All About Pocket Knives

Hello everyone,
I'm hoping some Western experts can help identify a Bowie knife that belonged to my father.
Known details:
• Marked "WESTERN BOULDER, COLO. USA" on one side of the ricasso.
• Marked simply "BOWIE" on the opposite side.
• No other markings or stamps anywhere on the knife.
• No markings on the spine, guard, pommel, or sheath.
• Original leather sheath appears unmarked as well.
• My father purchased the knife new sometime during the 1960s.
Measurements:
• Overall length: 14 3/4 inches
• Blade length: 9 3/8 inches
• Blade width: 2 1/8 inches
• Blade thickness at guard/spine: 3/16 inch
• Knife weight (without sheath): 19.27 ounces
Construction details:
• Brass guard
• Hardwood scales with brass pins
• Bird's-head style pommel
• Heavy leather sheath with retention strap
The knife does not appear to match the common Western W49 Bowie pattern and I have not been able to locate a model number anywhere on it.
I'm primarily trying to determine:
1. Exact model designation (if any)
2. Approximate production years
3. Whether this was a catalog model, special run, or commemorative piece
4. Current collector value
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Someone may see this and answer, but most of what you're asking is answered here in the Western Cutlery Collector's forum. https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... hp?t=54880

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

1964 version. First version made after WW2. Based on the Western Bx54, which was an authorized clone of the Collins #18 Pequeno Machete that was in Army Air Corps and USN aircraft that were flying over jungle / wilderness areas from the late 1930s through the early 1940s, until it was replaced by the true Case V-44 fixed blade machetes.

Mistakenly called a V-44. Only the Case V-44 is a V-44. The knives called V-44s that look like this Bowie knife and made by Case, Western and Kinfolks were all clones of the Collins #18.

Oh, and V-44 was never a government designation. V-44 came from an internal designation on the Case blue print for its "new" fixed blade machete.

I believe the OP knife is an a later sheath than the knife originally came in.