Austro-Hungarian WW1 M1917 Sturmmesser research

[deadbolt337]

I stumbled upon this site only to find a wealth of information regarding a knife I inherited from my grandfather. I'm not exactly sure how he came into possession of it but thanks to this site I've come to learn a lot about it! So far I've discovered it is an Austro-Hungarian WW1 Sturmmesser M1917 Fighting knife manufactured in Hungary as evidenced by the Hungarian Crest as the acceptance mark on the underside of the cross guard. The blade is stamped with “MA” denoting Magyar Acélárugyár Rt, Hungary and the scabbard is stamped with “V & N” denoting the Austrian firm of Vogel & Noot. I was going to try and post inside the "That WWI German & occasional Austrian Trench Knife Thread" but it appears that has been locked. Anyway I scanned every entry inside that thread and didn't see anyone post a knife similar to mine so I'm curious as to how common my knife is and if anyone else out there has one like it. Any information or tips are greatly appreciated!

[rbminis]

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Ralph.

[MilitariaOne]

Greetings DB,

You have a lovely period "customized" knife. Long story short, there were handy folks in any unit, which for a price, could add a dash of panache to your standard issue knife. There of course were professionals behind the lines, who offered the same services and depending on your level of investment and the selected craftsman, these knives could be quite decoratively embellished. And lastly, there were folks who had their own ability and did their own customization work on their own knife. Quite often, officers & NCOs could get away with wearing an "enhanced" knife viewed as compatible with their station and many who now own a customized M17 Sturmmesser will declare their example as an Officer's example (especially, if it silver hilted/uber decorative), but without names/provenance it remains a supposition at best.

Now, these knives had a long service life serving during both World Wars, the customization on your example may be from either, but I'd hesitate to be declarative in terms of WWI or WWII. The variety of customization was so vast that without specific unit's insignias or period battles carved into the handle(s) to add some level of date-ability; it really is a guess and nothing more. My guess, would be that the knife you have shared is WWI period, but it may just as easily be later. There are many customized variations and I don't recall viewing too many examples that were similar to each other.

As such, there's not a whole lot else to add. It is IMHO, a nice mid-range customized example, not done by a soldier novice yet too, not the stunning/epic work found on some higher-end examples.

And lastly, I locked the thread you referred too, simply to mitigate the increasing "What's my knife worth?" and "Is it real?" crowd's postings, which were frequently occurring on what was intended as a reference thread. The idea being to keep it from getting cluttered with noise. And too, I can just reply as I have to your own specific thread Hope that makes sense.

Thank you, for taking the time to share your knife with our forum.

Best Regards,

V/r Lance

[AndyB]

This is a personall upgrade of a owner, possible done already even postwar, the stamp of ugrian part of monarchy means it was ordered by ugrian Landwehr or Honvedcseg in reality. The scabbard is typical replacement scabbard by Vogel&Noot Wartberg, still remains small parts of origin paint there in area of hanger plate.

[deadbolt337]

The origins of the knife were always a mystery to me and now I have much more clarity thanks to you and the folks on this site. Thank you for all of the information Lance!

[deadbolt337]

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