Ronnie, an earlier post told how this knife was stolen from Gen. Moore in 1971 when he was returning to the US from Korea. He always expressed regret losing this knife when he would see it in pictures..and would relate how Gen Westmoreland had given it to him.
This is an interesting study. I see the "point" Joe and Ronnie are making about the sheath tip. But the horizontal keeper, brown buttons etc., could indicate an earlier sheath. So how do we rationalize contradictory data? My problem is the spacers. They just are not looking like typical 7-spacer stack, but look to have the thicker white spacer that was used briefly in the mid-50s. But is this fact?
Here is a picture of a bunch of 7-spacer stack, pinned handles, with all pictures reduced to black and white for comparison (Joe E-mailed me noting B&W photos can distort whites because of the comparative bright reflections). No ... looking at this comparison, the spacers of Moore's knife do not look like those 7-stacks.
Also included in the picture is a '50s m2 with leather handle and 5-spacer stack, and a 1943 m2 also with standard 5-stack. To me, the spacers in Moore's knife look most like a standard 5-spacer stack though not perfect. But the handle does not appear to be leather, but does look like wood. OK, there is a disconnect, but there are examples of 5-stack on non-leather handles.
My current conclusion: The sheath and knife features we can see make it likely to be pre-1963 (it has brown button, horizontal keeper), post about 1954 (it has narrow stone flap). For the purpose of the article, I'm probably going to finesse the issue, calling it "'50s," or perhaps "late 50s." We could debate this until everyone's position hardened.. but for literary purposes that will do.
Of course if we could see the back of the sheath, blade, etc., bingo. But that will sadly never happen. The good news is that thanks to this line and everyone's participation, this little piece of history, and bigger piece of Randall history has been discovered and preserved. The military history of Randall knives is the reason I came to collect and a big reason for the lore of the Randall. This line has made a contribution here, and the article I'll write will share it with a larger military community. Thanks all...
Ciao