M9 help?

[calhuon]

I have an M9 marked U.S.A. PAT. NO. 4,821,356 on one side and M9 on the other. Scabbard marked Phrobis. belt attachment Bianchi marked. Can anyone tell me who made this M9? and what is the vintage?

[Quarterbore]

Are there any other markings... say "M9A1" "Phrobis Intl" or "Spain"?

Can you upload photos here or in the photoserver on the site?

Bill may well know what this is but you have me stumped... I know lancay had some M9s marked US but they should not have the patent on them.

See the photos of this thread:

http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/showthread.php?t=720

And read this thread:

http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/showthread.php?t=40

[calhuon]

There are no other markings. I tried to download pics from my computer but no luck. I tried the Photo Server but when I press browse nothing happens. anyway I could email them to another address if you like. Thanks Rory Black scabbard/ with stone and double loop marked Phrobis black belt attachment marked Bianchi Int. green handle

[Quarterbore]

There are no other markings. I tried to download pics from my computer but no luck. I tried the Photo Server but when I press browse nothing happens. anyway I could email them to another address if you like. Thanks Rory Black scabbard/ with stone and double loop marked Phrobis black belt attachment marked Bianchi Int. green handle

Just to confirm, you went here:

http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/photopost/uploadphoto.php

When you click BROWSE nothing happened? That is an indicatin that your java on your computer is badly outdated or turned off.

If your images are huge, you may need to crop down the size and the photoserver should tell you this.

If you still can't get it, e-mail them to me at quarterbore@yahoo.com and I will upload them.

As for the scabbard, the scabbard will not tell you who made the knife as it is real easy to seperate the knife from the scabbard.

[porterkids]

It's one of the Marto manufactured Phrobis M9s. If we can get a few pictures we'll have a better idea of exactly what it is.

[calhuon]

I am having unexpected trouble loading pics. I'll post soon as I can get to the bottom of this. I checked out all the pics and haven't seen one like it. Thanks

[Quarterbore]

I see your pics are uploaded. The certainy looks like the markings of the Phrobis M9A1 blades made by Marto like Bill suggested. I have not seen just the M9 markings like that before however.


http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/photopost/member.php/uid/1436

[calhuon]

Any more info needed to identify it? Any idea when it was made?

[porterkids]

In 1990-91 the Franklin Mint made a Desert Storm Commemorative plaque with a fake M16 barrel and an M9 bayonet. The plaque was similar to the Phrobis plaque but not the same quality. It had all the flags of the coalition nations on it.

When the first advertisement showed up in magazines it clearly pictured an M9 bayonet with the markings "M9" over "MARTO" on the left ricasso. At this point in time, Buck was the only company licensed to sell the M9 bayonet in the US. Marto was making component parts for Phrobis at the time and was also manufacturing M9 bayonets for commercial sales in Europe. Apparently the magazine ad caused a little stir, and the plaques were delivered with bayonets simply marked "M9" on the left ricasso and the US Patent information on the right ricasso. I have one of these that I bought from Franklin Mint at the time, still new in the shipping box.

I don't know how many of the plaques were actually made. I contacted Franklin Mint but no one there was able to give me any information on the number of plaques they had made. They ended up with more bayonets than plaques, so they sold them on the commercial market. The original plaque did not have a scabbard. They paired the bayonets up with Phrobis scabbards but there was a slight difference. The scabbards did not have a Bianchi clip on the belt end of the webbing. It had a simple loop of web material with a snap. I haven't seen very many of these bayonets and scabbards.

[calhuon]

Thanks, that's quite a story. Then the M9 that I have was probably made in Spain and sold here commercially and the scabbard was matched up with the bayonet later?

[porterkids]

That's pretty much correct. Can't say for sure if that scabbard came with it or was matched up later. I suppose there could have been some that had a scabbard with a Bianchi clip.

[calhuon]

considering the identification is correct and the conditon in the pics, can you give me an idea of what it is worth? Thankyou

[Quarterbore]

With knives like this value is very hard to predict. I have seen common knives sell on EBAY for WAY more then I expected and somewhat rare or unusual knives sell for much less then I would expect.

It also depends on who is looking.

EBAY is a good place to sell with as much infoamtion posted as you know but I would have no idea what it may sell for. Many M9 Buyers would not understand or care while another collector would likely be interested in having the knife in their collection.

[calhuon]

Thanks for your help once again.

[Carlo]

I saw that one of the Marto M9 discussed above with the modified webbing is for sale on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Marto-M9-Bayonet-w-unique-Scabbard-knife_W0QQitemZ370214873943QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_D efaultDomain_0?hash=item563286ab57&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1205%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

[Mister Moon]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USA-M9-Bayonet-Mounted-on-Desert-Storm-Plaque-/160845523574?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item257323ea76#ht_500wt_1357

[Carlo]

I posted pictures of the original ad for the Franklin Mint DS plaque here
http://www.quarterbore.net/forums/showthread.php?p=14040&highlight=plaque#post14040
I was lucky and I found one few years ago for a better price and in much better condition than the one in the above auction.