Mark McM Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hello all, I have several WWI period French 'Couvreux' clasp knives but can't find any information on them on the interweb. Does anyone have any background on these knives?? Mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark McM Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 I think those are "Corsican duelling knives " or some funny name like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark McM Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 6 minutes ago, Chris Boonzaier said: I think those are "Corsican duelling knives " or some funny name like that? actually, Chris... these are war-time French knives. This one is etched "Le Compagnon des Tranche'es" on one side of the blade, and the other side is etched "Campagne 1914 - 1915 - 1916 - 1917 -1918" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Boonzaier Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hi, These were indeed popular in WW1, but the origin is the "Vendetta Corse"... which ACTUALLY is (according to the article) not really corisan but from southern Italy or Malta. (Sorry, for some reason I had duelling in my head, it should be Vendetta) http://www.couteau-corse.com/couteaux.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark McM Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 two more from my collection... Larger example has seen a lot of service. smaller example's handle is carved with the owner's name and Armistice time/date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark McM Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 Hi again Chris, I'm really interested in the WWI aspect of these knives. There seems to be nothing written about them in the books covering WWI knives and edged weapons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Othais Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 I know this is fairly dated but I found this thread trying to research a photo. Thought you guys might want to see it. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9044173w/f1.item.r=guerre 1915.zoom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter monahan Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 I suspect, based on only a little general knowledge, that these were perfectly ordinary French pocket knives, though presumably manufactured for issue to troops, and that a) searching for 'French knives, 1910' would turn up numerous examples and b) the 'Corsican' thing is a marketing scam, liek every other odd item which immediately gets attributed to 'elite' troops or, in a later war, the 'SOE'. But that's just my general cynicism regarding the state of the market in our hobby these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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