Just when you think you've seen everything, this hobby can bite you in the ass.
This piece is just in from Germany, I bought it directly from the grandson of the original owner, his name was Paul Frielingsdorf, a Berufsjäger and Revier Forster who passed away in 1942. I'm hoping to get a picture of Herr Frielingsdorf in the near future and a few more details of his life.

Cheers

Gary

Berufsjäger(Proffesional hunter)as we know there was some dual membership within the hunting and forestry associations.

Very detailed lower scabbard mount, count the antlers and remember when you next look at an etched maker marked piece.There should be 10 points.

Auerhahn clamshell, notice the smooth background a sure sign of an original piece.

Grip and pommel

Reverse blade etch

Now I hear you say, it looks like any other Eickhorn 1711, nah.
I should explain that this pattern has only been found with the stamped 35/41 mark before, this piece just pushes it back a few months in time in my opinion, I personally think this piece could have been made in late 1934.

Gary

Here's a comparison of the marks now known on 1711's.

Gary,

That's a pair of aces, fer schur dude!

Best,

W~

Nice--First one I have seen with the early TM. Also interesting that both of those have the green felt buffer rather than the olive color.
The ten point thing on the lower fitting though--IMO not important on later pieces as I believe the mold wore down resulting in a less defined depiction and only 9 points sometimes appear. Sometimes also -just a hint of the 10th point can be seen.
Also -sometimes some of the outline on the little shield under the stag depiction is lost. IMO-no problem here relative to originality.
Does that early piece have the Ges. Gesch on the clam and the C.E. on the tang?
Oh--and now let's see a deluxe Forester with the early TM

A winner Gary.With the early mark it's even better.

Time for a bigger house Gary!!! Superb
Paul

The tang is marked with a raised C.E., there is no Ges Gesch under the clam I can see. The real difference in this early piece compered to the other piece I have is within the pommel nut, this new piece is very rounded compered to the more squat more pointed nut on the later version.
The leather on the scabbard is a little different in texture but basically the same colour, all of the fittings bar the pommel nut are similar as is the grip emblem, the usual large DJ badge seen on early Eickhorns.


Cheers

Gary

A close up of the grips and badges, early piece to the left.

Obverse blade etches, notice the lighter background grey(top)to the earlier piece.

The clamshells, earlier piece to the left.

Here's the early maker marked piece compered to an early long Eickhorn DJ hirschfänger, the marks are exactly the same in size and shape.

And finally here is a picture of 3 of the Eickhorn hunters I have.Check out the grip differences, the variety is endless.

Cheers and thanks for the nice comments.

Gary

I'm with Houston, I can't wait to see an early deluxe forestry or a late short deluxe Eickhorn DJ (1711) with the post 1941 mark.

Cheers

Gary

What a wonderful piece Gary.
The detail is fantastic. Like the super early larger grip insignia. It looks like it's copper?

-Congrats!-

-serge-

Hi Serge
Thats exactly what they were made of, it did have a silver coating at one time but if they were handled a lot the silvering tended to wear out, with the detailing on the badge I should think it was thinly applied in the first place.

Cheers

Gary

Superb Gary!

Great looking pieces Gary. Keep up the good hunting and keep showing. Where else but the forum are you going to continually see great daggers like these. James

Gary, Magnificent! That's enough to bring a guy out of retirement knowing pieces like this are still out there for the finding!

Gary!!! Gary!!! Gary!!! ;

Awesome!!!!
I sold one about a year ago and have had sellers remorse ever since!!
I'm happy for you.
Paul

I have owned 5 of these now and all of them were not distributor marked, a vast majority of the deluxe Forestry pieces I have seen have been Cottbus marked, I wonder if this is just co-incidence or perhaps Cottbus didn't have a great call for these.
Paul
Can you remember if your one was Cottbus marked or not??,
any others out there??.

Gary

quote:

Originally posted by Baz69:
I have owned 5 of these now and all of them were not distributor marked, a vast majority of the deluxe Forestry pieces I have seen have been Cottbus marked, I wonder if this is just co-incidence or perhaps Cottbus didn't have a great call for these.
Paul
Can you remember if your one was Cottbus marked or not??,
any others out there??.

Gary

I have never seen one that was. Perhaps they were only sold at Eickhorn stores.

Houston
Hmm. Interesting, I wonder why Cottbus didn't sell these. I find it strange with them being Eickhorns main distributor or at least the only one who had their mark on the blades. They sold plenty of their deluxe forestry pieces.

Gary

Gary, Looking through your post, I have a 1711. Exactly like the later one of yours. It has the sitting squirrel and a silver colored Hunting badge on the grip. The top of the blade is marked with "W. Michovius Cottbus". I recently bought several daggers from a friend and gun store owner. He collected the daggers over a 30+ years. Frank

Hi Frank

Interesting that you have one Cottbus marked, can you post some pictures or send them to me and I'll post them.

Gary

Posting for Frank.

First one of these I have ever seen with the Cottbus distributor mark, i really never thought I'd see one.

Gary

Again a good example for never saying "never" in this hobby. Thank you, colt, for showing and Baz69 for your care and help in posting.

I do have a period MICHOVIUS list with a lot of hunting daggers. This model is not mentioned in the list and for sure is rare as we know now.

Regards,

Very Nice Pair:)

Gary,

There's a lot of education in this thread, as well as a nice lineup of rare blades. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting these beauties Gary!
High grade quality stuff!

Ger