M.H. Cole Custom Non-Magnetic Fighting Knife & Scabbard

5.375" single edged drop point blade with saw-back spine, .9" wide at ricasso and 9.675" in overall length. 4.5" hilt with aluminum guard and pommel cap and stacked leather washer grip with aluminum and Bakelite spacers as well. Pommel cap stamped M H/COLE on one side and M/H/C on the other. Reverse ricasso stamped HC. Includes a typical Cole pattern leather sheet with stamped star decorations on the face and stamped M.H. COLE on the reverse. The blade of the knife is non-ferrous and non-magnetic and may be made from aluminum or a similar non-ferrous metal. The knife is probably a 1970s-1980s era piece, and was formerly in the collection of the late Larry Thomas, proprietor of the American Military Edged Weapons Museum in Intercourse, PA. The non-magnetic properties of this knife suggest it may have been made specially for a US Navy UDT or SEAL Team member or an EOD specialist.

According to noted knife maker, researcher and author, Michael Silvey, Marion Howard Cole (1911-1999) was a Birmingham, AL police officer during World War II and produced custom knives in his spare time for men serving in the armed forces. His premier knife was a large knuckle knife with blades made of spring steel and brass knuckle guards cast by a local foundry. Initially these knives were produced with nine-point knuckle bow, but after fifty to seventy-five knives were produced, he redesigned the knife with an eight-point guard. Most of Cole’s WWII era production were made without sheaths, but he did acquire some sheaths from Birmingham’s Blackhorse Leather Works at a cost of $0.75 each. According to Silvey, after that company went out of business, Cole acquired some of the firm’s tools so that he could continue to produce sheaths as needed that were of the same style as his World War II ones. Cole was more than just a police officer, detective, custom knife maker and author, he was devotee to historical arms of all types and was one of the founding members of the Alabama Gun Collectors Association and served as their president at the end of the 1950s. Cole continued making knives through the early 1990s and died in June of 1999 at the age of 87.

ex-Larry Thomas American Military Edged Weapons Museum Collection