UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons Hunting, Forestry, and Shooting Forum 1930's German Nazi Hunting Knife, D (Swaz.) B F

I just received this rare hunting knife and need help to identify this well-made knife. The Bowie style blade is 8", knife is 13'" with a 15" leather sheath. I only have seen 1 other example on another site. The knife also came with a German hunting pin and a nice Johnson tweed case. The small knife is missing from the sheath and the example from the other site probably has the wrong small knife shown. I will post the other knife and photo next. This knife is from the seller's 40-year collection.

HELP.

C. Wetzel-20609

Here is the description and link:

Hunting and Shooting
German Nazi-era Hunting Knife (Item HUNT 3-3)

DESCRIPTION: This is one of the most sought-after hunting pieces of the Third Reich. We see the fancy Hirschfänger (hunting daggers) and they are certainly beautiful and dramatic, but what did the hunter actually carry in his everyday sojourn in the forest? Well, here it is. The all-around hunter's friend. The often-missing element in not only the advanced hunting collection, but it is often not accounted for in the larger Third Reich edged-weapons collections, as well. This is a very fine example of this important knife. It is factory produced and of the Bowie style. The logo of the company is on the blade and stamped into the leather, as well. The logo is a hunting hound stepping through a y-shaped configuration that includes a traditional hunting horn. In the arms of this 'y' are the letters "D-B" with a swastika in the middle of the characters. On the blade you can barely make this out because of intensive wear. On the other side it says Handgeschmiede (hand forced). On the scabbard you can still see the dog motif, but the letters and swastika are all but obliterated because of wear. The entire knife and sheath are in excellent used-but-not-abused shape. It's understandable that the logos might be worn out because this was not by any means a dress dagger, but a working tool for the Jäger. The piece is rare from a rare maker but is definitely a Third Reich item of historical importance. The small skinning knife is traditionally made with part of the leg bone of the elk for the handle. The blade is by G. Felix of Solingen and so marked. This was also usual to use other maker's parts in assembly. The length of the blade is 8 inches. The overall length is 13 inches including the grip. The scabbard is 15 inches long overall. The buckle device is intact but used. The piece is definitely in very presentable shape. The blade looks as it is supposed to look-well used in the Deutscherwald (German forests). Great find.
PRICE: SOLD

https://www.germaniainternational.com/hunting3.html

Here are 2 more images of my knife and sheath. Note blade marked HANDGESCHMIEDET.

I sent an email to Henning Ritter (HUBERTUS) telling him about my 1930's German knife and noted that the "Lippert" style Waidblatt and the "Lippert" style Waidmesser advertisements have HANDGESCHMIEDET. The "Lippert" style Waidblatt (also known as a Wolfsangle Waidblatt) also has HANDGESCHMIEDET on the blade. Here is his reply with a most interesting insight from a Solingen knife manufacture who is well known to the GDC community:

"Hello Calvin,

Thank you for drawing my attention on the detailing of a „HANDGESCHMIEDET“ mark on the blade.

I already noticed the vintage LIPPERT advertisement with such ‚quality information‘.

Hand-forging is a proof, that this Waidblatt pattern blade was crafted in small series only. Otherwise the ‚drop forge‘ process by using the blade’s negative form would be more economic.


In any case a die with the term ‚HANDGESCHMIEDET‘ was necessary for the marking.

Does your BOWIE hunting knife show up with a Gustv Felix cutler mark?

Regards

Henning"

Here is my reply: "No, it is not a G. FELIX, only "Hound und Horn D (Swaz.) B F" on 1 side with HANDGESCHMIEDET (upside down) on the other side of blade. The small G. FELIX knife is NOT original to the Waidbesteck (in my opinion). So, what you tell me is very interesting HANDGESCHMIEDET (Hand-Forged) crafted in small series, Drop-Forged, an economic production method. Das ist gut".

PS the pin I got is a Bavarian Hunting pin (B J V) and is probably post WW2 in my opinion because there is no Swaz.

C. Wetzel-20609

Update: the black guard on my knife is probably a BAKELITE (early plastic) cover over steel. Note that the Nazi-era Germans were using these materials for knife handles. This makes me wonder if the matching small knife will also have this feature.

