M1918 Mk. I Trench Knife comparing originals to your “suspect” knife thread

[poch]

Lance,

great thread for all fans of this knife.

Here is a pic of my L.F. & C.

[militariaone]

Lance,

great thread for all fans of this knife.

Here is a pic of my L.F. & C.

Greetings Pavel,

 

Thank you, for the compliment. I need to get off my backside and do a similar thread for the M1917/18, but I've been too busy of late. You have a very nice condition M1918 Mk. I, thank you for the share. Nice to see an un-abused knife and scabbard!

Regards,

 

Lance

[militariaone]

Greetings all,

 

Saw this on eBay today (before it was pulled off), and it appears to be genuine Au Lion's blade, skull crusher, and scabbard mated with a sterile (reproduction's) handle. Handle's color seems odd too; it may be one of those aluminum Vietnam attributed variants (or not). Note the poor fitting at the point where the ricasso's shoulders meet the handle (white arrows) and the handle's obvious lack of "U.S. 1918" markings. Still a nice set for those with a set of genuine Au Lion's knuckles looking for the rest of the parts. Sorry before you PM me, I have no parts to offer.

 

Caveat Emptor!

 

Lance

 

 

[militariaone]

If you were ever contemplating carrying one of these knives on your kit in uniform, the Mark 3 Mod 0 knife’s scabbard works quite well as modern adaption. I did a jump and hump with that combo (once) in 1986 see picture below. The knife rode well enough in the scabbard, but was a weighty nuisance on my hip. I never carried it again and years later (when I once again caught the “Rambo” spirit) wisely switched to a Gerber (Applegate-Fairbairn) folder instead. It did not come with the intimidation factor of the M1918 Mk. I, but for the random utilitarian tasks needed of a knife while deployed; it was a far better choice.

 

Cheers,

 

Lance

 

 

[tully216]

 

Morning,

 

This is my first attempt to load pictures hope to figure this out. I joined this forum to help with MK1 info. I had been on the look out for one for a while and found this forum to be amazingly helpfull. Thanks in advance to all of you guys!! I recently aquired this Au Lion 1918 MK1, my first one and was hoping for members thoughts on it. It was from an on line auction and they send me more photos to help determine condition etc. To my surprise, when it arrived I was amazed on the condition. With that said I am hoping with members help I can determine that it is not a repro. I used this pade to view the differences from originals and repros and as far as I could determine it was an original.

The blade is very sharp with no signs of grind marks and I beleave it has a lot of cross grain on the blade. Ths scab appears to have remmnets of I think blue paint thinking it may be the blue the french used on their equipment. Could this be possible. It does have some black on it also.

[tully216]

 

Sorry can not figure how to reduce pic size and get all pics on one post!

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[tully216]

 

 

[tully216]

[tully216]

[tully216]

 

The rear side o blade almost looks as though the blade had a markers mark on it for possily the french trench knife. Could they have decided to take blade for the french trench knife and use them for the MK 1 Au Lion to fill the need? Any thoughts on this theory or anyone have the same blemish on their blades. Just a novice and his wild imagination.

[tully216]

 

Comparing the two they seem exact, length, width etc.

[tully216]

 

Morning,

 

This is my first attempt to load pictures hope to figure this out. I joined this forum to help with MK1 info. I had been on the look out for one for a while and found this forum to be amazingly helpful. Thanks in advance to all of you guys!! I recently aquired this Au Lion 1918 MK1, my first one and was hoping for members thoughts on it. It was from an on line auction and they sent me more photos to help determine condition etc. When it arrived I was amazed on the condition. With that said I am hoping with members help I can determine that it is not a repro. I used this page to view the differences from originals and repros and as far as I could determine it was an original.

The blade is very sharp with no signs of grind marks and I believe it has a lot of cross grain on the blade. The scab appears to have remmnets of I think blue paint, thinking it may be the blue the french used on their equipment. Could this be possible. It does have some black on it also.

[militariaone]

Greetings Mark,

 

All of your Au Lion's parts appear to be originals (to me) I've no reason to doubt their authenticity. As for the markings on the backside of the ricasso, you may go here http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artiklar/m1916/m1916eng.htm to compare examples of the manufacturers for the French Couteau poignard Mle 1916. None appear to be a spot-on match, but then again I did not spend too much time reviewing the nuances of each mark and your knife's marks either. Perhaps, after your own careful review, one of the manufactures' logos will become a possible candidate. As far as possible French use of your knife (due to the scabbard's blue paint remnants), I have no idea... anything is possible, but I am unaware of anything officially issued (to the French), perhaps it was traded? Thank you, for sharing your knives.

 

Regards,

 

Lance

[tully216]

Thanks Lance,

 

I was really appreciate the reply!

 

 

Regards,

 

Mark

[poch]

So finally I have found Au Lion

[militariaone]

So finally I have found Au Lion

 

Greetings Pavel,

A nice solid example, I am happy for you!

 

Regards,

 

Lance

[poch]

Lance, thank you! I am happy to find one with correct scabbard although only with one pron.

[militariaone]

Greetings all,

 

Saw this abomination today. It ostensibly cost the purchaser $525.00 + an $89.25 buyer's premium as seen here http://www.icollector.com/WWI-U-S-1918-Brass-Knuckle-Trench-Knife-This-lo_i19438719 The faker even went through the trouble of marking the reproduction scabbard too. No original scabbards (French or American) look at all like this one pictured, or like the recently offered example as paired with an original Au Lion variant on the forum’s for sale page. A fool and their money, eh?

 

Regards,

 

Lance

 

 

[tully216]

Any recent value on a HD&S knuckle knife without a scab would be greatly appreciated. Seems like a fair amount of the black still on blade and handle.

 

 

Thanks in Advance,

 

Mark

[tully216]

 

 

Photo of the HD&S knife

[tully216]

 

 

Another view

[tully216]

[militariaone]

Greetings,

 

I did not view this post before I posted on the edged weapons thread (getting slow I guess). In my humble opinion, this (above) H. D. & S. is right as rain. You are one very lucky collector!

 

Regards,

 

Lance

[Les George]

2 HD&S knuckle knife.jpg

 

 

Another view

 

awesome, congrats

[Gilles]

Greetings all,

 

I Saw this on a French website today. It's an Au Lion variant, in an L.F. & C. scabbard with a wannabe M1910 mounting hook welded to the back. Thought it was weird enough to warrant a post here.

 

Regards,

 

Lance

au lion.jpg

 

Hi

 

Knife found in France