RARE WW2 UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RAIDERS STILETTO BY CAMILUS.

inv# 02-14930

Overall length of knife: 12 1/4″. Blade length: 7″. This knife represents one of the rarest & most highly sought after US combat knives of World War II. The Marine Corps Raider’s stiletto was the first US designed fighting knife produced by a United States company after hostilities commenced. The knife was designed by Lt. Col. Clifford Shuey in 1941. Lt. Col. Shuey was the officer in charge of the Engineer Division of the Quartermaster Department at US Marine Corps Headquarters. It can plainly be seen that the USMC stiletto’s design was based on the Sykes Fairbairn designed British knife. Shuey’s knife was designed to be lightweight, inexpensive & easy to manufacture. The diamond section blade was topped by a zinc aluminum alloy hilt that was often covered by leather. This example is marked at the ricasso, “CAMILUS CUTLERY CO CAMILUS N.Y.”. Approx. 2-3″ up from the guard the blade is etched w/ a scroll & “USMC”. The zinc alloy grip is completely wrapped w/ a leather thong to greatly improve stability of the Marine’s grip. The original scabbard is leather w/ a metal reinforcement near the tip. There is a zinc alloy lanyard hole at the base & a steel belt loop at the top. The front of the leather sheath has the letters, “USMC” carved into it. The back has the name, “AL A PIANTE” carved into it. The name, “DUKE” can be seen lightly etched into the bottom steel reinforcement plate. A truly rare & wonderful identified WWII Marine Corps stiletto seldom found in today’s market.