UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons Army, Navy, and Luftwaffe Forum LUFTWAFFE SURVIVAL MACHETE - ALCOSO

Finally this Nm condition early type of an orginal Luftwaffe machete lands into my collection.
Alcoso scales ACS trademark.
Grip hilt made of brass.
Blued scabbard. Dark & nice.

This pictured machete have also full 100% provience from Norway on the west coast where the Germans served during wartime in a Airport there they have base.
The pre owner of this machete was a Police shef in that town in the war. When he died about 15 years ago the family sell some of the stuff he taken from the Germans. Include a nice orginal SS helmet with history to the user and a few SD / SS things + NS Police tag and this machete.
The machete have in the past 10-12 years been into a collection in Norway.
I remember that day i see this machete first time many years ago. I was in the Gunshop where the dealer get this in. I hold it in hands and have "no clue" of its rarity at all.
The dealer sold it after only few days that time. The time has gone and ..... Now its in my collection. ( the world are small)


This types of machetes was carried aboard the He 111 Heinkel 111 Bombers serving on the Eastern Front. And may other planes?
The Machete was an organic component of a large survival kit carried aboard the aircraft.
Used by the Luftwaffe.
I bealive some of the German planes landing here on the westcoast , are sending troops to Murmansk for the Eastfront. Im quite sure this Machete was one of the items the Policeman get hands of when he served near the base ?

Here it is .
Enjoy the pics

Regards LH 600

All more further information about machetes are welcomed. Very few info to find out there of such machetes.








HE 111

...Now that's a knife! nice one 600!

Wow! That is indeed a wonderful early example of the Luft Survival Machette. Love the brass with the blued scabbard.
Congrats LH on a great piece of Luft Bomber survival equipment.
On the longer range bombers that these were issued with my understanding is that they also had a Drilling Shotgun in a neat Luft case on board so if a crew got downed they could hunt for game while the they worked their way back to the front.

Man...those were the days.

Regards,
-serge-

Beauty!

A great new adddition to your wonderful collection.
Congrats !

LH:

Great find! And a very hard to find item in fantastic shape.


John

While I really can't tell for sure from the images posted. The trademark on the machete seems to look quite a bit like the one on my friends. Which now has a few minor storage marks from over the years, but was never issued.

Where that might be troubling to some, is that the marking is of 1930's vintage. With at a minimum over several years, a variant and another more noticeable change used by Coppel on military type items prior to the type used on the example John posted.

(My apologies, but I had to enlarge the trademark from a fairly small old low resolution image. And the level of detail is not good, with some of it possibly being obliterated in the process.) FP

Wow, you're lucky guy, LH600. Beautiful piece that many collectors do not own. Interesting provenience too. Congratulations!

any thoughts about the used brass connected with the year of 1942+? I know them also with the crossguard made of steel that is more beloved for my taste.

Congrats on a great find,my friend

It cant be better than this one

quote:

Originally posted by Robert H.:
any thoughts about the used brass connected with the year of 1942+? I know them also with the crossguard made of steel that is more beloved for my taste.

The year is not mention here Robert.!

You can see the brass model on page 104.Volume 111 of Collecting the Edged Weapons of the Third Reich. Pages103, 104, 105

I dont have that book yet....but soon

Hi nice piece...what is the market value of such an item? cheers, Ryan

Robert, I also prefer the steel mounted machetes with the late commercial type trademark. Most often seen in all sorts of conditions as would be expected of equipment used in wartime. With sometimes seen attached to them, what looks like a tropical (webbing) type of belt frog.

As for the brass types with the 1930’s style of trademark, when my friend got his the seller had more than one for sale. Three(?), all in never used condition.

With some examples of the early style Coppel marked brass hilted machetes, you might also see added markings. With some being observed with what look like Luftwaffe acceptance or German Police or other types of markings (admittedly these are a minority).

As for the use of a restricted material in non-critical applications that is another way to look at the machetes. That probably starts best (IMO) with the early 1942 photograph in Die Woche. Which seems to possibly be at a variance with what is sometimes commonly accepted as a fact.

Posted below (borrowed from the other thread courtesy of Bret (cog-hammer): A much better image than the one I tried to enlarge of the early type Coppel commercial trademark. And a veteran acquired green DAK tropical type web belt frog with its 1942 dated bayonet. The frog is the same kind of green color usually seen with the extra large machete sized belt frogs. Regards FP

quote:

Originally posted by Fred Prinz (aka "Frogprince"):
Robert, I also prefer the steel mounted machetes with the late commercial type trademark. Most often seen in all sorts of conditions as would be expected of equipment used in wartime. With sometimes seen attached to them, what looks like a tropical (webbing) type of belt frog.

