I recently received two new maker marks into my Eickhorn collection of HJ knives.

I want to share them with you, along with their other Eickhorn family of knives.

I will lead off with my transitionals, those knives dated 1938 and up. None of my transitionals are mottoed.

First up is a 1938.

Nest is my 1939 dated HJ.

This is a 1940 dated version.

Here is the first version I have of the 1941 dated transitional.

The second version I have has the 1941 date, but no RZM code and no squirrel.

This is probably a mis strike at the Eick plant.

I also have two versions of the 1942 marked knife.

This first one has the over shoulder squirrel (with the word 'Original') and the RZM code with the date, 1942.

And, this one, which just arrived today, has only the RZM code and the year... no squirrel no other writing.

This one has a faint motto and the 35-41 seated squirrel motto.

We now get into my oval TM Eickhorns.

I will show you one then take a break for a while and leave the double ovals for a later time.

This is a poor shape knife for sure. But, it also has the very early single oval serrated tail TM, probably one of the earliest of productions for TR era.

John

We now get into my oval TM Eickhorns.

I will show you one then take a break for a while and leave the double ovals for a later time.

This is a poor shape knife for sure. But, it also has the very early single oval serrated tail TM, probably one of the earliest of productions for TR era.

John

John, this is a very nice collection, but the first one is incredibly mint.
Congrats
Stingray

pretty incredible collection john from Navals to HJs,,You are the Eickhorn go to guy!! Now i know where to go for advice. Nice collection again!! best regards larry

Thanks, guys, I appreciate your comments.

Now, we go into the Eickhorn double oval world.

When you look across the early blades that Eickhorn produced, you will see many many different versions of the double oval TM.

Does it have the C.E. under the squirrel or not?

Is it a smooth tail or a serrated tail? If serrated, does it have one, two or three serrations?

Is it a straight arm, bent arm or crossed arm squirrel?

Does the squirrel have short ears or long ears? Ears close together or spread apart?

Does the word 'Solingen' have a dot, an 'x', a five sided star or an asterisk '*' above the letters 'S' and 'N'?

Is it a large mark or a small mark?

Look across at your early HJs, KS98s of all strips, police bayos, SAs, NSKKs, Hunting and Forestries and you will wee many of these variations in the TM.

First up in the double ovals is what I think may very well be a smooth tail (hard to tell it's pretty faded.. and I ask that you tell me what you think). This has the bent arm squirrel with the ears close together and 'x' above 'Solingen'.

This is a serrated tail with three serrations, bent arm, long eared squirrel with 'x' above 'Solingen'.

And, this is the serrated tail with two serrations, straight arm, long eared with the '*' above 'Solingen'.

This last one has the serrated tail with three serrations, straight arm, long ear and a six pointed star above the 'Solingen'. Note that this is a star not an asterisk.

That's it for the variations in my collection as of today's date. But, as new ones come in I will post them here.

John

John,

Your threads like this are always an education in themselves as well as being very enjoyable to look at.

That is a super collection of Eickhorn HJ's, John!

Very impressive!

And congratulations with finding all these variants!

Best greetings,

Herman

Thanks, again, guys.

Herman, you of all people know how many more variants there are out there, don't you?

Right now, I am waiting to pick up one from Paul Hogle next week and am in the bidding process on another. When you look at all of the potential combinations of the double oval variations, it boggles the mind.

John

Yes, some of the differences of double ovals are more obvious side by side.

Nice photography as always John. That's a couple of very nicely conditioned double ovals, now I've got to look to see which one my example is.

I beleive Eickhorn knew what they were doing with all these variations, because with them being a mass producer, IMO I think this was away for them to keep track of production pieces at various times. Its always one small variation and then a big production run. and again another variation and another big run. These are just thoughts and not facts but would make sense in large production runs. Larry

John, this is a great educational thread on Eickhorn trade marks, your knifes are real nice condition too

Best Mac 66

Vintage:

The one on the right is one that I have, but I haven't seen a laughing squirrel mark before...

Anytime that you wish to find a new home for the laughing boy there, give me a shout.

Beauties and in fantastic shape, too.

John

Thanks, John,

We appreciate your collection and your willingness to show it to us. The condition of these knives is fantastic.

