I have these two late Eickhorn Navy daggers, it wasn't until I looked closely that I can make out a few minute differences in the actual mark, I had assumed that all these late war pieces would have had the same mark, there must have been at least two different stamps used at this time. How many other Eickhorn marks were used from 1929-45, the 35-41 mark is commonly seen and I have a couple of small double oval marks without the CE underneath, how about trying to put the known marks in some kind of date order from the early Reichsmarine to the the late 1940's mark.
Gary
Not surprising at all, Gary, when you think of how marks were made:
- The acid etched ones were made by putting a wax shield on the blade and then subjecting the unprotected parts to acid. The wax shields were photo-etched thin wax layers laid on special paper. Being a photo etch, the piece of wax was destroyed each time but the original photo was untouched.
- The stamped trademarks were made by harsh metal to metal contact. No matter how good the steel in the stamp, it wore, chipped, or broke at some point. Any replacement, being hand made, was likely to have minute differences ... as you document above.
Dave
Thinking further about Gary's post, stamped trademarks could be an interesting area for research. The etched trademarks have been analyzed to death ( and beyond
), particularly on SS/SA daggers but little attention has been focused on stamped trademarks.
Anyone else see differences ?
I think the dies used were subject to degradation simply due to the pressure used in stamping and the wear on metal to metal
The main difference I see between the two squirrels is around the face and nose.
That and the tail is wider where it connects to the body and the ear lines deeper and thinner on the RHS photo.
For me they are different stamps hence different marks, for the purist maker mark collector you would have to have both of them.
Gary
Gary is correct, Two different marks. Good eye Gary!
Its in design the same mark, both are as stated by Dave handmade dies, so none is exactly the same.
They had to replace them after a certain number of stamped blades because of the wear.
If you call every minor change in a logo a different one, well then E.pack had at least 7 different first style logo's.
I have 26 E. Pack army daggers, and on my 16 slants there are lots of minor differences in logo's, but only 4 major designed logo's .
Regards
Ger
Great observation, Gary!
Very interesting!
Herman