Just picked up this early text book WKC army. It's a beauty and the first early WKC I've seen. I noticed the numbers '26' stamped on the top of the slanted grip. Anyone else have pics of an early WKC for comparison or have observed numbers on early slanted grips?...Cheers

Pic 2

Pic 3 - Grip

Very nice!
Here is mine WKC with slanted grip.
Nothing stamped here.

Fitzer!Ihave the same grip also.With the 26 stamped on top like your's.I just have the grip,no blade.Don't know if I can get a closeup like yours.I'll try, and post it on the forum.Paul

This is the best I can do.Paul

Early WKCs are not difficult to find from my perspective. They seem to be the most common of all the early Armys that I've seen. That says nothing about the workmanship and beauty of these early pieces though.

You do have a very nice one. I also own some early examples that have the numbering that you describe on WKC and a couple of other makers products. Parts numbers? Assembled VERY early from what I've seen. Probably some of the very first made by the different makers.

Hello guys ,
very nice examples , i like it .

Regards.

Great info. Paul, I wonder if there was another number between the 2 and 6 before they drilled the hole in the grip? Denny do your WKC slants have the same numbers on the grip ?

Look in Tom Wittman's Army book. Thoes two used to me mine. I believe that the gripp on my early one was numbered but I'm not sure. I sold it to Mike Hansen a few years ago, wish I kept it.

Fitzer
2 have the number and I have a couple more by different makers that have another number. The only thing I could ever determine was that was a part number of sorts? Doesn't make sense that they would have numbered different daggers with same number if it was some type of serial number for assemblying daggers? More than likely put there by grip maker, as I think they probably bought things like grips and assembled them inhouse? Just my thoughts....

My early (all aluminium-also scabbard) Bahnschutz dagger by Eickhorn does have also an exactly this way numbered grip. It seem to be #25. The 2 is easy to be seen but from 5 the most part has been drilled away for the hole for the tang. I can only see to most upper right part of the number but the remaining part can be nothing else than from a 5.
My mid period Bahnschutz (steel scabbard but still al fittings, including the scabbard, with heavy silvering) does not have this numbering. Either it never had it or it has been drilled away during the fitting process of the gripcap.
Fitzer, Walter, nice daggers you have!

Thanks for the info Denny. Wotan makes a good point, many numbers on the grip could have been filed away during the fitting process.

Great observation Fitzer. This grip is from an early WKC slant. The numbering appears to be indentical to yours (26).

Here is another WKC with an identical grip shape. However, this one has no number. You will notice this grip exhibits grind marks, while the first one does not.

Thanks for your contribution Ford. There also appears to be the remnants of a mark between the 2 and 6 on your example (a small loop just below and to the right of the 2), where the drill hole is. If you look closely at my pic you will also see an identical loop mark. The number 26 appears to be common on early WKC slants that have not been ground.

Just for grins, here is the full grip of the WKC with the 26 mark.

Trademark...

Walter. I believe this handle and Fitzer's are slightly different than yours. Mine appears to be very similar (if not identical) in shape to Fitzers. I have seen other WKCs with handles like yours, however. Both of your daggers are very beautiful.

Here's my 26 grip.Paul

Hallo Ford, did miss your contributions! A wonderful dagger and excellent pics you show us and best quality knowledge you tell us, like always. greetings

Thanks Wotan: You are very kind.

Paul: Nice orange grip. Many of us were expecting it to be a slant.... The fact that it is not really opens things up. It could be that your grip is still a very early one. Can you tell if it was cut for a tapered tang?

Fitzer: What do you think?

Numbering of the grips could have occurred into regular (non-slanted) grip production, though I haven't observed numbering on any regular grips before. I would suspect that only very early regular grips would have been marked in this fashion and this may have been done by a limited number of firms. I suspect WKC to be one of these firms and it would be useful to examine early WKCs with the regular grip variety to lend further evidence to this observation. As you mention Ford, examining the tang may also be helpful in confirming these numbers were used only on very early dagger grips. Just my thoughts. Paul do you know the maker of the dagger this grip originally belonged to?

Fitzer&Ford.I don't know the maker of the dagger that the grip is off.I got the grip from Craig Gottlieb, when he had the grip color controversy awhile back.I cut into a junk grip that I had, to see if it would change color.I did it on 1-5-05, and it still as white as the day that I perfomed surgery on it.I'll post a photo of the 26 opening, to see if you can determine if it was tapered or not.Hope the photo comes out ok.Paul