The HJ were really boy scouts and tended to use and sharpen their knives, so finding mint ones is very hard.

Dave

Thanks, John,

We appreciate your collection and your willingness to show it to us. The condition of these knives is fantastic.

The HJ were really boy scouts and tended to use and sharpen their knives, so finding mint ones is very hard.

Dave

Great analysing of the Eickhorn double oval stamp, John! Thanks a lot!

I have a couple additions to make:

- Some minor differences are in my opinion only due to the wear of the marking stamp: certain variations in "*" 's and "x"'s and squirrels with or without an eye.

See the added picture: one of the "*" became half a "x"

Another variation is the presence or not of the "Ges. Geschutzt" marking.

See the variation without hereunder:

Most of the marks are stamped but there is also an etched variation -it could have been the solluton to avoid the stamp wear-.

The etched variation was alredy showed, but here is another one:

Eickhorn was also one of the few producers of an early version plated blade HJ knife.

With a double oval mark!

Best greetings!

Herman

Hermann:

I knew that I could cont on you to show some new and rare variations.

I still think that the 'x' and the '*' are two different marks used by Eickhorn, like the 5 and the 6 pointed stars.

I didn't realize that they produced a plated blade.. wow!

Thanks for adding to this thread, Hermann and Vintagetime.

John

You are all great knives in superb conditions.
With a wide variety of markings, congratulations for successfully bring them together
What makes the collection of interest is found Eickhorn always marked it does not!
Jul

A question for you HJ afficiandos out there:

Is there a stamped and an etched version of the transitional Eickhorn TM?

John

Here is my 16th Eickhorn HJ knife.

It is a transitional with both the 35-41 seated squirrel and the RZM 7/66 maker marks. It is dated 37.

And, it has the motto.

John

WOW! Thats nice. Who wouldn't want this in their collection! Thanks for always sharing your fantastic collection.

That Eickhorn 1937 version is very touch to find!

Congratulations, John, with another great addition to your most impressive Eickhorn collection!

Best regards,

Herman

John Congrats, a very nice 37 dated Transitional Eickhorn into your great collection!!!

I just bought a very similar Transitional Eickhorn hj knife with no date on the ricasso with motto & small daimond insignia so i guess mine dates from 35-36?

Regards Mac 66.

Yes,that's some collection John.
Who would have thought,that so many variations one company had,unbelievable

Congrats
Stingray

I have a transitional Eick with no date and no motto.

And, the earliest transitional dated one is this 1937 date.

John

John,

As always, the best!

Can't thank you enough for posting and sharing these gems!

W~

Thanks to Herman, here is my 17th Eickhorn HJ knife.

While not in the greatest condition, the thing that made me jump at this is the maker mark.

It is a double oval serrated tail mark with the asterisks (*). The ones that I had seen up to now had the straight arm squirrel. This one has a bent arm/crossed arm squirrel.

Here are pics of the knife.

John

And, here are comparisons of the two maker marks, the bent arem and the straight arm.

The bent arm knife is shorter and differently shaped, maybe sharpened and cut down a bit?

John

Happy to contribute to your wonderfull - probably the most advanced in the world! - Eickhorn HJ collection, John!

Best regards,

Herman

I just received this 1938 dated transitional Eickhorn.

I have a 38 dated trannie, but that one has no motto, this one does.

John

Very nice knife John,congrats

John,

Congrats, A very nice 1938 dated transitional Eickhorn hj with a terrific motto & a great addition to your vast Eickhorn hj collection.



Regards Mac 66.

Well done, John!

These mottoed Eickhorn 1938 HJ-knifes are very touch to find and certainly in this condition!

Best regards,

Herman

I finally managed to find a single oval TM Eickhorn that is truly an upgrade over the one that sits in my collection.

An early Christmas present from the Packman himslef.. thank you, Ivan.

John

John,


Congrats Terrific upgrade from your other single oval Eick hj

Single oval trademark is a really hard one to find in any condition imo.

Packman must have some Top Contacts these days




Regards Mac 66.

Great score, John!

Herman

Remarkable thread. A great learning experience.

--dj--Joe

Thanks to all. I still have a few to find.

I would like to thank the many people who have helped me find these great varieties: Paul, Tom K, DD, the two Big Toms, Ivan, and Herman. If I have forgotten anyone, sorry.

