One of the RAREST of the WW2 era Fairbairn Sykes commando daggers & the FIRST to go into general production for war use

Issued to the fledgling WW2 British Commandos to replace their previously issued "BC41" knuckle knives (Which were a hybrid derivative of a WW1 trench knife & a Boy Scout knife)

The blade has a distinctive blunt ricasso etched both sides with "The F-S Fighting knife" on one & "Wilkinson Sword London" on reverse

The blade was produced by drop-forging & with complex hand-grinding, which took too long for the wartime conditions, & so the blade was redesigned for easier faster manufacture

Blade length = 6 7/8ths" OR 170 mm IE = UNALTERED and RARE "un-snapped" point (Many/MOST damaged)

Overall length = 11 3/4" OR 295 mm

ONLY 6,779 of this type were ever made between November 1940 until April 1941

All were produced by the Wilkinson Sword Company, but very soon afterward the WS Co. changed to producing the easier to make "2nd Pattern"

CONDITION = excellent for it's age and presumed USE Blade is stained but has absolutely NO pitting and would clean up to near-mint if you wished to remove all age patina

Blade is unbroken with NO bends NO nicks NO cracks & retains some of it's former sharpness

HANDLE retains 95+% of it's original Nickel plating and is 100% solid & entirely firm with ZERO wobble & NO movement

Scabbard in superb condition also but has lost it's original chape, I have included a modern Nickel plated replacement

These First Pattern ("1st patt. 2nd type" to some) were EXACTLY as designed by Wiliam Fairbairn & Eric Sykes (Who were known to have been disappointed with subsequent changes made to their hard thought-out design)

These knives were carried by the First Special Air Service, "Detachment L" by their colleagues in SBS & by agents of the SOE as well as the British Commando who used these iconic knives to deadly effect long before any landings were made in Europe by conventional forces

GUARANTEED 2B the REAL McCOY own your own piece of WW2 history