Vintage ww2 S.A.S. F-S Fighting Knife??

[Dudley]

Hi all, I am a stiletto collector and I have a question about a F-S variant I haven't seen (in books). I was wondering if anyone recognizes this knife.

It's a 2ns pattern F-S with 'Special Air Service' stamped on the guard. The knife is definitely ww2 but I can't place the S.A.S. marking.

What do you guys think? Could this be a real S.A.S. F-S fighting knife?

And do you have any idea what this knife is worth?






Thanks in advance.

[DJT]

The problem is without provenance you can't know or prove when that etching was put on. Personally I find it a bit strange because if a guy was going to the trouble of getting the name of his unit put on the knife then surely he would have got his name and other details on there too?

[Gary Cain]

I'm in agreement with Des on this one. What makes you think the FS itself is legit? The font that is used is not what I would expect, and the placement of the inscription is bizarre. All in all without real provenance on it I would walk away.


Gary

The problem is without provenance you can't know or prove when that etching was put on. Personally I find it a bit strange because if a guy was going to the trouble of getting the name of his unit put on the knife then surely he would have got his name and other details on there too?

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Shelby, and welcome to the forum!

Tonight seems to be "F-S knife night" with 3 different posts on the subject

I have no problem at all with the originality of the knife which appears to be very nice. But the inscription is much harder to give an opinion about. It does have a bit of a "modern" look to it? But a Vet could have done this since 1945. Who knows? As it is, without any kind of provenance, it is not doing the knife any favours. Which is a shame I know.

Cheers, Ade.

[Guy]

It Has what the books refer to as the SOE grip so maybe someone is trying to guild the lilly. Or perhaps as Ade says the veterean had it done. Maybe he had it on display with his medals or something. U never know. It's a shame though as It's a nice knife.

Yours, Guy.

[Dudley]

Thanks for you replies gentlemen. What do you guys think of its guard?

Is it me, or is it big (too big) for a ww2 knife?

Do you guys have any idea of it's value?

[Gary Jucha]

Guard.

I'm a little hesitant of the guard.
.. It's too clean ... from the point of view that as an "operational" knife, that area would not be polished. .. and seeing that there's not tarnishing close to the blade itself, suggests that the blade has been split down post production to either add the crossguard, or embelish it.

The blade, ...
It possibly has been re-ground or sharpened ... if you look towards the tip, the actual angle of the blade where it converges does not seem to be flat (level), it seem to bow over smoothly.
(What is the actual length of the blade from the base of the crossguard to the point of the tip ?).

Regards

Gary J.

[DJT]

You should also bear in mind that the SAS did not really use the FS Dagger (In NW Europe anyway). It was more common to find them armed with US M3 fighting daggers.

[britpc]

Hi,
The blade has been tipped for a start (not unusual). The crossguard looks the right one from the side angle but looks big from the other shot, so it is probably just the picture angle. I need more pictures of the nut to say for sure that it is OK but the 'SAS' was not put on during the war years, IMO. Never seen this done, and if you are a member of the SAS would you have put that on your knife!!??!! Maybe after the war but not during.
The knife looks like it was all over blued and had the blade/crossguard polished, probably after it was re ground. Standard FS 2nd patt in that condition you might get £100-£120 but unless you have the full story that 'SAS' on the cross guard will do it's legs!
Reagrds
Irv