How dare you, Fred. I have stated this before and will state it again for the record: The whole reason I did not want to post this dagger is because of the HUGE controversy surrounding the alleged way in which I acquired this dagger. Everyone knows the dagger caused me bad press in the beginning due to 3rd party gossip, and I have told many people that for this reason alone - for the misinterpretation of how I came to possess it - I did not want it to become fodder for public gossip again.
Your conspiracy theories are rude and invasive. You are again knowingly suggesting that I am a crook, and until you apologize for publically second guessing me, you will get nothing from me. I think that is the fairest way to proceed. PLENTY of people have photos of this dagger, and most people like it, just like most people like the Wolf dagger, the Birdshead that I found earlier this year, the NSKK High Leader, etc etc. Rob owns the dagger. It is his piece. If he chooses to post it, he may do so with my permission now. If he chooses not to post it, that is his decision also. I suggest you live with his decision, as the piece is his and he seems to be happy with it, and with the sword.
I have nothing to hide from you Fred, or anyone else. Folks - Fred will proceed to rip the dagger apart, as he tried to rip the Wolf sword apart, as he has tried to rip the NSKK High Leader apart, as he has proceeded to rip my birdshead apart.
Fred will, if Rob posts, say that the dagger has the wrong type-face for his tastes, that it is nickle silver which is wrong for him, and that it is an NCO dagger when Schnaufer was an officer at the time the piece was awarded. He will also say that the etch is not laser perfect - another argument that was heavily contested by knowlegable people in the field of blade collecting. I have ready and reasonable answers to all three of those challenges, which are supported by daggers and swords in the collecting community that are accepted as real. Frederick Stephens cannot prove the dagger is wrong (or the sword for that matter), just as I cannot prove that it is right. He can state his opinions, and we are free to agreee or disagree with them.
Fred needs to apologize for calling me a crook in public - he has no basis with which to make this charge, and I think that readers are losing sight of this assault on my personal character, all in the interest of curiosity about a dagger. C'mon folks. I have been accused of being rough on poor old Fred, and yet he is the one that consistently calls me a crook in public, second guesses my plainly stated reasons for doing something, and makes it personal. I have only criticized his ideas in this entire thread. And that is no crime.
