Military or civilian?

[CarMan]

I also posted this in the military forum, but didn’t get any responses. Needing help figuring out if this Boker is military or not. Looks exactly like the USN model, similar to the MK1. I have read that many knives at the beginning of the war didn’t come with designations on them. Apparently the USA did not having enough knives at the beginning of the war and was buying them up from manufacturers. After the initial shortage knives made had designations. I can only find one other like this one online, all the rest are marked with USN. Thank you for any & all help,
John

[djknife13]

I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I'll tell you what I believe to be true and if isn't, someone should be coming soon to correct me. The knife is almost certainly made during war time because of the Bakelite pummel, but Boker was kind of hesitant to do much military stuff during the war because so many of their workers were German immigrants. It very likely was purchased and used by a soldier and probably made for that purpose because of it's resemblance to the marked military knives made then. I hope one of the military collectors stop by with some actual knowledge and then we will both know.____Dave

[eveled]

I agree, the Bakelite and steel guard it sure seems like a WW2 knife.

The only answer to your question is YES. It is definitely
military or civilian. I don’t think you will ever know for sure. It is a nice knife.

[CarMan]

I wish I was more knowledgeable, but I'll tell you what I believe to be true and if isn't, someone should be coming soon to correct me. The knife is almost certainly made during war time because of the Bakelite pummel, but Boker was kind of hesitant to do much military stuff during the war because so many of their workers were German immigrants. It very likely was purchased and used by a soldier and probably made for that purpose because of it's resemblance to the marked military knives made then. I hope one of the military collectors stop by with some actual knowledge and then we will both know.____Dave

Never thought about Boker employees being German immigrants. That does make sense, though I see a lot of Bokers like this marked USN. Thank you for the info.
John

[CarMan]

I agree, the Bakelite and steel guard it sure seems like a WW2 knife.

The only answer to your question is YES. It is definitely
military or civilian. I don’t think you will ever know for sure. It is a nice knife.

Thank you. The bakelite pommel is a giveaway for war time and I didn’t put that together.
John