Have been enjoying the US knife thread. So here's another one.
What is the rarest US Military knife that you own or have seen?
The rarest one I own is probably a WW II black handled paratrooper switchblade, made by Shrade.
The rarest one I ever held in my hand was a prototype KaBar. It had a brass hilt was owned by Marine Raider Gordon Warner who showed it to me.
I'll do a thread on Gordon sometime.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I didn't get to hold it but a Krag Bowie-style bayonet.

V-42 commando knife

Until a few weeks ago, the only Krag Bowie bayonet I'd seen was in the Springfield Armory museum under lock and key. That was more than 40 years ago. Just a few thousand were made by Springfield in 1900 as a trial run, and most were sent to the Philippines and Cuba. Very few have survived to this day.

I'm proud to own one now, even if I had to break my piggy bank to acquire it. The scabbard is even rarer than the bayonet. Here it is, in all it's glory!

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Another candidate for the "really rare" is this Special Forces Bowie. I had it for years before returning it to its original owner, a Vietnam vet who got it during his tour in Nam, and who is a good friend of mine.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Another "really rare" candidate would be the OSS/CIA stiletto. The "pancake flipper" scabbard is unique to this knife, and is also very rare. I got this one almost 30 years ago, and haven't seen another since.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

I wondered what the spatula was doing in the image contest thread.... thats pretty smart!!!

Oh, and

Lets not share the existance of this spatula scabbard/knife with my wife shall we?

I don't know how rare it really is but I searched for years for a genuine WWI knuckle duster. It came to me about a year ago through a collector in my local club that I have known for 20+ years. It wasn't cheap but it IS original, scabbard and all.

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

The Krag Bowie was actually someone in town (a relatively small town) who had one on Craigslist. Out of curiosity, he was asking $1200 and I almost went for it!

Unless you lump ownership by someone special, the Krag Bowie has got to be it. There is (was) one at the st.louis soldiers museum.

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James L. "Jim" Rhiner

I saw that picture in the other thread and I was thinking why did he put a spatula in the photo?

Then I was thinking invading Cuba with a tactical spatula...

Then I read the post and wanted to see the scabbard and went DOH'

In the other WWII knife thread, I have a picture of a few rarer knives. I have always had a desire to own a Krag bowie, but older Smith's and Winchesters seem to keep my available fund jar on empty.

Krag Bowie looks rare to me. Last weekend I was looking a showing of Lee's pictures of Pie Town, NM. One was a frustrated homesteader shooting at flying hawks with a Krag. They were killing his chickens and I guess he didn't have a shotgun,

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