M3/V42 lovechild

[jeremy69]

Picked this up on eBay. Don’t usually go for “Theater” knives but thought this one was really well done...

[SKIPH]

jeremy69- Very cool, and very well done. Someone knew what they were doing. Like yourself, "theater" knives don't attract me either, but I would have probably grabbed this one too. THX for showing. SKIP

[siclfde]

Pretty neat.  I myself like some theater knives if they are well done.  This one seems to be.  I would have bid if I had seen it.

[Backtheattack]

Great knife! Congratulation

[jeremy69]

Thanks for the kind comments. It was a “buy it now” at a high price and I guess eBay let the seller know I “watched” it and he sent me a lower offer which I counter offered and we settled.

 

I was hoping it was guard marked, but the guard is brass which I didn’t see in the pictures so this is just as likely an M4 blade. Don’t really care, it is what it is. Very well post WWII as well.

[EmperorWangDong]

I like it, it has character. Some GI must've been jealous of those pesky FSSF guys and made his own with what he had!

[lovnik]

I like it.

[Hombre]

As a member from Sweden I guess my English is not what it should be…

I have always been thinking up to now that a “Theater Knife” is not the real deal… That it was something like a toy but when I read an old post here made by gunbarrel, he explained it like this: A theater knife is a handmade or altered knife made in or for a certain theater of war.

Then I do not understand why it seems that people are not so keen in collecting them… I find them extremely interesting and the one you bought Jeremy69 look just great…

 

/Hombre

[Tony V]

Jeremy

 

    Very nice find, congratulations! Thank you for sharing.

 

Tony

 

[huntssurplus]

4 hours ago, Hombre said:

As a member from Sweden I guess my English is not what it should be…

I have always been thinking up to now that a “Theater Knife” is not the real deal… That it was something like a toy but when I read an old post here made by gunbarrel, he explained it like this: A theater knife is a handmade or altered knife made in or for a certain theater of war.

Then I do not understand why it seems that people are not so keen in collecting them… I find them extremely interesting and the one you bought Jeremy69 look just great…

 

/Hombre

 

The reason that some collectors don't like collecting "theatre knives" (at least as I understand it) is that knives, or just items in general that are altered in any way could have been altered at any course of the items existence. Meaning that it could have been altered to something resembling a "theatre knife" after the war but still labeled and sold as a "theatre modified knife". Without any proof or documentation, some of these "theatre knives" could have been altered yesterday for all we know. 

 

Plus a lot of collectors just prefer collecting all the types and variations of knives, so something that isn't a rare variant or something may not interest them. There could be an infinite number of variations of "theatre knives" but only a finite number of variations of un-messed with manufacture variations. 

[Hombre]

5 hours ago, huntssurplus said:

 

The reason that some collectors don't like collecting "theatre knives" (at least as I understand it) is that knives, or just items in general that are altered in any way could have been altered at any course of the items existence. Meaning that it could have been altered to something resembling a "theatre knife" after the war but still labeled and sold as a "theatre modified knife". Without any proof or documentation, some of these "theatre knives" could have been altered yesterday for all we know. 

 

Plus a lot of collectors just prefer collecting all the types and variations of knives, so something that isn't a rare variant or something may not interest them. There could be an infinite number of variations of "theatre knives" but only a finite number of variations of un-messed with manufacture variations. 

Thank you for explaining and I understand what you mean... Anyway, it must be the same when people ask a lot of money for a "Jet Pilot Survival Knife" because it is coming from the Vietnam era... but you do not know... maybe it has spend the whole life in a desk in New York if there is no proof of something else...

 

Talking about the Vietnam era... The Vietnam War ended 1975 but if I understand it right, when it comes to blades it ended 1973... I have a very nice Gerber Mark II made 1974 and thought it was from the Vietnam era but was told it was not... and that a Gerber Mark II made 1973 cost much more than one made like mine 1974... It can be complicated with blades...🙂

 

[sactroop]

1973 is when the peace treaty was signed, (end of January) and the last of the U.S. combat troops came home, (March 29th).  The U.S. was turning the fighting over to the RVN Army well before that.  IMHO, I wouldn't consider much difference in price for a Mark 1 in similar condition, with serial number dates from 1972-1975.