John

[quote=JohnZ]Thanks to all. I still have a few to find.



John,


What ones are you still to find ?



Mac 66.

Well, Mac, we talked about this on another thread, and I have to add it to this one.

It has a motto, for one thing. It is also an RZM 7/66 only maker mark that is probably an error or a miss strike of the 36 transistional piece.

John

I have a singel oval Eickhorn hj knife, isn't the singel oval a pre 1933 makers mark by Eickorn?

/Fredrik

hello, my contribution:

Just in from the UK (thanks Stewart at Oldbrigade) is this 1941 No Motto HJ Knife.

What is different about this knife is that it has the 41 date and the RZM 7/66 only... no seated squirrel mark.

This now makes my third 41 dated knife, one with the date of 41 only, one with the date of 41 and the transitional mark with the squirrel and RZM code and this one with the date of 41 and the RZM code only.

Here is the knife and the blades from the other two versions.

J

Very unusual (and rare) indeed, John!

That's what makes Eickhorn HJ's so interesting to collect in my opinion.

Thx for posting it here.

Herman

A pickup at the just completed SOS is this interesting, if crappy conditioned, HJ knife. It has only the RZM 7/66 maker mark, a mottoed blade and a no ricasso blade. A strange combination of early blade and later TM.

Again, condition is poor, but this is the first such that I have seen for sale ever.

Very interesting find John !

I have never ever seen an early thin blade Eickhorn hj with only this later RZM stamp on the blade, just goes to show we have not seen everything yet .




Regards Mac 66.

I agree, very rare indeed.!

So far I have seen only 3 versions/makers of the early, no-ricasso RZM marked HJ-knife: Anton Wingen Jr, Edouard Gembruch and Carl Eickhorn!

Well done, John!

Best regards,

Herman

Just picked up at the SOS, although this was listed on Tom Wittmanns site in December`.

When I first saw this, I thought, oh yeah another single oval in not very nice shape. But, then I looked at the maker mark more closely, and saw that this is a variation on the single oval mark.

First, the knife.

Here are my two single oval marks and a highlight of where to look for the differences.

John

Hi John,

Now this is really an wonderful revelation!

That second single oval HJ you just found: I have never seen one before!

Thank you very much for posting it here and congratulations!

Best regards,

Herman

John
Even though both knives are from the same time frame there are some differences in the mark, you certainly have a good eye for the nuances of these particular marks, good catch.
Gary

Here's mine:

Dave, that is the one you find when you see a single oval HJ, albeit single ovals are very rare and hard to find. But, recently, I have seen 3 - 4 of these for sale here and on dealer sites.

Ivan (stingray) has one right here on GDC.

I think of this as the Type 1 Single Oval. The other one, which I actually purchased from Tom Wittmann, is what I call the Type 2 Single Oval.

The Type 2 is the first and only one I have seen.

John

John,

I got that many years ago because I like odd things. The scabbard is anodized rather than painted and it has a dedication on the spine.

Dave

Good eye for Trademarks John, its a new one for me as well !

Dave, lets see more of your early Eickhorn hj with dedication.



Regards Mac 66

Here is the dedication

Thanks Dave .

The dedication is really strange when you think about it:

1. It is in English

2. It is an HJ knife presented to a Sturmfuhrer.

Was the Knife Georg Adolph's and given to Erik Thomas?

Exactly my thoughts as well Dave.

Thats a head scrather alright. Maybe Erik Thomas had been a english teacher and Georg Adolph had been a student and had the dedication put in english.

I had posted this new arrival in another thread, but I wanted it here along with the rest of its squirrely HJ family.

It has no motto, as a 42 dated knife should be. It has the RZM 7/66 42 stamped on the ricasso, again as it should be. But, instead of the late war over shoulder squirrel, it has the 35-41 seated squirrel mark as found on the 41 dated transitional.

Here it is, along with it beside the 42 over shoulder and the 41 seated squirrel version.

I take from this that the 41 double marked issue was followed by the 42 ricasso and seated squirrel version followed by the 42 ricasso and over shoulder version. I also have a 42 ricasso version with no squirrel at all.

John

A very nice display of Squirrels.

Thoughts on the english dedication - a German dedicating the blade to either a British or American officer.

--dj--Joe