I just acquired this dagger out of the woodwork in the UK. Not much to tell, other than to say that the obverse reads, in Plattdeutsch, "Better off dead than a slave." Quite an interesting piece to say the least. Please note: the dagger came with another set of hangers (not this set) which have been retained with the dagger. This set is only for display.

More pics.

One more.

Very nice dagger.. Is It made by Alcoso??? Regards: James

Hey Jim. No, I would guess Krebs if I had to - there is no maker's mark, but the small rosebud pattern is typical of their product, don't you think? I'll have to check the parts against the Wittmann Luftwaffe book to see if they are a match.

Extremely nice dagger.
The blade is a beauty, also the rest of the dagger is in nice condition with gilded HK.
Is the scabbard so dark because of an silver
finish or is it the dark-blue variant?
Will the dagger be for sale?

regards
Medes

A beautiful dagger.

Love the lemon-yellow grip along with the golden details - very nice touch.

The scabbard appears to be silver plated, but I cannot be 100% certain. I'll have it on display at the MAX show. This one I will keep for a while, since I developed a relationship with the family I bought it from. It's got a history to it other than being a great dagger. Does anybody know what the initials say? Maybe BK, or KB?

Interesting inscription and I'm reading the initials as probably "HK". The damascus pattern appears to be rosebud. Have you had it apart to see if the tang is marked in any way? You might want to have the scabbard jeweler tested as I also believe,based up it's toning,that it's silver plated. What unique about the original hangers?
Jim

of shure the Letters are B and K but nobody can say what is first and what last...

Regards
Medes

The general "rule" of monogrammed letters is usually the letter of the first name is highlighted by either embellishment, hatching or elevated position. What makes this tricky is if the recipient favoured his surname as dominant, often in the case of doctors or aristocratic surnames, the second letter may be highlighted and thus perceived as dominant.

This monogram appears to lean towards BK, but impossible to know for certain IMO. Exceptional dagger BTW...

Red

Hi Craig, did you come to the UK to buy it or was it sent, if you have been over here I sure wish I'd known and maybe made some effort to meet you, maybe next time?? I still own the few pieces I ever got from you.

Adrian (Nolan)

Damast, you mention in your posting above the possibility of this blade being by Alcoso. I have a 2nd Luft with late "AWS" marked blade with this pattern. It seems to have been a fairly commonly used pattern during this period. I also have an Eickhorn Army with the same pattern. Nice dagger by the way Craig!

Eickhorn Army

Superb Dagger, Maxwell! Nolan: No I did not make it over to the UK for this transaction - it was handled via the post. I haven't been to the UK since last summer, but I think in 2010 I will make a visit, and maybe we can do a meeting at one of the collectors' houses. Time-before-last, I stayed with Gary Southgate, and we went to Matt Mier's house for a collector conference, and it was a blast! I think that I should pay attention to the fittings on this piece. Maybe they will reveal who made this piece. The tang is unmarked.

Can't remember but the way the letters are intertwined tells you which order they should be seen on a post here but cant find it or perhaps it was in one of TJ or TWs books

Craig,
beauty, I have handled numerous personalized examples my vote is KB, do you see how the top and bottom of the legs in the "K" are over top of the B and the 2nd half of the K legs are tucked under, also the B seems to be what jumps out at you when you look outward from the dagger leading me to believe the B is the first letter of the last name
anyhow great dagger

Maxwell,
I would love to see more of that Eickhorn army dagger, to find an original wire wrap is rare enough but to have it personalised and with a damascus blade!. What a great piece.

Hello Degens,
I do not want to derail Craig's thread .... I just put these pieces on as examples of similar pattern rose bud. I will mail you.
Thanks!

Roy: Great to see you online! Coming to MAX this year? Maxwell: no problem with posting other pics of your dagger here: it's an awesome piece.

quote:

Maxwell,
I would love to see more of that Eickhorn army dagger, to find an original wire wrap is rare enough but to have it personalised and with a damascus blade!. What a great piece.

We have to remember that all the blades pictured are not a true damascus.... They are acid etched patterns to look like a damascus pattern. As we know the daggers pictured above are very nice and also quite rare....The reason why I asked if it is Alcoso is because I have seen a similar Alcoso in the past with a (etched pattern damascus) presentation blade..Nice goodies. Regards: James