Says who? That is what this whole discussion is about - Gau marks. Clearly there was a change in manufacturer's because the �Type I� daggers not only used a new set of dies. The �SS Kulturzeichen� was stamped at the time of manufacture, not later like all of the others.
Also, if the dagger you posted above is the same as the one posted before, it not only has a crossguard fit that seems a bit off. It has some fairly heavily rusted links. And I think could very easily be a prime candidate for replacing rusted crossguards - if it damaged the links to the extent I am seeing in the image first posted.
And something else that caught my attention, was that in the first image mentioned, the crossguard seems to have been polished to match the upper mount. And in the second it looks like it is reacquiring the faded natural appearance of a copper based NS alloy. With my point being that it's actually a lot easier to nickel plate nickel silver than steel or iron. So why not plate to match like some other transitional (in materials) daggers? Regards, Fred
