Need your help on these DLV and RLB Daggers!
DLV
I was offered these Daggers but do not know much about them. One of them is a DLV dagger with the MM of GEBR. HELLER and personalized with the name "Kempf" There is some loss of the leather on the handle front and back and some roughness on with the letter on the scabbard. The other thing I noticed is the screws on the scabbard tip stand out.

RLB Leader
The scabbard has some rust, there is no MM and the handle looks like the leather was applied with 2 sides and not with one piece. I am not sure if this is normal but it looks strange. This must be the 2nd Model.

RLB
This one has some rust on the scabbard and some of the paint has come off the scabbard. This has a nice MM and overall the handle looks ok.

Is there anything wrong with these daggers? Do they look original? What do you see that looks strange? what would be a going rate for these for a Dealer as well as Collector to Collector price? Any and all help as always is much appreciated. Thank you very much. JME

DlV

RLB LEADER

RLB

This is pretty much proof for me that this site is dead! No need to renew my membership and waist money next time around.

DLV looks quite ok to me but I think the screws on the lower fitting have been replaced.
The Horster RLB looks like an honest piece although the condition of the scabbard is unfortunate.

The grip of the other dagger i couldn`t comment on I have not really studied these models.

price wise i think you would need to guage what the dealers are asking and reduce by 50% to get any realistic market value.

And you are right about the forum unfortunately. Dodo springs to mind! I don`t know why there are still a lot of people active in the hobby but not much stimulation. I think the stupid hype and over-pricing of everything has knocked peoples enthusiasm.

If members do not know for sure they generally say nothing.

Better that than bad info?

Dave

The Heller DLV looks like a decent example with nice personalization. Screws, as mentioned, are probably replacements. The balloonman logo isn't often seen & desirable.

The RLB 2nd model officer dagger looks OK from the pics. Lack of a maker's mark might indicate it was manufactured by Ernst Erich Witte (Kroneck), a maker known for unusually light etched marks that were easy to remove with a little polishing. Maybe look closely at the reverse blade for any trace of one, might be there.

The RLB 2nd model EM looks OK as well. Is there any crossgraining remaining? Horster is a known manufacturer of this model but it looks like the blade's been polished. I would recommend against removing the pommel on these 2nd model daggers if at all possible. The grips are horribly brittle & have been known to flake & chip when the pommels have been overtightened.

One final point, there are some very good reproductions of all 3 model daggers you show. Always good to post very detailed shots just to be sure.

Imho this site is not dead. Watch most threads, there IS pleasant life and interesting discussions.
Perhaps the true reason might be that you did show these daggers also at a competing site, which is not forbidden by forum rules at all, but members might think - ok, fetch your opinions over there at this (other) site.....
Gaining for opinions on several forums has happened a lot of times and endeavored members often did not even get a "thanks" for their effort of detailed opinions perhaps because of a more appreciated opinion elswhere or the thread here got neglected because a desirable opinion was already given elsewhere. So due to my experience most have stopped to comment in such cases.
No offence, just my 2cts.
Regards,

Wotan is correct.

I, for one, sometimes get a little annoyed at answering the same question on two different forums. So, lots of time, I just ignore one if I have already replied to the other.

What does it serve to get the same exact opinion from the same person but on two different forums?

Sometimes it reminds of my kids, who used to go to one of us for an answer, if they didn't like it, they would go to the other hoping for a more favourable ruling.

John

Dear ALL:
Lanser, Thank you very much for your help. The screws do look strange on the DLV and most of the responses I got say the same. All other Dagger look ok.
Dave, I can always count on you.
Billy, I do appreciate your input. I could take better pictures but I had already taken around 29. Thought that would be already too much. I will try to do better next time.
Wotan and JohnZ, Thank you both for your response. I posted it here since this site is known for dagger collectors. I did not even expect much feedback from the other site. By no means did I or do I expect for somebody to give his opinion about the same items on 2 different websites. I have never even thought of that that somebody might do that. Well I just still have a lot to learn. Thank you very much for your efforts and help and I hope to do better next time. JME

JME, don´t worry, we are all here to learn.
Regards,