The ‘market’ for divers knives almost as important as the market for diving helmets. There is a lot of demand by collectors of diving helmets but there are also many collectors for guns and military memorabilia. Even though the divers knife is not meant to be a weapon, the militaria collector who collects the swords, daggers and bayonets also wants the divers’ knife. Compared to the quantities of swords and bayonets made for the military, the divers knife is made in very limited quantities only: there were relatively only very few divers active within the military. The scarceness of the divers knives combined with a strong market for them resulted in a market where there are more reproductions for sale then genuine knives. Many reproductions can be revealed as such by just looking at a picture of them, but since dealers started to reproduce them as early as the nineteen eighties ( and maybe before? ) some of the earlier reproductions are very hard to identify. I am not a ‘knife specialist’ but have several in my collection which are 100% genuine and started this new chapter on knives with the idea that it will grow into a good source for accurate info in them. Do you have a divers knife (for sale) from which you are 100% certain that it is old and genuine then please contact me, thanks.

The Siebe Gorman Divers knives with flat sheaths

This might not be the oldest SG knife, but it is the rarest. In fact there is very little known about this knife apart from some rumors which say that this knife was actually purchased from a German company and then retailed by Siebe Gorman. There are no inscriptions or any other markings on it, but the knife is shown in the companies literature as a Siebe Gorman knife. The interesting feature is that it has a locking device which keeps the knife from falling out of the sheath. I show it here as an ‘exceptional variation’ because this knife has not been manufactured in important numbers and is quite scarce nowadays. When you have any accurate info on this knife then pls let me know.

This is the first style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath (as far as I know) The makers name is etched into the blade.

This is the 2nd style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath. The handle is made of a very fine wood but slightly different in shape as the knife above. Also is the sheath slightly different in shape. The makers name is etched into the blade.

This is the 4th style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath. The makers name is etched into the blade. The handle is still made of a very fine wood but different in shape as the wood handle knives above: the hard edge has been made round now.

This is also the 3rd style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath. But here the handle is made of a slightly more rough wood. The makers name is etched into the blade (but hard to read due to corrosion and grease) Many years ago this knife was sold to dutch tourist in Israel, they were told it was a roman sword ...

Now shown complete with the leather belt. The sheath of the knife has a leather strap attached to it which is bolted with a brass bolt to the divers belt. The belts were provided with a hole in it where the bolt would fit. Also shown at the belt is the brass ‘pipe-holder’.

Another ‘final style’ SG knife. This version was used by the dutch military, the * after makers name which is etched in the blade indicates that this is a non magnetic knife. These knives had no markings on the sheath where (for instance) non magnetic knives used by the British military had the word ‘non magnetic’ cast in the sheath (see knife here below).

This is the final style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath. Where the third style knife had a wooden handle with 6 and a half round rings, here the handle is made of so called ‘Bakelite’, a Belgian invention of a dark red-brown looking kind of plastic. And it now has 6 equally round rings in the handle. The makers name is etched into the blade. The over all design seems to have become the standard for this knife ever since, later variations only differ in the material used for the handle and blade, and the markings on the blade and scabbard.

Another ‘final style’ SG knife. The leather strap is now fixed to the sheath and it cannot be bolted to the divers belt any longer. All brass parts are chrome plated now and there is no sign of a makers name. This version dates from the late nineteen sixties / early nineteen seventies.

The rarest Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with locking system

The first style Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with flat sheath

The second style Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with flat sheath

The fourth style Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with flat sheath and fine wooden handle

Another fourth style Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with flat sheath, rough wooden handle

The fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, red Bakelite handle

(another) Fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, black ‘Ebonite’ handle

(another) Fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, chrome plated brass / fixed strap

And the final ‘fifth style’ Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, electro-engraved signature

And the final ‘final style’ SG knife. The makers name is now electro engraved in a much larger font. This version dates from the late nineteen seventies / early nineteen eighties. This variation is in fact the last real divers knife made by Siebe Gorman even though there have been made a series of commemorative knives for the 175th birthday of Siebe Gorman, but these were made for collectors rather then for divers to use.

The pre-history: Augustus Siebe screw type Divers Knife

When this knife was found some 25 years ago the wood of the handle had almost completely disappeared, the owner had a new handle made for it. The blade, he told me, was black and very much corroded so he had it cleaned by a friend who also sharpened it for him, luckily he did not clean off the makers name in the blade which reads ‘A.SIEBE LONDON’. The sheath is marked ‘SIEBE & GORMAN’ and this could indicate that the knife and sheath do not belong together but since ‘Siebe & Gorman’ was the name of the company directly after at had been named ‘A.Siebe’ I could believe that ‘Siebe & Gorman’ assembled their knives using old stock blades which were still stamped with the old company name. Still a rare and early English divers knife. Do you have this style of knife for sale with the same makers name on both the blade and the sheath? Please contact me, also when the makers name is different from the knife shown here. Thanks.

The third style Siebe Gorman Divers knife, with flat sheath and a brass handle

This is the 3rd style SG&Co knife with a flat sheath but now the handle is made of brass, like the knives from Siebe Gorman’s competitor: ‘C.E.Heinke’ (see photo below) The makers name is etched into the blade. This knife only appears in the Siebe, Gorman & Co Ltd. sales catalog of 1905 and is considered to be ‘rare’. Unfortunately I received this knife without its scabbard so when you have either an empty Siebe Gorman scabbard (or one with a bad condition knife in it) laying around then I would be happy to make you an offer for it. Thanks (the sheath at the photo’s I borrowed from the knife shown above it)

Left: The divers knife as made by C.E.Heinke which seems to have inspired Siebe Gorman when making the knife shown above.

This Heinke knife lost most of its blade, do you have one for sale in a better condition then please let me know.

(another) Fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, black ‘Ebonite’ handle

Another ‘final style’ SG knife. The earlier version as shown above had the handle made of brown bakelite but here the handle is made of black ebonite, which was used for all SG knives after they stopped using bakelite.

(another) Fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, UK military Anti-magnetic

Another ‘final style’ SG knife. This is a standard British military anti-magnetic divers knife. Both the sheath and the blade of the knife are marked on both sides ‘NON-MAGNETIC’ and a Nato Stock Number.

(another) Fifth and final style Siebe Gorman Divers knife with flat sheath, signed ‘Siebe, Gorman &CO Ltd.’

Another ‘final style’ SG knife. This time signed ‘Siebe, Gorman & Co Ltd.’  I am not sure if it is at the right (chronological) place here but I estimate it ‘sixties’