As for the brass types with the 1930’s style of trademark, when my friend got his the seller had more than one for sale. Three(?), all in never used condition.

With some examples of the early style Coppel marked brass hilted machetes, you might also see added markings. With some being observed with what look like Luftwaffe acceptance or German Police or other types of markings (admittedly these are a minority).

As for the use of a restricted material in non-critical applications that is another way to look at the machetes. That probably starts best (IMO) with the early 1942 photograph in Die Woche. Which seems to possibly be at a variance with what is sometimes commonly accepted as a fact.

Posted below (borrowed from the other thread courtesy of Bret (cog-hammer): A much better image than the one I tried to enlarge of the early type Coppel commercial trademark. And a veteran acquired green DAK tropical type web belt frog with its 1942 dated bayonet. The frog is the same kind of green color usually seen with the extra large machete sized belt frogs. Regards FP

FP

What are you really trying too tell us about the machetes ?

Are all FAKES in your opinions ?
Who bring this Machete into Norway during the war then ?

Hello. I haven't been posting much recently, but I followed this post over from WAF. Are we going to discuss the colors of a black and white photo again?

I don't know of any other additional markings besides the police E/B. Has a LW one been recorded? A German site has re-addressed the South American connection that was supposedly the post-WWII destination of these blades. The German site notes these blades were 1930s production that never went to South and Central American, but were "appropriated" for official German usage.

I'll post this link here for Fred, its a bit larger and you guys feel free to steal it if you want for your e-files. I cant say for sure how long I'll leave the link for a year or so I'm sure. And I dont think anyone is drawing conclusions here, its all really subjective, no one I know of has mounds of data on these things. I would think that if we find period tagged and bagged daggers then Minty "luft machetes" exist. Brass or steel mounted. I have seen minty examples with pitted scabbards, That seems to be a big thing on these weapons, the pitted rusty scabbards. mine is no exception! i did not pay a fantastic ammount for mine. I cant see paying 2k plus for one. maybe the rarity of these would make them worth that i dont know. I would think that maybe horse drawn units may have had these or even Eng. units but I really dont know. Mine has the police type stamp on it but I dont know of anyone with a period reference to the police using them???? Maybe in a photo album somewhere a photo is waiting...undiscovered. So we have a guessing game and thats it. Fred is going with what he knows and is taking the logical approach. Thats all any of us can do.
Bret Van Sant
http://www.militaryedgedweapons.com/eb1a.jpg

I bought my first one - the one pictured in Johnson's book- twenty five years ago plus the Die Woche magazine. I wanted the police proof. I found another two years later or so at the second St Louis Max Show. It was another police acceptance one. The police Flieger-Staffel cooperated closely with the LW with equipment. While they did not use the Heinkel 111 that was pictured in the Die Woche article with the photo of the machete in the winter surival kit, the police did use other large three engine and two engine planes for courier and supply duties, in Norway and in the East, among other theaters.So, if the LW issued emergency equipment fot the planes, I would presume Himmler would be sure that his pilots would be afforded the same safety measures.

Joe, that's makes good sense, here is a shot, no sunlight today overcast all day!!
forgive the Krag also,it was getting oiled
Bret Van Sant

I don’t know about currently, but in the past I don’t think getting things in and out of Norway was that hard or a one way street. I have a friend who sold and traded hard to find guns with collectors in Scandinavia over a period of years. And I’ve gotten blades from from Norway myself in the past with no problems, but have never tried to reverse the process. As for the subject of provenance please see my comments on the other thread as regards the topic in general - with the understanding that I’m not making a judgement.

To the best of my recollection, I’ve personally looked at over time I’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 to 10 of the unissued or virtually new early trademark brass ones, mostly on the West Coast. Versus I think perhaps half or less that number of the late trademarked steel ones in varying condition. My overall experience in collecting a variety of things has been that with early items they tend to get used up first in the normal course of events. Whereas late items are closer to new. And in some cases seem to have never been issued at all. With the exception of some of the new postings of brass examples which show some of the effects common to less than optimal use/treatment - why the seeming reversal???

As for the black and white photos. Strangely enough - a while back I did some test shots in direct sunlight to see what I could see. The results have not substantially changed my point of view that there might be some room for a reinterpretation of the original Luftwaffe Machete photograph. It’s not proof, but I just could not get the same representative values of the original photograph to replicate.

