Spartan real or fake

[gardenrambo]

Just received a Spartan from a reputable dealer. However there are some things that make me wonder if it's real. 1. there is some kind of mini jimping left and right to the locking bar (right in front of the thumb disc). Haven't noticed this on pics/in vids before. 2. the clip doesn't say Cold Steel. I read in another thread that this might be the case on older models but mine came in one of the new boxes and the change happened some years ago. 3.The blade is marked CTS BD-1 on the ricasso. Again I haven't seen this on pics/ in vids before. 4. I read that the spartan has one of the stiffest locking bars, on mine it's relatively easy to unlock.
5. The blade has a little bit of up/down play. Similar to the SR-1 it's just noticeable if you grab the tip of the blade and wiggle it up and down. Maybe this will go away after some use or diss- and reassembly. But since bladeplay is rare with Tri-Ad locks it makes me curious too.

 

[gardenrambo]

Update: Just dissassembled the knife and what I see looks legit to me. It was a bit strange that all scale screws on one side weren't tightened properly. Maybe another person has checked where the bladeplay might come from before and then sent it back. After reassembling the knife and opening and closing it the up and down play is gone.

The knife already bit me :-D

 

[hermit dave]

Looks real to me.