c1918 British Trench Art Dagger Machine Gun Corps

A very unusual and interesting WWI Trench Art Dagger/Letter Opener.

The dagger has a spearpoint double edged blade (14 cm – 5 ½ inches), with a braided stainless steel hose handle. The handle has coned couplings on either end. The pommel has an inset button with the crossed machine guns and MACHINE GUN CORPS. The condition of the dagger is very good, apart for the brass button, which is partly crushed and appears to have been used as a mallet.

The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front, in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks in combat and was subsequently turned into the Tank Corps, later called the Royal Tank Regiment. The MGC remained in existence after the war until it was disbanded in 1922.

Size: 24 cm (9 3/8 inches)
Weight: 111 g