Ed, A long while ago I was in correspondence with a blade maker, and one of the topics was the etching process. He very kindly sent me an unused mask (blade template) which I think that I still have that is packed away somewhere with some correspondence. The blade templates (masks) themselves were used one time. Makers kept the screens to make the masks, and usually made them in at least small quantities to keep on hand to avoid unnecessary handling. Or to replace one if a mask already on a blade was damaged for some reason before etching. With the masks being stored until needed.
Craig, If you are saying that every time when H�hnlein hand wrote his signature it was different, then we are in agreement, and that component of the discussion can be dispensed with. And I'm hoping that there is enough evidence for you that his signature did not change using fixed media. And that part of the discussion can also be dispensed with as well.
�I would suggest that any variation with respect to the Huhnlein signature on the damascus blade, can fairly be ascribed to the fact that these were not production items. This is shown by the two types of chains, suggesting that these were not all made up in one batch.�
As I described to Ed, even if H�hnlein ordered these 8, 10, 12, 20, 25 or ? daggers one at a time. Why should the signatures be so different? Including that messed up example I posted earlier. This is the Carl Eickhorn firm we are discussing not some small mom and pop business operating out of a storefront. And does nothing to explain those amateurish castings with the fake cast in (supposed) �Gahr� markings that F.J. Stephens commented on.
�To return to the main issue at hand, however. There is mounting evidence that these daggers can be traced out of the woodwork with increasing frequency.�
An interesting statement. But the proof is with the items themselves. Sprinkled in among all these daggers all �coming out of the woodwork� there might be an original. Who knows?
BTW: �This is NOT a "chrome plated PPK" we're talking about here.� A quick FYI: Although the Walther firm designed and manufactured both the PPK and P 38 pistols. They are quite different, and Spreewerke GmbH never made the �PPK�. FP
A better close up of one of the signatures already posted:
