Bob, in defense of Fred (what a surprise, eh), history is filled with one person being "against the establishment" and that one person, still 100% right (Copernicus comes to mind). However, in this particular case, your analysis is, I believe correct Bob - Fred is wrong in my opinion. I also agree that while "I bought it from a vet" is not a suitable "cover-all" for artifacts, these pieces, especially the one I just bought), come with more than that. These pieces stand on their own merits, are surprisingly consistent when they come out of the woodwork. Dave: I do like the Fred Stephens quote you referenced, and think it is appropriate to mention again:
""Do NOT believe any description proclaiming that something is "TEXTBOOK". There is no such thing - because there are too many authentic variations with the originals (and they are recognised by other collectors)."
The only difference is, these NSKK High Leaders do exhibit "textbook" qualities that 99% of the world agree on. Fred has done a good job of observing certain anomalies that are not currently explainable. But we do have a photo of one such dagger in wear, one with a period personalization on the upper crossguard, one that was actually modified to make the "silver-cartouch fitting" more functional, and we have between 1 and 4 daggers of this type with excellent provenance, depending on how much credence you give each of the written testimonies that I am presenting in this thread.