I’ve seen Luftwaffe, and to the best of my recollection one other type of marking on the brass hilted machetes. Zero additional markings on the steel types. If I understand it correctly: Coppel had a warehouse or some other place where it was storing unsold machetes? Machetes which did not go to England with Luftwaffe aircraft when that front opened up. But did go to Norway with German Police aircraft in or close to April of 1940. With subsequent general issues to Luftwaffe bombers in (possibly) June of 1941 as a part of the invasion of Russia, or maybe a little later as seems to be suggested by the photograph? Is there a link to the German site on the “South and/or Central American” connection or connections for the machetes? I would be interested in seeing just what they are basing their statements on.

PS: Danny Trejo es el hombre con el machete del modelo U.S.N MK 2. FP

Very interesting reading Frogprinze .

Here is a link to some info of SOLA AIRPORT During the war.
The Machete came from there...

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=4828







Airborne assault on Sola Airfield 1940

by Erik Ettrup



Sola airfield was the newest and most modern airfield in Norway 1940. It was built in 1937 and was the only airfield in south-western Norway with concrete runways. This airport represented a very valuable objective during the Weserübung. The distance to Scapa Flow is only 500 km. This meant that Sola could be used as a base for attacking the northern parts of Great Britain.



The following facts tell how the first airborne assault in history was carried out:

At 05:30 in the morning 9.April 1940, 12 lonely Ju 52 from 7./KGzbv1 left the airfield at Stade in Germany.

Onboard were 135 paratroopers from 3./FJR1. 10 minutes later, 53 more Ju52, carrying 2 companies from 193. Infanterie-Regiment of 69. Infanterie-division and 2 companies of Luftwaffe ground personell, followed.

The distance to Sola is 630 km and the flying time was estimated to 3 hours and 12 minutes. They were not allowed to fly over Denmark, as the attack there would be carried out as they passed.



12 Ju88 left the airfield at Lünebeck. Their mission was to reach Sola at the same time as the paratroopes. 8 Me110 from 3/ZG76 left Sylt a bit later. Their mission was to provide air support for the paratroopers. For the Messerschmitts, this was a one way ticket, as their fueltanks didn`t allowe them to get back.

Their destiny was in the hands of the paratroopers...

51 more Ju52`s left Utersum at 08:00. They were carrying I/193 Infanterie-Regiment.



The 12 first Ju52 met heavy fog in Skagerak. They wanted to turn, but knew if they didn`t take the airport, the following troops would be in great danger. They decided to continue, and only 100 km from the coast, they were again able to see the ocean. The formation was spread over a wide area, so they circled for a few minutes to wait for the rest.

Only 11 planes had made it trough the fog (the last had landed in Denmark).



The 8 Me 110 got more serious problems. 2 of the planes crashed into each other, and Oberleutnant Gollob decided to abort the mission. When they landed in Denmark, only 4 planes were left. The last two had not heard the radiomessage and had continued to Sola.

Due to all these reports of bad weather, General Hans Geisler decided to call back all planes. The paratroopers heading for Oslo (exept 4) and Trondheim turned, but the message was not recived by the forces bound for Sola.

The 11 Junkers were getting low on fuel. They were 45 minutes delayed and didn`t know exactly where they were.

Suddenly the 2 Me 110 joined the formation, and they hit shore just south of the airport. The flight towards the airport was drilled on scale models in Germany, so Hauptmann Capito knew exactly where he should go.



Meanwhile the 8 Ju88 had started their attack on the airport. Most of the Norwegian planes were destroyed on the ground, the rest escaped, as their planes were too old to take up the fight. The Junkers were ordered northwards to help a German merchantman which were under attack by a Norwegian destroyer. The 2 Me 110 strafed the airport at 10 meters above the ground. The Nowegian soldiers on the airfield fired all their weapons until they got so hot that they jammed.

Suddenly the 11 Ju 52 were over the airport. All 135 paratroopers lead by Oberleutnant Freiherr Von Brandis jumped out within seconds. The Norwegians thought they were getting bombed and escaped from most of the positions near the runway. The paratroopers gathered and opened heavy fire against the Norwegian forces.

The Norwegian Commander gave orders to withdraw from the airfield. Some of the Norwegian soldiers took the commanders car and drove off! In the end of the runway some Norwegian soldiers gathered around the only pillbox present at the airfield. They opened heavy fire on the German forces but were soon silenced by a German handgrenade.

