All About Pocket Knives

Need some help. Just received M3 from eBay. Upon inspection, I’m not convinced it’s authentic, looks like repro. Before I contact seller and express concern, I want other opinion. I’ve checked my WWII knife book (Michael Silvey) and compared it to photo and blade stamp looks close. But, compared to the M2 and M4 I’ve included in photo, the M3 does not seem right, the guard is loose and leather handle is so much smaller than other knives. I included photo of FS for heck of it. Let me know your opinion of M3. Thanks.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/tw451kwe/340cc01d/

Your link is tagged as a malicious web page by Kaspersky antivirus.

Not sure why it would be flagged, have been using Postimage as photo posting site for several years.

Link is working fine for me , possibly his antivirus isn’t letting him open it

That Trench Knife would be about 75 years old. It looks like its original to me. Camillus did issue a reproduction in the 90's (? unsure of date) - I owned one of the reproductions and I am not sure how you could make it look 70+ years old like that (but some enterprising criminal probably could). Handle widths varied somewhat on those knives between makers and models (the M-4 has a pommel with a bayonet lug lock on it). I have Utica and Imperial brand M-3 and M-4 models and the feel in the hand is different. Loose leather disks are somewhat common as the leather shrinks in time - could allow the guard to loosen. The MK-2 (not a US Army design) has a much wider feel in the hand than does the M3 and M4 (US Army designs). OH

Ps. I just did some more research - seems the US M-3 as built by Camillus in WW-II has two pins in the pommel and their re-issue has only one pin. Your knife as pictured has one pin. Here are some side by side comparison photo's.

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/m3.htm

Hunter. Thanks for the response. The general, overwhelming consensus, is the knife was a repro. There were plenty of reasons to believe it was fake, the most telling sign to me was that the minute I opened the box, it just felt cheap, not like a quality product manufactured to some sort of military specs. In addition to having one pin, one tell was something I’d never be able to photograph, but where the blade edge was cut at the ricasso, the medal was bright, certainly not cut 70+ years ago. I contacted the seller and told him that the knife description on eBay was wrong (WWII airborne...) it was a 90’s repro, and he agreed to a refund with no argument. It’s back in the mail now. I have to admit, I should have done my homework before I bought an M3 online. I am back in the hunt for another, and it now seems that most M3’s I see on eBay are suspect. I’ve seen a few that seem to be correct, but most I would not bid on. Not sure if others on the forum feel similarly.

I'm pretty sure this knife and scabbard are relatively recent production. But was this still made by Camillus and who made the scabbard? Also interested in approximate age and if these were always paired.

Thanks in advance!

*bump* and thanks in advance.

Anyone have any idea who and or where this one was made? I assume it is a reproduction.