Scott, I don't think the F Herders are anything but regular SA's upon close inspection.
Now on the 'blonde' Kober, the lower crossguard does have a lower and flatter upper side than I have seen on other makers. That in itself is interesting. I just took it apart and the lower crossguard is marked with a P on one side facing the tang and on the other side...facing the tang (very strange) is a large K with a small circle with an x in it off to the side. The wooden grip is marked r y on the top with a 7 pointed star on the other side of the top, The bottom of the grip is marked with the single number 4.
Fascinating! From all appearances, it was never a brown grip as no remnants of brown are in the grip center hole or the "ledges" of the wood where you would see 'work'.
The upper grip fitting is marked with the same circled x, the number 7 and a large K on the opposite side of the tang hole. I do not want to clean it too much inside so far so I could possibly be not seeing some of the marks as crystal clear as I would like.
Anybody ever see one like this with these markings?
Mark