The first of the 53 Junkers with I./193. Infanterie-Regiment reached the airport. The first planes to land were set under heavy Norwegian fire. The Ju88s returned after sinking the Norwegian ship, and opened fire on the remaining Norwegians. The Norwegian commander decided to surrender the airport, as it seemed hopless to fire on the planes with rifles and machineguns.



The German fire stopped at once when they saw the white flag. Oberleutnant Freiherr Von Brandis came over and saluted the Norwegian commander. The Norwegian commander gave his pistol to Brandis, but he returned it immediately. 90 Norwegian soldiers surrendered, and they were ordered to tear down the fences to prepare for a massive airborne landing. Within the first day, 2000 soldiers were transferred to Sola.

180 bombers and fighters were also brought in from Germany.

The first airborne assault in history was a fact.



German losses:

18 soldiers from 3./FJR1 killed in ground combat, ca. 30 wounded.

2 Me110 crashed in air

3 Ju 52 from 7/KG zbv 104 crashed during take-off in Germany.

2 Ju52 from KG zbv 106 lost over Skagerak

1 HE59 crashed during landing

1 Ju87 Crashed during landing

1 He111 crashed during landing

Thanks for the posting, and the link! That is some very interesting reading by itself.

On the other forum that was mentioned a little earlier, while the link made no sense (to me at least) as regards specifics. I did see a statement where (if I got it correctly) all brass machetes were for use by the “Polizei Flieger-Staffel”?? Also mentioning a non-specific South American connection.

And I saw from Tom Johnson who wrote the book: “Thank you for your reply. To the best of my knowledge, only the Luftwaffe units used the Luftwaffe machete”.

If nothing else, perhaps some new period information will come forward to help resolve the matter. I know that it made my friend crazy trying to find something that was authoritative, not speculative. And he eventually gave up. Regards, FP

I am not sure if the story about a warehouse of unused blades is a red herring or not. If the machetes were manufactured pre 1945 and not used, they would still be as relevant as finding a dagger in a uniform shop or in a manufacturer show room. They would be collectible, but in very good shape, right?

Unless we are saying that certain configurations of this machete were only manufactured after the war. If that were the case, and the intent was to deceive, wouldn't there be a lot more of these floating around the collecting and dealer network?

To the best of my recollection, the one shown by LH was the 4th one that I have seen in the past 3 years. The other 3 are the one in my collection, one on Maederer's site and a blade only on Johnson's site.

As to prices, the ones I have seen have ranged from $2 to $4k.

John

My mistake, the one on Johsnson's site sold for 2,495 and is still listed there, as sold. It has the ACS mark. And a scabbard.

John

Hauers in general were cheap and plentiful from 1940-1944 in Germany. After the U-boat war it wasn't possible to export these any longer. They were so plentiful and cheap, young boys played Wild West with them. Maybe that's what happened to them all.

John, I’ve got to roll out of here in a few minutes so I’’m going to try and be brief. Somebody can correct me if I’m wrong, but the one that Tom Johnson just sold was steel mounted not brass. And I don’t ever recall seeing a steel mounted machete with other than the late Coppel marking.

What some of what Joe Wotka said was: “The German site notes these blades were 1930s production that never went to South and Central American, but were "appropriated" for official German usage.” That seems to imply to me more than just a few examples. And given the size of Luftwaffe forces in the East. And the extremely low survival rate of Russian front items in general. My “warehouse” comment was my effort to show that for as many to have survived both here and in Europe. And in the excellent condition that many of them seem to be in. That there had to be quite a few that were manufactured.

I would agree that the Germans did on occasion expropriate war material. Like some of the 1941 contract Portuguese rifles, but that arguably was the direct result of horrendous losses of arms and men in Russia (interestingly some are specifically marked to the Luftwaffe). I also don’t want to get into a big discussion of either Atwood or some of the postwar assemblies of parts. But I personally don’t put them into the same category as legitimate leftover stock - even if original parts were used. (Mentioning that possibility because that is one of the things that I was told.)

And in my humble opinion, it might be a misperception to assume that what you see now is all there is to be found. Talk to any of the old-timers. And they will tell you what used to very common - is no longer the case. And it’s been that way for some years now. Which I also know first hand from my own experience collecting. With even many of the decent condition more common items becoming hard to find.

PS to Mikee: Kind of a “un muchacho con un machete" but with a German accent? That works for me . Regards to All, FP

Hey FP, I can't remember on what forum we compared black and white photos in our discussion of these blades. Yes, that was me. The brass fitting/police connection from the German site might be perhaps a misinterpretation of my post in the German language. I wrote that some of the machetes with brass fittings are found with police acceptance marks.

