UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons SS Dagger Forum SS Gottlieb Hammesfahr - Fake or not?

Hi Gents,

I bought this dagger about seven years ago from a dealer in the UK. Shortly afterwards I developed some serious concerns about it and sent it back to him. My concerns with the dealer were based on the hit and miss nature of his items. One NSFK dagger he sent to me to view was an obvious fake, so either he didn't know what he was doing... or he intended to deceive. Either way, I couldn't stand the doubts hanging over this SS dagger so I got rid of it. I could have been put off the hobby for good at that point, as so many 'reputable' British dealers were selling fakes or parts daggers. Happily I persisted and learned enough to determine for myself what was good or bad.... most of the time!

My concerns with this particular SS Dagger stemmed from a few observations:

1. The scabbard was in poor condition, no anodised finish remaining, battered screws and dented ball. The scabbard ring had been re-soldered at some point. Surely it would take quite some force to smash off the scabbard ring fitting. All that wear and tear, and yet a mint blade! The blade graded Ex ++ to Full Mint. How could this be?
2. I didn't like the rune button. The inner and outer circle almost came together at about 5 O'clock.
3. The tang didn't look quite right to me, and when I took the grip off, a strange black substance was on my hands, not dirt or grease, and I began to wonder if it was some kind of dye to make the metal look seventy years old.
4. On the grip, the texture of the wood seemed a bit rough to me. This wasn't obvious at first, but I think it shows in the photos. There were some regular dents to the wooden grip, that looked like the grip had knocked against something over and over. Was this added to fool people into thinking it had been worn?

As I am sure every collector knows, when one develops doubts then the piece is no longer a joy to own, but a constant cross to bear, and so I dumped it. I could have been wrong to do so...who knows.

Perhaps if these photographs I took are good enough, someone on this forum will have an opinion on whether this was a good dagger, parts dagger or a good fake.

Regards to all.