Jet Pilot Knife - with provenance

[Erikscollectables]

I received this knife together with a lot of other items from the same person from his widow.

He was a friend of my parents. He worked as a civilian contractor to the US Army and Air Force.

He spent years in Thule, Greenland and after that 5 years in Vietnam and many interesting places after that.

 

Here some pictures of the knife on the actual flying jacket of this person.

The knife and jacket can be seen both in the colour picture from '64 in Thule.

 

So it is a commercial version as I have learned in the meantime but I cannot imagine this person buying one when he could get anything he wanted from the military. A bit of a riddle to me.

 

Any insights?

 

By the way after Greenland he took it to Vietnam!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Erikscollectables]

Same person in Vietnam, must have a pic somewhere of him with the knife in VN.

 

[Patchcollector]

First off,nice knife!There could be a number of reasons for him having that particular knife.The first I would think is simply personal preference.Also,being a civilian contractor,he may not have had as many choices of military issue as one would think.I'm not sure of the rules,but something may have prevented him from acquiring a military issue blade.He certainly did have an interesting itinerary!

What was his job for the military?I like the photos that came with the knife!

[SKIPH]

It could have been a gift, or his own private purchase. Nice knife either way. I like the 6" JPKs, Marbles are rare to me. SKIP

[Erikscollectables]

Hi, it is not entirely clear what he did for the military.

He had a background in hotel management (studied in Switzerland) and studied medicine in the US..

We think he did something with facilities but what is not sure.

 

In Vietnam he worked for the building company RMK-BRJ but unclear in what capacity.

He got all kinds of military stuff although being a civilian and he spent time with military people a lot.

I have a nice group of photo's where is on a river patrol boat.

 

His photo's do not help much in determining what he did...

 

 

 

[Erikscollectables]

Here is a picture of him with the knife in Vietnam, cleaning his M1 carabine (with double banana magazines)

 

[Erikscollectables]

And his duffle bag gives some info on what he did

 

His initials GHM Med Dept

F&D (no idea what that means?) RMK-BRJ - the building company.

And it seems he was attached to the 6th division.

 

[sundance]

Is that a Rolex? Did it come with the package? That alone would be one pricey item.Fits with his time in Switzerland.

[Erikscollectables]

Is that a Rolex? Did it come with the package? That alone would be one pricey item.Fits with his time in Switzerland.

 

Yep that is a Rolex but he bought it in 1967 during R&R in Hong Kong.

All photo's, papers and military items I have inherited but for the watches I have paid a fair amount to the widow as she could use the money. Next to this I have his gold Omega Seamaster that he bought on the Thule Base Exchange (both with box and papers).

 

[Erikscollectables]

Here he is with the Rolex on the stairs and the Rolex today next to the picture:

 

[nifman]

The Military Marbles knives are pretty rare. They will have a iron or steel guard with a blued finish. I am not sure at this time how many of the Military knives were made, and even if they were ever issued. I will check my references on them to try to find out. Frank T would be the guy to ask as he has much of the paperwork to prove what he says.

Dennis aka nifman.