I think it harder to determine if the blade is different, as they are very similarly shaped, and Bo could have installed the new hilt and canted it forward on the top, to cover the gap.
But the stag is what troubles me about the theory.
This picture is of the earlier presumed first knife on page 38 of Gaddis book taken in 1937 )stag on top), the bottom is of the existing stag from the picture on page 44 (3rd knife from bottom) of Gaddis' book taken in 1938. The photos were taken about 1 year apart.
The following picture is of the same stag as it appeared in 1938 (top) and 2004? (Bottom) perhaps 60 years later.
To my eyes there is much more similarities between these 2 than the top two. Considering the knife has probably been in collections longer than life being used, it's still considerable, compared to the 1 year difference above.
