The WKC logo inside the box is etched into the raised wood and painted gold.
Ssorry about the glare, it is new gold plate.
Any bets on how long it will take these to show up suitably aged?
What a treasure trove of parts and goodies to spruce up an ailing TR era dagger!
Dave
It gets better Dave. I also picked up a couple of the current model German Navy daggers which only needs a new pommel to convert to third Reich.. It would not fool an experienced collector, but it will happen.
Thanks for showing these Jim. It is always nice to know what is out there in the current marketplace.
Wait a minute!
50 Years?
That an Imperial Navy dagger
Should be 100 Years
Just what i was thinking as well
The only thing I can think of is that this was the immediate post war period which included a lot of denial, so they decided to start over where the 50 years was from 1956 to 2006. Apparently there was no navy prior to that.
Plus, where else are people suppose to get their spare parts for the imperial daggers.
Here is the commemorative etch
I don't have any clue what you guys are excited about. Imperial daggers ended in 1918. While I went to a state university, my math says we are closer to 100 years. There is no possible way that any experienced Navy collector would mistake this for TR or earlier. I don't get it friends. Please enlighten us Navy collectors what the excitement is all about . These daggers are contemporary and use an electroplated process. Doesn't even begin to resemble TR era or earlier processes. IMO, they are no where near a TR , let alone Imperial Navy quality or resemblance.
Hey Stratocaster, lighten up on the coffee.
1st, no one I know of would buy this to try and make it a third Reich dagger. This is a limited addition production piece out of the historic factory WKC. If you do not see the significance or beauty of that, I can not explain it to you.
As to quality. Really, you have held one of these in your hands so you can make such a statement. I do not think so. The quality of these daggers is every bit that of the historic daggers.
In any case. Both myself and other members seem to appreciate these daggers so why would you come in here with a bunch of negative crap, just because you lack the ability to understand. Some people collect daggers for their beauty.
For those who have a problem with the dating on this. Please remember the "fall of the wall" dagger. It had the Brandenburg gate for a pommel and a naval etched blade. It was still a beautiful dagger.
Here is the official history of the German Navy, which will explain the dates commemorated here.
In 1956, with West Germany's accession to NATO, the Bundesmarine, as the navy was known colloquially, was formally established. In the same year the East German Volkspolizei See became the Volksmarine ("People's Navy"). With the accession of East Germany to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 the Volksmarine along with the whole National People's Army became part of the Bundeswehr. Since 1995 the name German Navy is used in international context, while the official name since 1956 remains Marine without any additions. As of March 2015, the strength of the Navy is 15,904 men and women.[1]
You are right Jim. Beauty and quality is in the eye of the beholder and one should collect what inspires you. I have in fact seen one of these in person. The blade etch is exquisite. The fittings and hangers IMO and as was stated will likely never be confused with earlier periods. I misunderstood the thread to suggest these parts could be used for "sprucing up" earlier period daggers. I misunderstood and apologize to the forum members for my directness.
Thank you Stratocaster.
By the way, I am a Gibson man.
Sad to say one of the things that appealed to me was the case. If I had an imperial or WWII WKC Naval in this length, I would be ordering up the box already.
This dagger does not lend itself well to cannibalization. However, the current model does. There was a batch of current models made in 1950's by Eickhorn. In the 90's, and 2000's, nearly all of these had been converted to 3rd Reich even though the scabbard material and grips were obviously different.
On the current model, an undereducated collector will not know the TM is wrong, that the scabbard bands are wrong, that the grip is wrong, . On the positive side, these are not cheap, so buying one to part it out is not a real option.
All of this is just my opinion.
Hey Jim Did you have a personal etch put on it as they offer this option
Is that tempting or what.
Alas, I am not a forger, nor a past member of any Navy so I felt it would insult the real servicemen for me to put a name on the dagger, there's or mine.
Although there may be a lot of legitimate reasons for a person to use the etch option.
What I found fascinating was the number of countries edged weapons they currently produce.
Also note the Damascus blade option for the current dagger.
Jim i must admit the Damascus option is very tempting
