"Navajo Windtalker" USMC Fighting Knife

[all-bull]

Hey guys,

I had a friend who works at an auction company show me this today. Here is the story behind it:

 

The owner's brother was a Marine in WWII and worked with a unit that had Navajo codetalkers. While in the unit, his brother became quite good friends with one of the codetalkers, and this was given to him by the codetalker to the man's brother. It is supposedly the knife that the Indian carried with him in the Pacific Theater.

 

Here's the catch:

 

The man who owns the knife is obviously fairly old. When my friend first asked about the knife, the man said that he had pictures and names of his brother and the Native American. Now he is wishy-washy and does not want to show anything (or realizes he does not have anything) more than the knife. Due to auction contracts, at this point in time, I have no way of getting the name of the man who is going to sell it (the brother of the Marine), so I can not look up any sort of unit.

 

I would like to know two things:

Do ya'll think it's original?

 

What is the value of something like this?

 

Any help would be great. THANKS!!

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10...please excuse the oil and grease on my hands in the last pic...it looks like it used to be a cross, but has been rubbed off...The other picture has PAL and Made in USA on the blade in case it can't be read... THANKS!!!

[all-bull]

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[CamoDeafie]

nice Navy PAL blade marked knife! buy the knife, not the story. if there isnt a document or some such of the owner of the knife to go with it, then it may well be hard to prove it was a navajo owned knife

[nuke41]

Without proof on the former code talker owner I'd assume that's been added to increase the value.

[S McKibben]

There are tons of storys out there but very little to back them up.It is a very neat scabbard but with out proof its just a scabbard.

 

Shawn

[Still-A-Marine]

You would most likely never be able to prove the story true or false. Having said that - the scabbard looks pretty cool. If you like it go for it. Just forget the story and bid on the knife and scabbard as is without any story. Bill

[billythekid]

Depending upon how much time you have to answer the question - and how important it is to you, I may be in just the right place to help. I'm currently living in Gallup N.M. where my wife works for the Indian Health Service - her patient population is exclusively Navajo (by far the majority), Hopi and Zuni Native Americans. Gallup is sorrounded by the Navajo and Zuni reservations (Hopi being north within the Navajo area). At least once a year there is a Navajo Codetalker book signing or other such event. I also have a good many friends who've lived here all their lives and can likely either ID the symbols or have them ID'd.

 

Feel free to email me at: billy AT mwrforum D0T net

 

Kind regards,

 

Billy

[KASTAUFFER]

Boy Scouts often used knives like this after the war too and they often paint indian symbols on things they use. Not uncommon.

 

Without a name and documentation, the origin of the painting on the sheath will always be speculation.

 

Kurt

[billythekid]

I think that if the paiting was at least true to Navajo then you'd at least have a start - if it were something akin to boyscouts or someone just adding this to increase value then I'd doubt very seriously that the painting has any true Navajo meaning. Just my .02c

 

Kind regards,

 

Billy

[Nkomo]

I asked my wife (who is a Navajo from the Inscription House, AZ area) and she has never seen anything quite like it before. I lived on the Navajo Reservation for 3 years and never saw anything like it either. That being said, I would hit the flea markets on the Rez and off the Rez on a regular basis and saw very little militaria period. Navajos are extremely proud of their military service and don't usually part with items they used. I can count on one hand the number of military items I picked up from the flea markets.

 

To me, this doesn't look like the quality of workmanship I'd expect coming from a Navajo. However, I did do some research online and found some interesting things about the knife scabbard. I typed in Navajo symbols into the Google search engine and here is what I found:

1. Top symbol- Sun rays which means "Constant"

2. The second symbol- Thunderbird which means "Good Omen"

3. The third symbol- Crossed Arrows (??) which means "Friendship"

4. The fourth symbol- Hatchets (????)

5. The fifth symbol- Two feathers (????)which means "Healing Power"

 

The website can be seen here as well: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:/...=1&ct=image

 

NOW......these symbols were common on Navajo and Zuni jewelry. The question remains....was this down by a Codetalker or by someone else? If you could track it down to a Codetalker, then the sky would be the limit as far as price goes. As of right now, it is a nice knife with a scabbard that has painted Native American symbols on it. As I'm sure you know...id'd Codetalker items are extremely rare and command high prices. Hope this helps!

Arch

[gdunk]

I collect edged weapons and i have 1. If anyone can confirm it as windtalker I would like to know. THe symbols are a turtle over water and and Eagle. I was told the eagle was a messager between earth and the creator and the turtle was associated with the start of North America. I'll try to attach pics

[gdunk]

I collect edged weapons and this is one of my favorites. If anyone can confirm it as windtalker I would like to know. THe symbols are a turtle over water and and Eagle. I was told the eagle was a messager between earth and the creator and the turtle was associated with the start of North America

 

 

Sorry having trouble uploading the pictures

 

if you are interested i could email you pics just message me