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Old 04-10-2013, 09:00 PM
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Jacknola Jacknola is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: New Orleans
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Don?t want to beat this topic to death, but curious-er and curious-er.

Looking at the photos, there are some interesting things to learn about the sheath manufacturer. From search information: ?Berns-Martin was originally located in Calhoun City, Miss. When it was sold it was moved to the new owner's hometown of Elberton, GA, so the late B-M rigs are so marked. A friend had a Berns-Martin catalog dated 1960 which listed Mississippi as the location; the earliest list for Elberton is dated 1963."

Here are examples of the stamp which changed when the company was moved.




Wait? there?s more. There is a name and USMC serial number on the knife, # 1570906.
USMC Numbers 1,000,000 to 1,699,999 were issued between 1943 and 1953. This means the owner probably joined the USMC during the Korean War. So, If the knife and sheath are contemporaries, then the latest date of the purchase of the knife would be very early 1960s (pre-macarta?), and could be considerably earlier.



I cannot find a definitive history of Berns-Martin. Apparently the company was founded in about 1935. It was famous for holsters. Apparently Martin did make an experimental knife sheath for the Sykes-Fairbarn knife in the late 1930s(?) As best I can determine, the company was sold about 19 60-61, and the new owner moved it to Elberta, Georgia. At some point, (1970s?) an advertisement appeared for ?Berns-Martin knives,? but no one has ever seen such a knife. I can?t find a reference for Berns-Martin after about 1975.

This sheath is considerably different from all Randall sheaths... for one thing, it is made be secured to a military web belt. It has no slot or loop to fasten to a regular belt. It has no stone pouch, and the reverse construction is different. It does have the riveting that seemed to be normal for sheaths in the 1950s-early 60s. That said... .

Let?s speculate, and I do mean SPECULATE... The knife and sheath could well be contemporaries. Could it be that the sheath was made to fit a template and sent as an example to Randall...and that example was sold with this knife, Mr. Randall being a frugal person wanting to use what he had?

Last edited by Jacknola; 09-01-2017 at 01:17 PM.
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