History: Regarding popular fantasy bladed militaria

not2sharp

not2sharp

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These days it is hard to get through a flea market or BudK catalog without coming across hundreds of knives marked with all kinds of military insignia. Almost all of these are fakes and fantasies and a few of these have been flowing within the knife collecting community for generations, I am starting this thread so we can share what we know about these classic cons. We will be looking at fantasy military knives, that are not just reproductions, but which never really historically existed in the form they are encountered.

I will start us off with the German Paratrooper (pantographic) knife, which has been with us since the 1970s and has burned many novice collectors. These are said to be either WWII vintage German knives issued to paratroops or flyers, but they never were. The knives are interesting to look at but their association with Nazis, Germany, or WWII is a complete fantasy.

210733-bs-bi-01.jpg




Let's talk about these and other military cutlery myths from around the world.

n2s
 
This is another classic. The Krag bayonet is real, however the picket pin scabbard that often accompanies it is not correct. IIRC a major dealer started selling the miss-matched set about 70 years ago and they are still encountered in the wild.


This is what the 1912 picket pin was:
s-l1600.jpg


n2s
 
Last edited:
not2sharp said:
These days it is hard to get through a flea market or BudK catalog without coming across hundreds of knives marked with all kinds of military insignia. Almost all of these are fakes and fantasies and a few of these have been flowing within the knife collecting community for generations, I am starting this thread so we can share what we know about these classic cons. We will be looking at fantasy military knives, that are not just reproductions, but which never really historically existed in the form they are encountered.

I will start us off with the German Paratrooper (pantographic) knife, which has been with us since the 1970s and has burned many novice collectors. These are said to be either WWII vintage German knives issued to paratroops or flyers, but they never were. The knives are interesting to look at but their association with Nazis, Germany, or WWII is a complete fantasy.

210733-bs-bi-01.jpg




Let's talk about these and other military cutlery myths from around the world.

n2s
Click to expand...
Just to add to this, I knew very little about this type of knife so I'm copy and pasting a section about this style of knife from Wikipedia

"Examples of pantographic knives with patent markings D.R.G.M. (Deutsches Reich Gebrauchsmuster) indicate production in Germany during the war, but do not imply military issue. Although this design predates World War II, records of German paratroopers having genuinely been issued pantographic knives have not surfaced. To complicate identification, samples made with German army markings (brass handles with text in English language) seem to be post-war (1948) marketing attempts capitalizing on the term paratrooper."
 
Another classic is the Vivian carbine knife bayonet. There were a small number Vivian carbine firearms used by Irish constabulary during the 19th century. But the rare bayonet linked with them is not a knife bayonet like one shown below. These knife bayonets are believed to have been made in India and distributed during the 1970s. It’s a good looking bayonet and we certainly want to believe but the facts are not cooperating. Note: exercise caution, now that these things are at least 50 years old, they have had time to develop a real patina.

www.worthpoint.com

CONTROVERSIAL BRITISH VIVIAN KNIFE BAYONET NO SCABBARD | #1847429692

Double your traffic. Up for the auction is CONTROVERSIAL BRITISH VIVIAN KNIFE BAYONET. NO SCABBARD. A lot of collectors spent a lot of time researching Vivian dilemma but as far as I know no definit
www.worthpoint.com www.worthpoint.com

n2s
 
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