British Leather Push Dagger Sheath

Product Description: This British Leather Push Dagger Sheath is a well-preserved example of a utilitarian accessory tailored for the open-grip push dagger. Measuring 8.5″ overall with 6.25″ to the sheath opening, this compact piece is constructed of soft, pliable leather designed for comfortable carry and rapid deployment. The snap closure, marked “United Carr,” functions as intended, and the body retains supple hand and attractive patina consistent with careful use and storage.

Presented in honest collector’s condition, the snap operates reliably and the stitching and mounting remain sound; there is light verdigris to the metal rivets commensurate with age. Ideal for a period ensemble or edged-weapon collection, this British Leather Push Dagger Sheath will appeal to those seeking an authentic, serviceable example of early 20th-century carry equipment.

Historical Description: British push daggers featured small blades mounted perpendicular to a short handle for a punching thrust and entered British military awareness largely through colonial contact with South Asian and Middle Eastern weapons (notably the katar) in the 18th–19th centuries. They were never standard-issue battlefield weapons for the British Army, but the design influenced privately bought or improvised knives used by officers and NCOs who wanted a compact, easily concealed close-quarters weapon.

Their clearest military appearance came in the confined, brutal fighting of World War I trenches, where a few soldiers fashioned or carried punch-style knives for stealthy, desperate hand-to-hand encounters. In World War II, formal issue still favored longer fighting knives (e.g., the Fairbairn–Sykes) and utility bayonets, but some special forces and clandestine operatives — notably SOE agents and certain commando units — experimented with or privately acquired very small stabbing implements derived from push-dagger concepts for silent work, sabotage, or covert entry.

Overall the push-dagger’s military role in British service was marginal and tactical rather than doctrinal: useful in very close quarters or covert contexts but overshadowed by officially issued fighting knives and bayonets. After WWII the form largely disappeared from British military inventories, surviving mainly as a niche collector’s item or specialty tool rather than a mainstream combat weapon.

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