Help identifying an item please

[Christopher550]

Here's something I'm really curious about that i inherited a few months ago. I'm fairly confident it's a ceremonial WW2 Luftwaffe Dagger with an ivory handle but defining it beyond that is getting the better of me. If any help can be given i'll be extremely grateful!

[J Temple-West]

Hi, Chris

The hanger is certainly not standard issue...and I have to say that the only time that I've seen this type of design on the blade of a 1937 Luftwaffe dagger, it's been a reproduction.

Hopefully the edged weapon collectors will be able to give you more info.

[Gordon Craig]

Christopher550,

I agree with J Temple-West's comment.  The dagger in the pictures that you posted does not look authentic to me.  Here is a link to Wittman's site, a well known dagger collector, that shows what an authentic WWII Luftwaffe dagger should look like.

http://www.wwiidaggers.com/41282.htm 

Regards,

Gordon

Edited November 6, 2018 by Gordon Craig

[Christopher550]

14 minutes ago, Gordon Craig said:

Christopher550,

I agree with J Temple-West's comment.  The dagger in the pictures that you posted does not look authentic to me.  Here is a link to Tom Wittman's site, a well known dagger collector, that shows what an authentic WWII Luftwaffe dagger should look like.

http://www.wwiidaggers.com/41282.htm 

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the reply. Can you give me any info or resources on the production and sale of reproduction items like this? Just so i can do some counter-comparisons for my own peace of mind.

Chris

[coldstream]

Christopher,

Take a look at this website, all fake or reproduction depending on your viewpoint.

http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/shop-re-enactment-german-ww2-category,781

Go to page five of the weapons section and you'll see a very similar dagger to yours.

Regards Simon.

 

[Stuka f]

Sorry to say it is a copy indeed and I doubt the handle to be ivory...

[Gordon Craig]

Christopher550,

So you want to do your own comparison?  Well here goes.  Here is a link to a web site that compares original and fake/repro Third Reich daggers.  https://www.realorrepro.com/article/German-Army-Dress-Daggers .  As a long time collector of German military artifacts, I have seen countless articles supposedly brought back from the war by returning servicemen, and sometimes by German vets themselves, that are not authentic.  I can assure you, as others have in this thread, that the dagger you have posted pictures of  was not made during the period of time covered by the Third Reich.  In addition, the handle on the original daggers is not likely to have been made of ivory.

Regards,

Gordon 

[Christopher550]

31 minutes ago, Gordon Craig said:

Christopher550,

So you want to do your own comparison?  Well here goes.  Here is a link to a web site that compares original and fake/repro Third Reich daggers.  https://www.realorrepro.com/article/German-Army-Dress-Daggers .  As a long time collector of German military artifacts, I have seen countless articles supposedly brought back from the war by returning servicemen, and sometimes by German vets themselves, that are not authentic.  I can assure you, as others have in this thread, that the dagger you have posted pictures of  was not made during the period of time covered by the Third Reich.  In addition, the handle on the original daggers is not likely to have been made of ivory.

Regards,

Gordon 

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for your help on this (same to everyone else also). Not disappointed as i now know what i have

Chris

[Gordon Craig]

Chris,

Your welcome.  A big part of collecting is sharing knowledge with others.  I'm glad that the GMIC community could help.

Regards,

Gordon

 

[peter monahan]

Not my field at all, but a high school chum had a Luftwaffe dagger which his dad had taken from a captured Fallschirmjager officer in Holland in late'44-early '45, so it was the first real militaria item I ever came across.  As several others have noted, this is not the standard pattern.

Even the originals, BTW, did not actually have ivory handles in most cases, but a form of plastic or Bakelite, which the Germans were early pioneers in the use of.