Calvin

I took 5 photos today of the knife.

The blade is 4 MM thick and has a false edge of just over 5 inches. This blade is in very good condition with no signs of sharpening (in my opinion). The black Bakelite / plastic covering on the steel guard is a very thin layer.

The other example sold from the web site is described as used with intensive wear to the sheath and they do not even know there is an "F" at the bottom part of the mark on the blade.

C. Wetzel-20609

Correction: (Swaz.) is incorrect abbreviation and should be (Swas.), swastika.

I won this knife on 12 Sep. 2024 for $227.49 and $6.10 S&H with 3 bids and on that day came down with a new strain of Covid. The major symptom is loss of appetite. It also affected my taste, smell and then breathing. I am starting to feel better this week.

Please stay safe fellow GDC members and beware.

The description from Germania International of the small knife:

"The small skinning knife is traditionally made with part of the leg bone of the elk for the handle. The blade is by G. Felix of Solingen and so marked."

This is an incorrect assumption, and I found a seller on the popular auction site that has 3 G. Felix knives as shown by Germania International and in my opinion, these are G. Felix table knives with light brownish to dark black horn handles. Another seller has a complete set of 8 of these G. Felix knives.

C. Wetzel-20609

My assumption that the black handguard on my knife is made of Bakelite or plastic maybe incorrect. I found an older Stag handle, "Urban knicker" Jagdmesser for sale on the popular auction site with a black handguard and HANDGESCHMIEDET over Fish mark on the blade. I sent the image to Henning Ritter (HUBERTUS). It is possible that my handguard is made of black buffalo horn.
Here is the reply from Henning Ritter:

"Good morning, Calvin,

Thank you for your additional / revised information.

I know Austrian „URBAN knicker“ very well, as we supplied the finished blades (grinded and mirror polished, without handle slabs) to Pichler family in Austria for a while until the company went out of business.

If I remember right the handguard was made out of solid black color buffalo horn which would make it match in regards to the color with the Bakelite guard of the larger Bowie style knife.

Anyway, I doubt that Pichler was in business during WWII. I might check our company’s 2000s business papers. Possibly some letters might show up a letter head with the date of foundation.

Kind regards

Henning"

Note there is another mark used by the PICHLER family with ROSTFREI over Fish mark that is probably a more recent mark. My Nazi-era Bowie knife was probably not made by the PICHLER family but the black handguard on my knife does look very similar to the black buffalo horn used by the PICHLER family.

C. Wetzel-20609

Researching this Hound & Horn mark on the blade has been difficult.

Late last night I found a website for "Das Jagdhorn" with photos of 5 different types of the Jagdhorn. Photo # 5 Jagdhorn shows a "Y" configuration (leather harness) on the Jagdhorn as described on the Bowie knife blade by Germania International. This Jagdhorn is known as the "Sauerlander Halbmond" (Sauerlander Halfmoon).

Germania International notes the Hound is stepping through the "Y" configuration and I found there is a "Sauerlander Brackehund" (Sauerlander scenthound), a local type of German Hound. A hunting horn is used to communicate with the Hounds during a "Jagd Bracken".

Note that Sauerland, Germany is about 40 + miles east of Solingen, Germany and about 64 miles by roads.

Das Jagdhorn, Nr. 5 - Sauerländer Halbmond
Dieses große Jagdhorn gehört von alters her zur Ausrüstung der Brackenjäger und war seit dem 17. Jahrhundert im ganzen norddeutschen Raum, von den Niederlanden bis nach Ostpreussen verbreitet.
Der Halbmond, auch halber Mond genannt, ist ein großes, halbkreisförmiges Jagdhorn. Er wird aus Kupfer gefertigt und am Mundstück, Mittelteil und Stürzenrand mit Messing beschlagen. Charakteristisch ist das Riemenzeug, auch Ledergehänge oder Hornsatz genannt, das vielfach mit dem Wappen oder den Initialen des Besitzers geschmückt ist. Der Halbmond ist heute meist in B gestimmt, früher auch in C. Er wird auf der linken Seite mit dem Schalltrichter nach hinten getragen.

http://www.mausehund.com/html/das_jagdhorn.html

C. Wetzel-20609