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Hey Guys, This is not an exceptionally rare maker but its scarce none the less I have another one with the plating lifting a little from the blade, but its extremely early with all brass hilt fittings and slant grip, but this one is beatiful! Not as early, but none the less a pretty great example of this maker. Any comments about the dagger would be very welcome and maybe some comparative pics from other collectors of this maker would be appreciated Dion
Even the Gods are helpless against stupidity!
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Fantastic!!! A rare maker that I have always wanted. It is nice to see that no one has turned the blade around. Congrats, Johnny
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Great dagger. Never had the balloon man on an army. Had it on first lufts', which is not uncommon.
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Nice one Dion, not the rarest but still very uncommon and in my opinion one of the most sought after by heer collectors. All Heller army daggers are early and the `B` grip was introduced very during what may be called the period of initial production. I have a Horster & Holler with initial cross-guards & both have a `B` grip.
Here is mine, it is one of my favourite pieces.
Nice lufty Barry! I love this maker!
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Great early army daggers! I need a balloon man!
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No you don`t Tom, you only think you do! LOL
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Thanks a ton for the comments Gents, I`ve already learnt something new! Didnt realise that the maker mark was on the same side as the cross guard eagle? Very nice. Landser, awesome looking dagger, in really great condition. Congrats too:) The pics I used were the ones emailed to me from the seller. I was extremely lucky, as this is a eBan one that was thrown off. Managed to make him a good offer and he accepted! Will post a couple of pics of my other one soon that I have, for comparison purposes.
Dion
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"No you don`t Tom, you only think you do! LOL" That soo rings true for us all . Dion, Great Heller, I own a couple as well. Can you post pictures of the slant grip dagger when you get the time. Nearly all of these early daggers by Heller seem to be married with the later style grip and a slant grip example is a rare beast.
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Some really clean examples of the Balloon Man here! I am away at the office now, will jump in tonight with a few pics of mine. My example also has the maker mark on the front...Kevin.
It's ALL in the DETAILS!!.......
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Gentleman,
Some beautiful blades shown here...very nice, and also missing from my collection.
Rich
In memory of my loyal companion Nitro.
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Hi Degens,
As per your request, here some pics of my other Gebr. Heller slant grip. I actually made a mistake in my previous statement about the condition of the blade. I confused it with another early dagger maker I have. This one is actually great! You`ll notice the tapered tang with an E raised on the tang, as well as the scabbard with some rust damage! Obviously was lying in some moist area or had something dripping on it as the rust is only concentrated on that area by the ring as well as the very tip of the scabbard. Also an interesting feature, is that the maker mark is situated on the reverse of the dagger in stead of under the eagle swastica? I cannot say whether the previous person who had this dagger changed the cross guard around, but I doubt it, as this piece also came from a private non collector?
Dion
Last edited by Dion; 01/12/2013 09:32 AM.
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Notice the E on the tang?
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Dion, That slant Heller is amazing!! Only one I have seen and the fit of the grip is beautiful! Here are a few pics of my Gebr. Heller, Enjoy! Kevin.
It's ALL in the DETAILS!!.......
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Great daggers shown here. The slant grip balloonman is something special and probably only the 3rd / 4th one I have ever seen. The trademark orientation is not a problem, as with most makers they can be found either side. Both of mine are different as well and the one with trademark to the reverse has never been apart!. What a bonus to find the blade is in fact a peach when you thought it was a dog . Thank you for showing.
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Very nice indeed, I have always liked the trade mark and wonder at the connection to the maker?
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I have always thought it was probably Helium (chemical element HE)
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Indeed -those Heller's you guys show are great. Dion's 'slant' I agree Degens, is mega rare. Probably harder to find than a slant Eickhorn like Landser's. A hard dagger to find in any condition. Took me awhile and turned out to be one of my favorites.
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What a bonus to find the blade is in fact a peach when you thought it was a dog . Thank you for showing. Hmmmmmmm...... only means that there is another one in my collection that does have a dog of a blade??! Lol.... Kevin, an absolutely superb speciman of a Heller that you have there! Really stunning blade! I love it. What I have noticed is that the slant grip on my Heller is virually identical to my 1st pattern Eickhorn slant as well as my 1st type Horster?? All three have the identical color and trates! These early pieces must`ve purchased their grips from the same manufacturer? I`m certain of it. Think about it, in 1935/36 there were not that many Army dagger manufacturers, so I`m certain there were not many Army grip manufacturers either? Very possible that the early dagger makers all purchased their grips from the same company? I`m gonna post a pic of my early Horster on Tom`s thread and you`ll notice what I`m talking about. Thanks again to all those that posted and some really awesome daggers shown here:) [/quote]
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Thanks for showing these great daggers guys. I'm still looking for one for my collection. Danny
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Dion, Your grip theory makes sense especially as your blade could well be an Eickhorn blanko as well. The stamped "E" to the tang was an early Eickhorn trait, the same as a "W" for Wingen.
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Dion, Your grip theory makes sense especially as your blade could well be an Eickhorn blanko as well. The stamped "E" to the tang was an early Eickhorn trait, the same as a "W" for Wingen. Hi Jon, I`m glad you agree I`ve just remebered the E on the Eickhorn examples, Man, yeah, thats making alot of sense now! Why didn`t I think of that? I guess when these makers were starting out back in `35/36, there really were not many around and would make sense that they would purchase from the bigger manufacturers and as time went by, it was cheaper manufacturing the inhouse stuff and establishing a brand name? I dont think that any of these manufacturers were anticipating the market to take off like it did? hmmmmmmm....
