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USN Mark I PAL RH 35


lfwises
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Coming home from Dulles Airport Friday afternoon I stopped at an antique guns/general militaria shop in Upperville, VA and bought a USN Mark I PAL RH 35 knife at what I thought was a good price. Now I need some advice from the experts: Are both knife and scabbard genuine and are they appropriate for each other? What time period are they from? What do the markings on the back of the scabbard mean? I don't plan to sell it but out of curiosity what would it be a fair valuation on it? Thanks for any info you can give me. Steve

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​The knife and scabbard are WWII contracted items. The knife is one of or the last or last contracted Mark-I knives by the US Navy awarded to the PAL Blade Co., which places this knife into the 1945 time frame of delivery. The markings on the back of the scabbard is the contract number, and contractor abbreviations, Beckwith Mfg. Co. and Victory Plastics. I am willing to wager the contract number is 8114? Condition is poor, maybe a $35-$40 set.

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​Basically what the contract number tells me is two things, first- it was of the latter procurements of this plastic scabbard, and two-is that it is with most certainty it was shipped to the factory and mated to the knife before being shipped to the government. This mean the scabbard is most likely organic to that knife, condition matches anyway.

​The 1/5 is a batch number, the late Gary Cunningham (Bayonetman) explained it somewhere

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So you stopped at CS Arms? I've shopped there several times and gotten some good deals. As for value, I've seen the scabbard alone go for $50 on ebay, while a complete set like yours go for $45 (in comparable condition). It's a good start to a lifetime of collecting these knives.

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Hi Bill - I love that store and try to stop any time I drive through there. If I ever win the lottery I'll probably buy a truckload from him. Steve

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