Item Description
This very knife was featured on an episode of History Channel's Pawn Stars in February 2025. You can watch it on the episode below:
Original Item: One of a Kind. This is a phenomenal example of one of the scarcest World War II Knuckle knives ever produced; a 9-Point Guard example manufactured during World War II by Marion Howard Cole. This is the exact model knife described and pictured in Bill Walter’s excellent resource book; U.S. AND ALLIED MILITARY KNIVES WORLD WAR II pages 30-32.
Cole made approximately 300 knives between 1942-1944. He made only roughly 50 of this earliest first pattern 9-point knuckle knife. The later knives were 8-point knives.
There is probably no custom maker of military pattern knives more famous than MH “Howard” Cole. His fame in the collector community stems not only from his skill as a knife maker but also by his exhaustive efforts to document the edged weapons that he loved through his drawings and writings. No serious collector of US military knives does not have Cole’s famous four volume set US Military Knives, Bayonets & Machetes in their arms library, or at the very least a copy of the compilation of these books, published as The Best of US Military Knives: Bayonets & Machetes which took most of the important information from the original four volumes and put it all under one cover, with the assistance of edged weapons authority and author Michael Silvey. Cole followed up his original works on military knives with The Skinning Knife Book, which he published in 1996.
Marion Howard Cole (1911-1999) was a Birmingham, AL police officer during World War II and produced custom knives in his spare time for men serving in the armed forces. His premier knife was a large knuckle knife with blades made of spring steel and brass knuckle guards cast by a local foundry. Initially these knives were produced with nine-point knuckle bow, but after fifty to seventy-five knives were produced, he redesigned the knife with an eight-point guard. Most of Cole’s WWII era production were made without scabbards, but he did acquire some scabbards from Birmingham’s Blackhorse Leather Works at a cost of $0.75 each. According to Silvey, after the company went out of business, Cole acquired some of the firm’s tools so that he could continue to produce scabbards as needed that were of the same style as his World War II scabbards. Cole was more than just a police officer, detective, custom knife maker and author, he was devotee to historical arms of all types and was one of the founding members of the Alabama Gun Collectors Association and served as their president at the end of the 1950s. Cole continued making knives through the early 1990s and died in June of 1999 at the age of 87.
The knife is in fantastic condition with its full 8” inch blade, showing average wear to the blade with some small nicks as shown. The overall length is 12⅞”. The hilt is in fantastic shape with the 9-point guard still full retained. The bottom of the blade at the pommel shows a healthy pattern of repeated stamps. The knife is unmarked, which is correct for Coles early production.
The majority of these early knives did not come with the later sheaths made by the Black Horse Leather Shop, each example having their own custom-made sheaths. This example appears to have always been with the knife, and measures 8½” with a 5” belt loop, for an overall sheath length of 13½”. There is a small crack in the securing snap strap which isn’t too serious. There is heavy wear across the scabbard which matches the knife very well.
This is by far the scarcest World War II Knuckle knife we have ever offered, one that we will likely never see another of. There are only roughly 50 examples in existence, so don’t miss out on this one. Comes ready for further research and display.
Dimensions:
Blade length: 8”
Overall length: 12⅞”
Scabbard length: 8 1/2" + 5” belt loop - 13½”
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- Stored and shipped from our PA location; not available in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Please check all local laws before ordering.
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