I've been collecting and trading military knives for over 30 years. There is no set in stone information about these so called "theater" or "fighting" knives. I've seen every sort of garden tool and industrial implement sold as a "combat" knife. After studying these photos, I would bet that this knife was most likely made during the second world war by a machinist or factory worker for the war effort. It is not a factory item, like a production knife, but in many factories, skilled labor would sometimes volunteer their spare time to make knives out of scrap materials for donation to individual soldiers or were gathered to be sent to the Army for distribution. Unfortunately, very few were ever marked by the maker or when and where they were made. Those that can be traced to an noted maker could be quite valuable. The heavy pattern of riveting and the red bakelite handle are the giveaways to me of it's WW2 origins. I know the local Wright aircraft engine plants (3 in this area) had groups of men making knives like this, but have never seen a marked example. Most of this activity took place earlier in the war. When the war began there was a shortage of military knives for the new soldiers so the government bought all of the stocks of commercial sporting and hunting knives as well as asking the public to donate their own hunting knives. When supply caught up with demand, many makers discontinued their work. There is no end to design variations and materials used in these "handmade" knives. Value depends solely upon what someone would be willing to pay for it. Many war surplus combat knives such as Navy Mark 1s and 2s (Kabar types) as well as Pal 36 Army knives were sold on the surplus sporting market in the 1950s for as low as 50 cents each. Many times these knives were customized by their owners to make them more personalized, usually in the form of a stacked plastic handle. Today Ebay is loaded with these so called "Theater" knives, some going for big bucks. Truth is, that unless you have a photo of some soldier actually holding that particular knife during WW2, who knows if that knife was ever even in a movie theater, let alone a theater of war.
