Hello!  I have an old picture from who I think is an ancestor of mine from ~1918. Would love any expert eyes to help me identify anything about the grade and unit of the man on the left.   The picture was taken in Calais, Nord, France around 1918 (The person on the right is my great great great aunt) Here is what I could find:  - the uniform looks like a Belgian army jacket (4 pockets, the two bottom ones being sewn outward) - which is plausible then. The ancestor I'm suspecting the man is was a teacher, enrolled in the Belgian army at that time in residence in Calais - the gloves he is holding are typical of officers   What I don't know / I'm not sure about: - the Belgian army jacket was mid-brown, while it looks more while / light beige in the picture - the rank (likely displayed on his sleeves) would correspond to Lieutenenant in the French army, but the Belgian Army seems to use Stars, not bands for this rank - his trench cap is what brought me here: I didn't find this common in the Belgian Army in WW1 - the man's collar has the number 1 on it, and possibly what looks like another token of his rank   What is your interpretation?     

Here's a couple better photos of the knife, for anyone who's interested

Wow, that's even rarer than I originally thought. I heard that #2's were 10 or 15% of total wartime production. Were most WW2 #2's made late-war?   I'm pretty sure they switched the stamp from the bevel to the ricasso later in the war

Ohhhhhh, okay, nice find!

I know that they finger printed me many moons ago at the MEPS Station, not sure where they ended up or how long they kept them. 

The construction and color of the od green.    use of a rice glue on reverse. 

very interesting, what makes it japanese made? it has an interesting construction. very cool!

Never say never. Not sure who would have ordered this one up.     

Sorry...that's an old post....doing this while traveling.

Yes he did. I think a lot of it was based on what "he'd" like to have paid for a custom knife. He worked as a saw filer also and knew what it was to have hobbies AND try to make ends meet. I suppose that all factors in to his pricing.