Tom Wittmann youtube about early German naval daggers

[Flyingdutchman]

Gentlemen,

there's a nice video about the early German Naval daggers by Tom Wittmann on YouTube: Tom Wittmann early German naval daggers

Tom captures these early pieces very well.  A few nitpickings, nothing really serious:

- The first daggers he shows are Prussian pieces that were probably carried also on the ship Amazone.. One of these daggers, the one with the bent crossguard arm, seems to have got a replaced scabbard. It is likely the scabbard of a later dagger of the 1848 pattern. You can see this dagger at minute 16:39.

- Basically he forgets to mention here that in 1844 also for the ship Amazone, a dagger-like Hirschfaenger was regulated  for the officers. Such a piece has been published already.

- Wrongly he describes a dagger of the 1901 pattern as being from the year 1890. It is the long dagger with open crown pommel. This is a typical 1901 pattern for sea officers.

- There was no dagger of the 1902 pattern. The long dagger for naval officers with the open crown was introduced in 1901, all shorter daggers were just private purchased variations, and off course worn by sea officers.

- There were no and never silver colored administration daggers. Administrative officers were not allowed to carry any daggers at all during the Imperial time, these were reserved for sea going officers only. 
This is also true for the later Weimar and Nazi period. In that time normal daggers were carried by administrative nco‘s and officers with silver coloured hanger buckles and hooks. 
This silver colored dagger in that video is most likely a dagger that lost the late war chemical gilt, daggers like this are already known to exist. 

- The so-called heavy daggers he showed were not pieces just for the rich mans Kids.  First and foremost they were daggers for prospective officers, which were given to them by parents or comrades as personal weapon. No cadet carried  them on duty,  only those 1890 pattern cadet  daggers regulated and  issued  to him. Only in their time as Faehnrich,  after their election to officer status by the officer-corps these pieces were occasionally carried. With the introduction of the pattern in 1901 these pieces slowly disappeared. However Tom is absolutely correct, they are desirable items and always the center of any navy dagger Collection.

- The very short Imperial dagger shown by him is certainly neither for an airship nor a submarine commander. There are real pieces and period photos,  showing that they carried normal officer daggers. It is a private production of unknown purpose, probably a memento and/or a letter opener.

However Tom's video is worth watching and it's fantastic that he gives a basic introduction into those early weapons.

Best;

Flyingdutchman 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Flyingdutchman