Thanks for the research and the update Craig. This sword came with a large collection purchased a couple of years ago which included two post war artificial damascus SS daggers. Since the amount of good items in this collection more than offset the repos the sword is no great loss to me financially. This also should serve as a warning to others as the collector ceased acquiring by 1975 and these items were in storage until I bought them. It is often stated that swords are/were never faked on a large scale bu SS degens are certainly the exception. As Craig pointed out the rest of the parts are period and it still makes a beautiful display piece.
Interestingly enough; I now believe that the "Brandt" inscribed on the blade is in reference to Rudolf Brandt who was Himmlers Personal Administrative Officer who was tried and sentenced to death at the "Doctors" trial in Nuremberg.
Jim
