That "HB" looks a little too "clean" to me to be on something that was made and used on the frontier hundreds of years ago. There seem to be random deep file marks on the blade in the area forward of the guard. Are there any other examples of "HB" knives marked that way or were others touchmarked on the blade. Could the touchmark have been put there to identify ownership rather than the maker. Did the knife come with any provence or story as to ownership? It definately has all the attributes of a "Riflemans knife" but it seems as if it is just too perfect. Of course I'm very cynical when it comes to identifing antiques. Everything is a fake until proven otherwise, in my mind, not the other way around. It looks too good to me. Of course I could be wrong. Hard to tell from just a picture.