I agree that there is no source documentation of the use of the blades by the police forces. It is all circumstantial. We may disagree as to whether the Die Woche photo featured a brass or steel fitted machete, but we cannot disagree that the type of blade was used in LW airplane emergency kits. I know the police operated their Flieger-Staffel in close cooperation with the LW. They used multi-engine planes. Whether they were equipped with survival kits is theory. Why all the minty machetes? Perhaps the idea behind them. They were packed away in boxed kits to be used in emergencies. And there they remained.

Many of us search for collecting examples in the finest condition that can be found: guns, daggers, uniforms. A minty machete means it was never used. If the plane never went down, the box was never opened.

Very interesting meanings here
Thats fine.

I speak with the man getting this machete into his gunshop first time today, on phone.
He has been into the house where this machete was. The pre policeman had taken severals things from the Luftwaffe and SS personel. There was also a SOE Sweetheart small transmitter there.SD / NS and other nice stuff.

Around the SOLA airport during the war , there was a lot of personel from the LW.
The SS helmet in the house i mention before had a history and named Tag inside the helmet too Its a well know SS figur in that town. He work under several names and speak Norwegian language 100% for infiltrade the Resistance group members.
here he is :
SS-Hauptscharführer
Friedrich Albert Lappe


Im glad i get hands of this machete with all the info i have.

Like i have sayed before..."I wish it could talk"

Hi JWOTKA

You wrotes :
Why all the minty machetes? Perhaps the idea behind them. They were packed away in boxed kits to be used in emergencies. And there they remained.

Many of us search for collecting examples in the finest condition that can be found: guns, daggers, uniforms. A minty machete means it was never used. If the plane never went down, the box was never opened.
------
You have a point there . I have the same opinions. If the Survival kit neves was in use and the items lay there as found. These Machetes and other gun related equipment is in exellent shape ....if you are lucky to find the things.

Regards LH

LH600 you have a excellent LW machete with genuine provenience which makes the peice so much better this will look great in your cabinet with your other minty daggers .....Cheers Mate....Scott.

Thanks Scott. Im glad you like it.

Later i will make a Luftwaffe stand with all of mine Luft daggers displayed.

This figur will fit in good ?

Joe, I remember the discussion and it was on a forum not yet mentioned here. From what I seemed to be finding through experimentation by using a grayscale conversion, it wasn’t steel versus brass. But brass versus aluminum. Wondering if perhaps the Luftwaffe was doing some experimentation - as seen with a quite a few other items during the time of the Third Reich?

Attached is one of the machetes just posted along with some additional reference examples to give a perspective. BTW: Instead of the aluminum Luftwaffe crossguard I used last time. Here I purposely used a piece of satin/brush finished aluminum sheet metal stock. To try and minimize the reflected light as much as was possible. Everyone can be their own judge as to what the images do or don’t show.

As for: “Why all the minty machetes? Perhaps the idea behind them. They were packed away in boxed kits to be used in emergencies. And there they remained.”

I’m OK with that to explain a number of different things that we see in collecting in general. But it still fails to explain I think why there are not a comparable (or maybe even greater) number of “minty” steel mounted Luftwaffe machetes in circulation as compared to the “minty” brass ones. Ordinarily you would think that the “new kids on the block” would be in better condition than the old issue items - that would or should have gone to the Russian front first. FP

Reference example in direct sunlight trying to imitate (as much as I could) the original photograph in Die Woche. FP

A closeup.

No Fred, I thought the black and white exercise was to determine if the photo in Die Woche was a piece with steel or brass fittings.

As for Tom Johnson's comment about LW machetes only being used by the LW... Trouble is, the "LW" machete he pictured in Vol III (or was it IV?) that was shown with the Die Woche LW photo was not "LW" marked. It was the E/B brass fitting machete owned by Jerry Drake (that I later bought with the magazine). Tom didn't know what a police acceptance stamp was or didn't care when he was assembling his "edited" book. Remember that many people wrote Tom's books. I was one of them- police chapter in Vol IV. So that kind of reduces his comment to meaningless. And there was one other photo of a machete shown-a minty blued version in the frog. But the trademark and blade were never shown. It was owned by Pat Caldwell.

I know you have had reservations about these brass variations with police acceptance.And again I repeat the the period documentation of these is nil. I accepted them as original because of my study of the police Flieger-Stafel and the rather sudden and early appearance of them to collectors.

