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Help Identify this knife

I have been taking this knife around to several knife shows and looked all over online for one like it and I have never been able to find out what it is. Many have said it is from WWII and it is most likely Japanese. The one side has a picture of the rising sun and what looks to be a Zero. The opposite side says

"This knife is best possible non to compare. Contrast And Superior Quality. Best Steeling Knife."

I saw a knife just like this online, but it had a tank instead of a plane, that was said to be a Japanese tank commander's knife. If you know what this is please let me know.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on August 4, 2011 at 17:34

Kit that's a great picture of the knife. Where did you find that? I am guessing what others have. Let's see if anybody has a book on it.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on August 4, 2011 at 18:18

That is a wonderful old peice. I cant wait to see if anyone can identify it for you

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Permalink Reply by Kit Adams on August 5, 2011 at 7:23

It was in the box with all the other old knifes I found from my father in law. He said his uncle brought it back from WWII and told him it was a Japanese kamikaze's knife. Since I am almost certain its not a kamikaze's knife it might have been a pilot's knife however. The one i found online, which I have since not been able to locate as it was an auction, stated that it was a Tank Commanders knife. So this might be a flight commander's knife. I am trying to set up a time that I can take it to someone at the history museum here in Raleigh and maybe one of their WWII experts there can shed some light on it.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Gregg on September 28, 2011 at 22:19

I've always heard those refered to as Officers Knives. I've seen German and British versions of the same pattern. They also look very similar to the Anheiser Busch knives built by Kastor/Camillus around the turn of the century. Someone jokingly said they were named that because officers were the only ones who would have needed a corkscrew. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Joe Sumrall on September 2, 2013 at 11:49

I may be adding to the confusion with a knife I have. It does not look like this one in that it is a thin pen type knife. However it has on one side "The Knife is all Possible Non to Contrast and Superrob Quality Best Steeling Knife" on the other side it has two crossed feathers, the word feather, and the number 510. I put the one side in quotes because the typos are not typos that is how things were written. Anyway it has similar wording. Guess this is a mystery in a mystery. Joe

Attachments:

photo-796.JPG, 4.7 MB
photo-797.JPG, 4.8 MB

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Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on September 2, 2013 at 12:00

Well quite possibly it is a mystery and may remain one! Thanks for the pic but it is hard to make out the writing, quite possibly an advertising knife talking about a new steel.

Here is the question, at the bottom of the Main blade is there any writing? Commonly called a "tang stamp" it is a mark that essentially identifies the knife. Some have it some don't though. If the mark is there it may tell us what knife it is.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Scheuerman (Manx) on September 2, 2013 at 12:38

Looks like this is a sample knife from 1938...certainly not a Japanese WWII knife. A Japanese company making a sample for a North American or European company would be in english (even very poor english...lol ) but a military knife made for Japanese forces would be all in Japanese characters, you would think. Thus far, all I can find is this...

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&sour...

Scroll down in the main window until you find "What Does It Mean?" on the left.

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Permalink Reply by Smiling-Knife on September 2, 2013 at 13:53

Interesting knife. I agree with Steve that it is not a genuine military knife. It is made in the style of a French multi-tool pattern. It was likely made after WWII based on the style of the can opener.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Sumrall on September 2, 2013 at 14:04

There are no marks on the blade. So it very well could be a pre world war II company sampler. The poor wording would make sense due to language barriers. Kit's knife which is definitely more militaristic very well could be a pre war propaganda piece. Just guessing though.

Steve Hanner said:

Well quite possibly it is a mystery and may remain one! Thanks for the pic but it is hard to make out the writing, quite possibly an advertising knife talking about a new steel.

Here is the question, at the bottom of the Main blade is there any writing? Commonly called a "tang stamp" it is a mark that essentially identifies the knife. Some have it some don't though. If the mark is there it may tell us what knife it is.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Sumrall on September 2, 2013 at 14:31

I think I have figured out the origins of my knife which might relate to Kit's knife. I found the symbol that the Feather Razor company used to sell their shaving razors. It matched the cross feathers emblem on my knife (not to mention the word Feather is etched on my knife). Anyway I did a little research on the Feather Razor company and this is what I found-

FEATHER® was established in Seki in 1932. Similar to the German city of Solingen, the Japanese city of Seki in Gifu province is world famous for forged swords and knives; their production in the city continues to this day in the same tradition as 780 years ago. It goes without saying that this city of swords is the perfect location for a company producing razors, blades and scalpels for a particularly discerning group of customers.

Anyway looking at the feather mark on my knife I am pretty sure it came from the Feather company in Japan which is more known for shaving razors.Interestingly is that the companies origins can be traced back to German POWS during WWI. Don't know if Kit's knife comes from the Feather company but it would be interesting to think a propaganda piece (pre WWII) for the Germans and Japanese could have origins from when the Japanese were fighting the Germans.