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Dion, Meant to comment more on your new Heller, The grips on these always seem to be a lighter orange or darker yellow(at least the ones with non slant grips) I think this is interesting because we see such variation in other makers grips due to how they were exposed to light. Yours is right in line with this. The patina on the scabbard and fittings is really beautiful,super dark scabbard! I have always thought the scabbard pebbling was very interesting on my example, when looking close at it, it looks almost like each "pebble" was hand stamped into the scabbard body with some overlapping! Does yours look like that? Anyways, great example you have.. OK Serge, I will bite! Lets see more pics of your slant Heller please! The maker mark has a "finer" look to the lines, interesting. Kevin.
Last edited by heers68; 01/13/2013 05:25 PM.
It's ALL in the DETAILS!!.......
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Dion, OK Serge, I will bite! Lets see more pics of your slant Heller please! The maker mark has a "finer" look to the lines, interesting. Kevin. Hi Kevin, I really don't remember if it's a slant or not. I can't seem to find other photos of it. It's stashed away with my other Heer keepers at the moment, however it's somewhere in this circle of friends. A terrible tease, I know, but it's true. Serge
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6.30 !!
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Serge, I see 5 slants on that circle....lets see those and their makers!! Kevin.
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Kevin, Sorry but I can't get to those now to photo. I do recall three slants being; Weyersberg Paul, Tiger, e-pack. Keeping within the thread; Here's What Witty says about the Balloon Man Army dagger: Interesting to note that Gebruder Heller used the same crossguard as Henckels which IMHO an outstanding looking crossguard. Serge
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However when I compared my Henckels crossguard to the Gebruder Heller they were different. I do have photos of the Henckels crossguard to show here. It came from a early taper tanged Henckels seems to exhibit a 'H' inside. (Getting a bit deep into the details here but that's what it's about). Any opinions on the the crossguard issue?
Last edited by Serge (aka Wagner); 01/14/2013 07:59 AM.
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Serge thats a later Horster crossguard
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Serge thats a later Horster crossguard Absolutely, I agree, thats the Horster cross guard. Strange to find that on a Henckels?
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Gentlemen, You are NOT gonna believe my luck and my surprise today when I collected my Heller from the post office??!! The eBay Heller that started this thread has turned out to be a massive score! Not only is the dagger maker scarce, BUT Its NAMED!!!!!!!!! Kevin, Yes, since I`ve seen more pics of the Heller maker, I`ve also come to the same conclusion as you I wonder if the year of manufacturer hasn`t got something to do with it? You mentioned about the darkening of the silvering on the scabbard, well, Its even darker than on the pics! An absolutely beautiful specimen!! I just loooooove this dagger and couldn`t be happier Regarding the pebbling, I cant really norice the look you`re talking about, but do admit that its quite distinct in its manner? If you know what I`m talking about? But, the early daggers were of a much higher quality than the later ones, so maybe the dies were wearing out by 1939? Dion
Last edited by Dion; 01/14/2013 05:40 PM.
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Serge thats a later Horster crossguard Thanks Tom and Dion, That's what was on the dagger from a veteran source. Loads of all matching patina. Just can't say 'Never' in this hobby - you'll have to eat your words soon enough. There are of course those that believe if it's not 'textbook' then a switch was done post war. Dion, That is a hot Balloon-man e-Ban score. Congrats ! It's hard enough to find that maker, then you snag it on the cheap with as a e-Ban Toss-Off, and it's personalized too boot. Tom will be licking his chops on that one, well I guess - ME TOO. HA ! Serge
Last edited by Serge (aka Wagner); 01/15/2013 08:15 PM.
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Dion, WELL DONE!! Doesn't it make the whole hobby that much more fun when you get little suprises like this along the way!! Lets see more pics of that baby!! I recently went through a similar chain of satisfying events while discovering an early slant that I will share here soon, if the waiting for the item to be shipped ever ends!! Kevin.
Last edited by heers68; 01/16/2013 01:46 AM.
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Thanks for the comments guys I`m sure as hell very happy with that purchase! But, I must admit, it wasn`t as a surprise like the one a mate of mine got when he purchased an early double oval Eick! His had a dedicated blade which he didnt know about until it arrived in the post! Lucky fella!!!
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Great daggers guys and thanks for showing them. Mine is salty compared to these though.
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Thats a good looking one Mikee!! Can we see the scabbard? Kevin.
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Thank you Kevin, the scabbard is in horrendous condition, but did it's job and protected the blade.
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Hey Guys, Here`s some info that you might just find interesting. Had some research done and this is some of the info that was found! Friedrich Max TRESS was born 30 November 1910 in Württemberg and entered the Reichsheer in 1928. He had a variety of postings including training as a driver, perhaps firefighter, and later postings to AR22 and AR53 while an enlisted man and NCO. His advancement to Leutnant appears on his Dienstlaufbahn in the calendar year 1937, but appears to be backdated to 1933. In any event, he was OberLtn by 31 December so the earlier date appears to be the accurate one. He served in a variety of Staff positions, primarily with 81st Inf Div from December 1939 to January 1943 which would place him under the 16th Armee, Herresgruppe Nord during “Operation Barbarossa” through the initial Battle of Demjansk. From January to March 1943 he was posted to Führer Reserve, and from March 1943 to May 1944 he was with AOK 6. He was awarded the KvK II with Swords, the KvK I with Swords, and the Ostmedaille. This was until 1944. More research is still being done. Also have a great photo of him in uniform. Very satisfying ending to a great purchase Dion
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