The U.S. M1918 Mk. I Trench Knife Thread.
Article about: Greetings all, This will be a closed thread to act as a quick reference guide to originals. If you are looking at getting into collecting these and wish to compare a possible reproduction wi
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The Au Lion type (a Lion in repose stamped on the ricasso).
The Au Lion type (a Lion in repose stamped on the ricasso).
First up is the French manufactured Au Lion “The Lion” type. There are two variants of this version. There’s the kind with the two grooves on the back-strap of the brass (the French made ones are brass, the U.S. made ones are bronze) handle and the kind without the grooves (left & right respectively see photo below). There are slight size differences with the “U.S. 1918” fonts’ sizes too. There are a wide range of finishes found on these knives' handles. They range from rough to smooth casted/finished and everything in between. The blade’s Au Lion trademark is stamped on the ricasso. The Au Lion logos’ run the gamut of deeply stamped to lightly stamped. The most common seem to be the lighter stamped ones. This variant is the only one with a manufacturer's marked blade.
Regards,
Lance
Double click on picture to enlarge.
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Au Lion Scabbard
Here are front and back views of the standard Au Lion Scabbard. This finishes the Au Lion French made variants, next we will look at the L.F. & C. variant.
Double click on picture to enlarge.
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The O.C.L. type (Oneida Communities Limited) Oneida, New York: 1880-1935.
The O.C.L. type (Oneida Communities Limited) Oneida, New York: 1880-1935.
Much like H.D. &S., Oneida’s government contract was canceled at the end of WWI. The few, (again exact number unknown) that were made were rumored to have gone home in workers’ lunch pails or were presented as gifts to various company executives and long term/favored customers. These variants are the absolute hardest, rarest, and the “ultimate catch” for any collector of unmodified M1918 Mk.Is. These too are faked, but not as often as the other variants. The key with these is the really poor casting quality and rounder edges actually make them more difficult to “fake” or reproduce. Some examples have nice crisp handle's markings, some like mine do not (for instance, notice how you cannot see the "L." in O.C.L.). There are other subtle manufacturing differences as well, I will not speak of them as there's no need to assist those who wish to fake this variant. Most reproductions start life off as an Au Lion or L.F. & C variant and converting them to an O.C.L. variant is quite a stretch. As an aside, here’s an article about the Oneida Community, a cult by any other name is still… a cult. The Oneida Community: Free Love and Women in Trousers Before Woodstock - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com
Regards,
Lance
Double click on pictures to enlarge.
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