Original U.S. WWII Uncommon Kennedy Brothers Arms Company Knife Variant With Correct Leather Scabbard - Crossguard Etched “Noumea, New Caledonia” For Naval Base Noumea
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Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent example of an unmarked and rare variant of a fighting knife, attributed to the Kennedy Brothers Arms Company of St Paul, Minnesota. While the knife is not marked as being a “Kennedy”, multiple edged weapons experts confirmed and are confident in this being an extremely uncommon variant, not being a standard knife. Bill Walters who wrote the best current book on WWII, US and Allied Military Knives World War II examined it and said it was great, uncommon Kennedy variant.
The overall condition of the knife is quite nice and does show signs of faithful service use without abuse. The 9” blade bears no markings whatsoever and has the appearance of almost having been “theater made”. The blade is double edged without any fullers/grooves. The edge on one side does have a few nicks in it but nothing that subtracts from the beauty of the knife. The handle appears to be stag horn and is held tight to the tang by two steel pins close to the top.
The ricasso is marked with NOUMEA / NEW CALEDONIA. Naval Base Noumea was a major United States Navy sea and air base at Nouméa, New Caledonia. Naval Base Noumea was built at Noumea Harbor. Noumea was picked for a Naval Base as it was beyond the range of Japanese land-based planes. Noumea is on the east side the Coral Sea, 1,469 kilometres (913 mi; 793 nmi) from Brisbane, Australia. The base was built during World War II to support the many ships and aircraft fighting and patrolling in the South West Pacific theatre of war as part of the Pacific War. Naval Base Noumea had anchorage for large ships. Noumea was protected against submarine attack by a ring of islands and Naval minefields. At its peak 50,000 troops were stationed at Naval Base Noumea. New Caledonia has been a colony of France since 1853. Noumea is the capital City of New Caledonia on the southwest end of the island. On November 8, 1942, US Navy South Pacific headquarters moved to Noumea.
The included leather scabbard does appear to be original to the knife and is also offered in wonderful condition. The leather construction is still supple without any major defects. There is no securing strap, but instead there is a leather string that serves the purpose of retaining the knife in the scabbard. It measures approximately 14 inches in length with belt loop.
A fantastic example that comes more than ready for further research and display.
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