There is probably no custom maker of military pattern knives more famous than M.H. “Howard” Cole. His fame in the collector community stems not only from his skill as a custom knife maker but also by his exhaustive efforts to document the edged weapons that he loved through his drawings and writings. No serious collector of US military knives does not have Cole’s famous four volume set US Military Knives, Bayonets & Machetes Volumes I-IV in their arms library, or at the very least a copy of the compellation of these books, published as The Best of US Military Knives: Bayonets & Machetes which took most of the important information from the original four volumes and put it all under one cover, with the assistance of edged weapons authority, custom knife maker, and author Michael Silvey. Cole followed up his original works on military knives with The Skinning Knife Book, which he published in 1996.

According to 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 of these knives were produced, he redesigned the knife with an eight-point guard. Most of Cole’s WWII era production knives 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 the 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 scabbards. 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.

Offered here is one of Cole’s most desirable custom fighting knives, which was formerly in a well-known museum collection. This is one of his massive Bowie-bladed knuckle knives, with the latter day 8-point knuckle bow. According to information from the former owner’s collection this large knuckle knife was one of fourteen of this pattern produced by Cole during the 1980s. This particular knife was number 7 of the fourteen and is so marked on the face of the guard.

The knife has a large 9” long clip point Bowie blade that is 2” wide its widest point and has a ¾” choil, where the blade is only 1 13/32” wide. The blade has a long, 4 ½” false edge, is 17/64” wide at the spine and very well made. The knife utilizes full tang construction the tang formed into a skull crusher point that extends ¾” past the pommel. The overall length of the knife is 14 ¼”, including the skull cracker. The hilt is 4 ½” in length, not counting the skull cracker and is cast from heavy brass with 8 large cog style projections that are about ½” in length emanating from the heavy knuckle bow. The large grip has an oval cross section and is made in classic theater knife style using a combination of materials. Most of the grip is made from stacked leather washers but also has four aluminum spacers at the front and rear of the grip that bracket a reddish-brown Bakelite washer, along with two black Bakelite insulation washers at the ends of the grip. The reverse side of that knucklebow is stamped M H COLE. The face of the guard is stamped MHC below the choil and NO 7 above the spine. There are no other markings on the knife. The knife is accompanied by an M.H. Cole produced brass mounted heavy leather sheath made in the style of the large fighting knife and machete sheaths of the 1940s and 1950s. The sheath is 16 ½” in overall length and is made in two primary parts. The 10 ¼” body is made from four layers of leather stitched together and is 31/64” thick. The sheath is 2 7/8” wide. A brass washer is in the bottom tip of the sheath with a long latigo leg tie down passing through it. A 9 ¾” long folded leather belt loop is attached to the rear of the scabbard with four rivets and extends 6” above the body of the sheath, allowing it to be used on a belt of almost any size. The pinned brass throat reinforcement is stamped M H COLE over ROEBUCK WORKS. There are no other markings or decorations on the sheath, except for a stamped box boarder around the four copper rivets on the reverse that attach the sheath’s body to the long leather belt loop. No doubt all of this work was done with the old Blackhorse Leather tools that Cole purchased, allowing him to recreate sheaths in the style of their work for him during WWII. As is typical of Cole’s work all of the letters are stamped independently, and no gang stamps were utilized. The collection that this knife came from had it identified as being a 1980s production Cole knife. Some additional information about the provenance for this knife will be shared with the buyer.

The knife remains in VERT FINE overall condition and has never been used but appears to have suffered from minor storage issues at some point in time. The blade retains nearly all of its original bright polish, making it very difficult to photograph. The end result are reflections and artifacts in the photos that make it hard to give an accurate impression of what the blade looks like. Any strange imperfections that may appear on the blade in the photos are probably reflections from the photo studio equipment or the result of the lighting and the highly reflective blade. The knife retains its original edge and is not sharpened. The blade shows some freckles of minor surface oxidation on both sides, around the middle of the blade. These freckles of discoloration could probably be carefully cleaned off, but I’m not touching the blade. These freckles are likely the result of the knife being stored in the sheath where some moisture may have been trapped, resulting in the oxidation. The heavy brass guard has dulled and has a rich, deep butterscotch patina. The grip shows some light handling marks and some small areas of green verdigris, which may be further indication of having spent some time stored in the sheath. The sheath shows some very light wear from handling and storage as well, but no real use or abuse. There are also a few areas of minor discoloration which may be moisture related, with at least one water drop visible on the face of the belt loop, above the throat. There is also some minor speckled discoloration on the rear of the belt loop that may be from mildew.

Overall, this is an exceptionally attractive, impressively large and wonderful condition example of a Cole-made brass knuckle fighting knife. It will be an outstanding addition to any serious custom knife collection, particularly one that focuses on fighting and theater knives. Adding any MH Cole knife to their collection is often the goal of many serious military knife collectors and the rarity and price of the Cole-made knives often keep the acquisition of such pieces out of reach. With high condition Cole knuckle knives regularly selling in the very highest regions of the four-figure to low five-figure price range, this knife provides an opportunity to acquire a knife from one of the most coveted makers of the modern era at a fair price for one of his impressive knuckle knives.