I'm still here and I'm still collecting! It's kind of like Harley-Davidson the company ******** and the bikes still break down but I love em. I'm 55 and have been collecting since childhood. My Father gave me the Japanese sword he brought home and my Uncle send me a large Nazi flag he got in Normandy with the Big Red One. So it's not hard for me to love the hobby but hate the crooks and fakes. So KB how do you know an original is original? The Germans were putting whatever parts they had left together for souvenir sales before the war was even over. I've looked at many mismatched items over the years that the vet claimed he picked up just that way and he may have. SS daggers hanging on Luftwaffe combat belts etc., etc. I always thought the blade on my Fathers sword was bright and shiny until we were talking about getting some bike parts chromed and he said he had the sword plated when he got home from the war. Just last year I bought what looked like a SS Officer degen from the family of a deceased vet. When I got there they brought out and WKC Army sword and a Alcoso Police Officer degen. The Police Officer had an original SS Officer degen rune button where the eagle should have been. I have never seen what I believe is a true 1936 model Alcoso SS degen and I don't think they made them. It was obvious that someone had tried to stick the round SS button in an eagle hole. You could still see where the wings were. So did the family put it in there? They said they had not. Did the vet? Did he find it that way? Who knows? Is it original pre May 45? Who knows?
