A friend of mine served as an Air Force mechanic during the Viet Nam War. While he was stationed in Viet Nam, he purchased a knife at a little shop (I forgot what he said the town was). He liked the knife but didn't think much of it. In fact, after the war, it sat in his desk drawer at work for about 22yrs. He showed me the knife on more than one occasion, and one day while looking through a book on Viet Nam era military knives, I saw several knives that looked very much like the one my friend owns. The knives were made by someone named Nguyen Dan (http://www.militaryfightingknives.com/collection.html#Nguyen%20Dan). The knives in the book are so similar that I believe my friend's knife was also made by Nguyen Dan.

My friend has no interest in selling the knife, but he is curious as to what it's worth. If anyone could offer even a ball park figure, such as "less than one hundred dollars", "over two hundred", etc., we would greatly appreciate it. I tried checking the web, but I didn't find any info on potential values.

Here are a few images of the knife. It was never really abused, but as you can tell from the condition of the horn handle, it was never really taken care of either.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f24/hephaestus61/knives/Nguyen-Dan-knife-4.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f24/hephaestus61/knives/Nguyen-Dan-knife-3.jpg

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f24/hephaestus61/knives/Nguyen-Dan-knife-2.jpg

No one even willing to hazard a guess?

Chris, I'm going to check with my brother in San Antonio. He did a little knife and helmet collecting while he was at Ton Se Nuk (spelling?). I wouldn't be surprised if he knew of this man. As to worth, I already know one question he'll ask; "Does your friend have documentation of him with the knife while there?". In other words, does he have a picture of he and the knife together. For some reason, this really escallates the value of Viet Nam era knives to some collectors.
Give me a few days.

Handle cracking/shrinkage is very common on tourist sold knives from "over there". Not always completely cured horn, or just the high humidity compared to ours. The net result is shrinkage and or cracking. Notice that the pins are proud also. Could use a soaking in Old English furniture oil. This was recommended to me by a collector of Phillipine and Malay blades. , for horn handles.

Please contact John Gibson at Military Fighting Knives . Com. Nguyen Dan was a MASTER fighting knife maker who made blade for the guys in MACSOG. That knife is worth a small fortune.