WW2 Fairbairn Sykes Fighting Knife

This well known fighting knife is the premiere standard upon which every other knife in WW2 was made. This one, a second pattern version, indicated by the V shape cut where blade and guard meet, was made by Wilkinson's Sword, the preferred maker in terms of classic FS knife quality.
 
This really is a special knife.
 
The reason is simple - it is a 2nd pattern blade, likely a type 1 though there is the suggestion of former bluing that would be consistent with type 2, with an early third pattern hilt, which suggests, as nothing went to waste during the war, that it is a 'transition piece' from between 1942/3 and the third pattern blades that were developed en masse as Britain's army was rebuilding in anticipation of D-Day. This is one knife that all collector's will be fascinated by since 2nd pattern FS knives have a huge range of variants to study, the finish and quality of Wilkinson's represented here has stood the test of time since the mid 18th century, and this example, as a mix of patterns and types must be extremely rare.