Fighting knife?

[straightpostal]

I'm looking for some opinions and help with this. I don't know much about authenticating a fighting knife. But this one is supposedly dig in Gettysburg. i know this is the place to get the knowledge and educated opinions. Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Jobe Holiday]

IMHO, it looks more WW1 than anything else. We must remember that the govt trained on the battlefield in the early years, so it is possible that the knife supposedly found there is easily 50 or more years later than the ACW.
J.

 

[7thWisconsin]

Does it have a raised fuller on both sides, making it slightly diamond shaped in cross section? That would be inconsistent with mid-19th c. Knives. The wood handle is consistent with 19th c styles. There's nothing that screams 20th c about it, but Gettysburg has been continuously lived in since the time of the war, so it could have been dropped in the 1890s. Who can say.

 

[straightpostal]

Does it have a raised fuller on both sides, making it slightly diamond shaped in cross section? That would be inconsistent with mid-19th c. Knives. The wood handle is consistent with 19th c styles. There's nothing that screams 20th c about it, but Gettysburg has been continuously lived in since the time of the war, so it could have been dropped in the 1890s. Who can say.

It does make a diamond shape but not a strong shape just slightly. I only have pics of it. I will get it in soon. Not sure how much cleaning I will be able to do to it to look for possible markings on the blade

 

[zburkett]

7thwis makes a very good point. I have seen knives I knew to be WWII passed off as Civil War. A tapered tang is a good sign of being older. If the guard is brass, that says later. The problem is similar knives were made from the 1830s until after WWII. It could be Civil War or it could have been lost by a hunter in 1965. In any case it is a knife of the type that a soldier might have carried. I would be very careful about cleaning it unless you plan to carry it.

 

[straightpostal]

7thwis makes a very good point. I have seen knives I knew to be WWII passed off as Civil War. A tapered tang is a good sign of being older. If the guard is brass, that says later. The problem is similar knives were made from the 1830s until after WWII. It could be Civil War or it could have been lost by a hunter in 1965. In any case it is a knife of the type that a soldier might have carried. I would be very careful about cleaning it unless you plan to carry it.

I would never do any hard cleaning on it. I always try to leave relics as they are found. The current owner told me they bought it in Gettysburg from a dealer who has been in business over 40 years.