Skynrd,
With all due respect, and I certainly respect your opinion. I agree, the etch is not professionally done but we've all seen things that turn up that we don't like because they don't fit into the "textbook" category but turn out to be original and authentic. It's possible the SS guy was in a situation where he wanted to name his dagger so he could identify it if a "fellow comrade" decided to steal it. Some of these SS guys weren't exactly angels such as Dirlwängers Brigade; a bunch of criminals and thieves at best.
I also believe that if it were the end of the war that the last thing an SS Officer would do would be etch his name into his SS dagger. These guys were scrambling to blend into the civilian population or worst case Heere. They really did not want to be identified as the Allies searched for these guys.
Regards to All,
Ed
Well, I said as much as to "anything is possible" as you, so it amounts to whos speculation is better than anyone elses, which is impossible to quantify.
We take what is known and proceed to probabilities.
What is known is that this is a very crude, ad-hoc etch done freehand in a very unprofessional manner.It is known that SS was an organization with extreme pride and professionalism, therefore it was not likely done by an SS man, except under unusual conditions which both of us alluded to.
While we are speculating, to your last which you rightly say it is not likely an SS man would want to ID himself in any way at the close of the war, maybe he was on his death bed and didn't care, maybe this etch was one of the last things he did on this earth, in those circumstances it would make sense, explain the crudeness, and in my mind the only possibility that the original owner did this.
