Mk1 M1918 Au Lion Handle

[Mike Delta]

Hi Everyone,

 

Looking to get some opinions on the handle of this Au Lion. I picked it up last weekend, more for the L.F.&C. scabbard that was on it. The blade has a faint Au Lion maker’s mark on it, however, the handle has had the “U.S.1918” scrubbed from it. It looks like the area was filled with brass and smoothed over. Any ideas on this? My initial thoughts were maybe it was used by a unit that didn’t want to be identified as American. Not sure why else this would have been done. Interested to hear everyone’s thoughts. 
 

Mike

[Bodes]

The original LF&C knives had a blackened finish added....One might think the brass would have more patina along with oxidation had the removal been done 100 plus years ago....Bodes

[themick]

I hope the scabbard is a nice one with both prongs intact.

 

Steve

[militariaone]

Greetings,

 

IMHO an all original Au Lion. Have seen this trait of obscured markings before with North African Free French Force's use of these knives. Not every Frenchman was a "fan" of carrying an American marked knife, even if it was made in France.😁 Have not heard of a better "story" behind these sanitized variants. These were an old and well-known American design. As such, removing the US markings wouldn't fool anyone as to their origin. 

 

Best,

 

V/r Lance 

[Mike Delta]

On 10/28/2024 at 7:19 PM, militariaone said:

Greetings,

 

IMHO an all original Au Lion. Have seen this trait of obscured markings before with North African Free French Force's use of these knives. Not every Frenchman was a "fan" of carrying an American marked knife, even if it was made in France.😁 Have not heard of a better "story" behind these sanitized variants. These were an old and well-known American design. As such, removing the US markings wouldn't fool anyone as to their origin. 

 

Best,

 

V/r Lance 

Thanks so much Lance! Yours was literally the opinion I was waiting on! (No offense to the other posters or anyone else!). Hopefully this topic will help other collectors as I haven’t seen it here in the forum. I’m sure there are others out there as this would make an interesting variant to a Mk1 collection.

 

Cheers!

 

Mike