Rare 3rd Pattern Fairbairn & Sykes British Commando Knife England 11 9/16" WW2

For sale is a third pattern F-S British commando knife produced during the latter end of WW2. This knife features the grip made of cast zinc alloy which was a change made in late 1943 due to brass being a strategic material and in limited supply. A unique feature of this knife is the mould number 4 on the grip. There were four companies contracted to produce these new grips but currently only No. 4 maker has been identified. Wolverhampton Die Casting Ltd is associated with No. 4 mould on late war third pattern F-S knives. The factory blueing is almost completely intact on the blade. The blade demonstrates minimal signs of sharpening and still shows original horizontal striations from machine grinding that occurred during production. The guard and top of the leather sheath has been stamped England. This confirms it as a war produced knife exported to the US after the war. For confirmation of details in this listing consult the article by Roy Shadbolt on the Third Pattern F-S knife. Overall this is a high quality example of a scarce and desirable knife.