I'm far from a knife expert and I recently purchased this knife at auction and something just doesn't seem right about it to me. I'm hoping someone on here can make a determination if this knife is authentic, because I bid on it based on that. The blade seems to be painted with a dull gray paint and the markings are barely visible because of the paint, but I can make out USN on the one side and the other side does appear to have RH and what might be a 3 and a 5. I cannot figure out for the life of me why anyone would paint the blade and I'm not sure if I should try to get the paint off

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!
Kim