April 27-30, 2021 Extraordinary Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/30/2021
Wide double edged blade of Swedish tool steel with 1-piece cast aluminum handle in the form of an eagle’s head and feathered body, with forward-curving guard featuring a federal shield on one side and another reading "U S ARMY" on the opposite side. The eagle’s head is inset with two red glass beads representing eyes, an unusual feature on these knives. High quality handmade leather sheath is a replacement of World War II vintage with tie-down holes at tip and a Pennsylvania soldier’s name stamped into the reverse, "William K. Spahl (?) Penna". The blade shows only light sharpening and spotting, the handle and sheath are in excellent condition. This particular knife was discovered in Missouri during the mid-1990s, and is pictured in “Merrill Brown Knives” by Frank Trzaska in Knife World (June 2015). This type of knife, with different blade configurations and marked for either the Army or Navy, is known to have been made by Merrill E. Brown of New Albany, Indiana and was given free of charge to servicemen deploying from Ft. Knox, Kentucky to a fighting area. No more than 200-300 were made in total. Brown made these knives at night, during his spare time, at the Brown Machine Works at 314 Third Street. The Brown Machine Works produced many small parts for the military during the war. A fine example of a very rare and distinctive WWII fighting knife. MZ