U.S. Machete (?) WWI Vintage

[lawrence_n]

A buddy dropped by with an interesting piece of U.S. military history. I've never seen one of these before so I'm hoping one of you guys can either give the lowdown on it or steer me to someplace, or someone, who can. It's (I believe) a military issue machete or hacker blade. I'll let the pics speak for me. On an interesting note, the edge is only ground on the right side leaving the left side flat. Odd, that! So? Any thoughts?
P.S.: I've done a little research and what I'm seeing, price wise, has me gobsmacked! Anything from 400+ to 700+ dollars. Are those prices at all currently realistic???

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