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#1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2017
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Hello All, just picked up a reasonably sized, elderly Navaja with a lion trademark on the blade. I'm hoping that someone here who has more knowledge of these knives may be able to tell me something about the maker.
I have some pic's of the knife which I'll put up when I've reduced the image sizes. Last edited by Mel H; 29th December 2018 at 03:30 PM. |
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#2 |
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More pic's.
Overall length open is 32 cm (12.6 inch) with 15 cm (6 inch) blade. Last edited by Mel H; 29th December 2018 at 03:44 PM. |
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#3 |
Lead Moderator European Armoury
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A French mark for sure. Maybe not famous, though; not listed in Forton's work.
Let us then see the whole piece, Mel ![]() |
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#4 |
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Fernando, thank you for pointing me in the right direction, I've now done a little searching. It seems that Au Lion did have a moment of fame, they contracted to produce the first U.S. mod 1918 trench knives ( now much sought after ), there doesn't seem to be a lot of information on the maker.
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#5 |
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Au Lion is the trademark of R. V. Cruege of Bordeaux (Gironde), per The Who's Who of French Arms from 1350 to 1970 by Jean-Jacques Buigné.
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#6 |
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Thank you.
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#7 |
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Hi Folks,
Great detective work and Happy new Year everybody! Cheers Chris |
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#8 |
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I'd stick a ~1 in. solid or split key ring thru the hole to help raising the lock, like mine:
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#9 |
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I like these knives, I have some other larger old ones. I've got a some split spring rings in my toolbox but they're brand new and don't look quite right, I'll keep an eye open for one with some age and patina.
Here's one of my older Navajas. Last edited by Mel H; 30th December 2018 at 02:02 PM. |
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#10 | |
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Cheers Chris |
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#11 | ||
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#12 |
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Mine have the rings they came with, the Okapi and Kudo ones are recent tho. The others are older, the small one is quite old. The other is one made in Germany before they licensed them to South Africa to become the Okapi.
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#13 |
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I have a navaja which might have a lion mark on the blade,thought you might like to see it.if it's not the same as the lion navaja perhaps you could identify it for me .thanks
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#14 | |
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#15 | |
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#16 |
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I've already dropped a couple into a damp flower pot in the garden, it'll probably do the job in a couple of weeks but you can never be sure with modern spring steels.
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#17 |
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Amazing ! why not spending a few more bucks and buy the real antique thing, instead of testing these alchemist schemes ?
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#18 | |
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#19 |
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Lew had quite a collection of these as well, both old and new:
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#20 |
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Back to the original question the Au Lion ( Au Lion/Société Généralee) was also contracted to produce the first batches of 1918 trench knives for thUS Army in WW1.
And Happy New Year to all ![]() |
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#21 | |
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#22 | |
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