Cases of Mistaken Identity
By Ron Flook
Roy Shadbolt’s article on Stories, History and Provenance (KNIFE Magazine, July 2019) struck a chord with me as I was at the time researching three knives which carried the name of their one time owners, in each case the outcome of the research hopefully providing background history and provenance to the knives. One of these knives was a Fairbairn Sykes (F-S) knife with etched panel, another a rare Middle East Commando Knife with a name and service number written on the reverse of the sheath, and finally a WWI Robbins of Dudley push dagger again with a name written on the reverse of the sheath. But in all cases the research was thrown off course by instances of mistaken identity, identities that were confused by something a simple as christian name initials. One case even taught me to follow my own rule of thinking outside the box, it being the knife of the man referred to in the penultimate paragraph of my article on researching named F-S knives (KNIFE Magazine, July 2016).
This article appears in the January 2021 issue of KNIFE Magazine. Premium Online Members can read the whole thing by clicking the blue box below.