Joe, I’ll have to see if I can find the thread to be absolutely 100 % sure, but my recollection is that it was aluminum. I think that I used your (?) “Die Woche” image for at least one of the postings, as well as one posted by someone else that was not as clear. Here (minus the “Die Woche” image) is part of what I posted using the aluminum crossguard as a visual reference.

I understand what you are saying about Tom Johnson, and he has some things in some of the books that would not stand up to close inspection today. I’m not slamming him, just making the observation that sometimes mistakes are made, and I’ve made my share at one time or another. And a lack of documentation for some things has been something that has plagued collectors since long before I started - no argument there!!

If you recall the thread there was an Eagle/B German Police marked SS Leader’s Sword that came into the discussion at some point. There is also a Waffenamted version, but I don’t remember offhand if I posted it there or not. Both were fakes.

I looked into the timing of the Police markings a little bit back then but got distracted for some reason or other. Do you have a date when the Flieger-Stafel was put into operation with aircraft? I'm headed out again. Best Regards, FP

I do not understand the South/Central American connection for either pre-war or post-war use of these machetes. Why would such a relatively costly (brass/thick steel blade/steel scabbard) production piece be considered for export to cut sugar cane in the tropics when cheaper examples were available at least ten years earlier? These "cultivation knives" cost RM 14,75 with wood handle, 33cm blade 5.5cm wide and leather scabbard.

Here is another Machete own by a collector i know.
This first was obtained in a cased M-30 Luft Sauer drilling

And a close up of the markings


And finally, the really tough portion of this grouping: the scabbard with its original frog!




here on with a very unusual crossguard to ?
Note the different in the shape of tipsection .



Fred :
Are you telling me my Machete is a Fake ?
The story where it came from is 100% correct.
If you dont bealive me i can work with a 100% sertificate from the family. But anyway i now for sure & and that is good enougth for me

This machete i have pictured first in the tread is 100% orginal. I dont think the LW personell takes fakes one into Norway during the war.

Do you have any Machete in your collection to share pics of ?

Regards LH

Hello LH,
What a beautiful piece for your collection. I have read your description of it's provinance and there can be no doubt, in my humble opinion, but that your machette is original pre war.
I almost makes me want to start collecting Machettes.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim W:
Hello LH,
What a beautiful piece for your collection. I have read your description of it's provinance and there can be no doubt, in my humble opinion, but that your machette is original pre war.
I almost makes me want to start collecting Machettes.

Jim

Great to hear some good "warm" words Jim

Now the Machete is hangin in front of me . I look at the "Big huge machete" now in this moment....and i can "feel" it have something more to tell me

All the best LH

LH600, If nothing else your thread has given me the push I needed to seek out and acquire some new, not open to subjective interpretation, information which I did not have before. For which I Thank You !

As I think I commented on earlier, I don’t have a problem with the steel mounted machetes (with or without saw backs). All I can do is tell you what I’ve been told. What I’ve seen at various times and places. And my opinion as regards some of the specific issues. Such as trademarks (and finishes) by looking at known examples of commercially marked Coppel blades. And to a certain extent by comparing them to dated Wehrmacht issues, etc.

If I’ve expressed concern it’s because I’ve seen far too many guys get taken advantage of over a period of years for a wide variety of reasons. With my intent being to provide my best honest opinion whether it is accepted or not.

What I or anyone else thinks is irrelevant if you are happy. Your happiness is what counts, and I hope you enjoy your new acquisition. Best Regards, FP

PS to Joe: Postwar - it’s hard to say. You see all the stories about Atwood and later, and the parts pieces. So even though the Germans at first had arms restrictions imposed on them, I don’t think it affected blade makers. Who knows? As for prewar, I’m having second thoughts about that myself. While the thought of the Germans stopping shipments at the end of 1939 after Poland was invaded. Because they were afraid of British battleships sinking helpless merchant ships filled with machetes has a certain cachet. But I'm afraid that the timing seems a little off.

What seems I think to be another possibility are prewar shipments to Portugal. A very active customer of, and supplier to Germany and its industry (also having fairly extensive colonies in East and West Africa if I’m not mistaken). With as I’m certain you already know. German industry shipping all sorts of arms and other things to Portugal over a period of years. And some of the (re) imports of those items from Portugal to here were in new or near new condition. With perhaps just the barest hint of a storage problem, or sometimes virtually nothing amiss. I don’t know if machetes were included or not - but it might be worth checking out.