It is interesting to note, and it has been touched upon elsewhere on the forum, that the blade depicted in the "Eickhorn" catalog (above) is the "plain" (non-damascus) variety. If I'm not mistaken, the catalog is from 1937. It makes one wonder if the "plain" blade was the "standard" one for this dagger and the damascus blade was an added option for a very special recipient. Since there seem to be more daggers with the damascus blade that have survived, it would seem such an explanation is implausible. It does, however, raise the question as to why both blades are found on honor daggers. Could it have been there came a time when damascus was too time-consuming and expensive to produce? It would seem the damascus blades were a "luxury" of sorts that may have become in short supply or other priorities may have lowered or done away with its importance. Perhaps, too, the "plain" blades are of later manufacture, but scabbard fittings and other factors do not point to such. Perhaps the manufacture and supply of damascus was intermittent at some point.
