Pat,
I was hoping you would voice an opinion. You have basically re-affirmed my initial impressions on this dagger as being good and I think congratulations are in order for the owner of this piece.
The point raised regarding the motto not being as crisp and sharp as some examples does vary between manufacturer I have found and is quite evident on normal SA daggers but it is a point well raised all the same.
Regarding the light brown rust spots, if you take a leaded pencil and gently rub over the raised corrosion areas it will remove the worse of the rust. Other than that I suggest you leave it as is and maybe just apply renwax being careful around the trademark and mottos/inscription.
The fact that the motto doesn't seem as sharp as I think, may be due to the fact that the blade has been heavily cleaned or polished at one time, difficult to say without a hand inspection.
Other than that, nothing wrong with it.
