Beaded and Ringed F-S Knife
Hello guys and gals,
I’ve always loved the Fairbairn-Sykes knives ever since acquiring a 3rd pattern that came with a Polish 1st Independent Para Brigade uniform grouping. After acquired a nice 2nd pattern my pursuit has moved over to acquisition of one of the wonderful beaded and ringed variants.
After casually loking for what must be two years today I spotted a genuine example for sale at a swap meet. The blade, cross guard and grip are blackened. The grip is marked with a broad arrow and inspection number. The cross guard has the England export mark (on the sheath as well). Condition is excellent overall, everything tight, blade with nearly 100% finish and perfect edge, sheath fully intact.
The strange thing is the finish on the grip. In contrast to blade with a chemically treated black finish, the grip is painted black. I mentioned this to the seller and all he would say is that it is “not painted but factory treated finish”. It’s obviously painted as the finish is chipped rather than worn, exposing the brass underneath. Unfortunately he wouldn’t allow me to take a picture to allow me to post here for comment, which was almost enough to put me off being his customer. But the knife is nice enough to make we want to overlook his crotchety attitude.
I am hoping to have the experts here verify that a painted finish is original on these. This site pictures a beaded and ringed type that appears identical (pic posted below), showing a chipped finish on the black grip. If I can get a thumbs up I’ll head back tomorrow to haggle – assuming no one else has scooped it.
f-s fighting knife 2nd pattern
Many thanks in advance,
Tony
.
I was quite certain it was good but just wanted that last bit of reassurance about the painted grip. Yeah, the import marks are unfortunate, but it’s often a necessary evil with the knives found here in North America. This knife is in exceptional condition otherwise and one just doesn’t find this type out for sale at local meets here very often. Anyway, I did the two hour round trip back to the militaria meet in its second and final day to make the purchase. Some quick pics below. 
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