Can I See Your Trench Knives?

[VocelkaV]

Here is a german WW1 fighting knife, Regiment stamp on blade:
IR 181 (181th Infenterie Regiment)
Please check out the unit history here:

15. Königlich Sächsisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 181

The unit suffered heavy casualties during WW1, all respect...

Check out the temporary fixing on the crossguard)
(the sheath is repainted)

[VocelkaV]

3 pieces of PUMA made german WW2 fighting knives, my favourits.

[VocelkaV]

The one Puma on the right side has a small history:
It belonged to hungarian Waffen-SS soldier, who lived i a small willage not far from here.
Most of theese knives were unfortunatelly used even after WW2, therefore it is very hard to find a perfect peace.I also have to admit that the blades are extreme rigid, if you throw it, the blade cracks very often, so be very careful with them.As you can see,this is exactly what happened to the middle and right one, the blades are 7-8mm shorter..

[VocelkaV]

One of mine Infanteriemesser

[Reibert]

Here is a german WW1 fighting knife, Regiment stamp on blade:
IR 181 (181th Infenterie Regiment)
Check out the temporary fixing on the crossguard ...
(the sheath is repainted)

Is there a story behind this knife ?

I do have some doubts about the regimental stamping ...

[VocelkaV]

Not much story, i bought it from an unknown man,for extremely cheap price, the whole knife was painted to BLUE!!!I took me a few hours until i washed the thick blue color of from the handle and the sheath with a non agressive alcohol..
What is your doubt about the regimental stamp?

[Reibert]

...
What is your doubt about the regimental stamp?

The way and the place, the mark is stamped is not typical.
I also do not like the letters.

You can find such regimental,- or, unit marks upon blades or/and scabbards of "accepted" trench-knives, but they look different.

Also the repair of the crossguard looks odd.

Anyway, I like your Infanteriemesser 42 and the "wildcats" also don´t look that bad !

[VocelkaV]

I think the main question is, how old is this regimental stamp.
-Is it new(fake), to make the selling price higher?
-Is it old(original,official, or trench made)?
Due to the fact that i did not pay to much(30 Eur) , and the seller did not even care about this knife-->as i wrote earlier, it was complete blue, i think i must say that the stamping was made long time ago.
The best way provide evidence for letter form that i will look for examples,and post it here
The Pumas are nice, i am happy with them, of course not perfect, but better than nothing

[Leekres]

M-3 with M8

[milmuseum]

I have one like this without markings that was taken from a German soldier in WWII. I also have the scabbard with a small leather strap riveted to it.I have been told that many of the German soldiers carried thier fathers knives from WWI into battle. Don't know if is true or not but I would have if my father had given me his.

Nice knife

Burt