Germany, Heer. An Etched Offcier’s Dress Dagger, with Hanger, by F.W. Höller

(Heer Offiziersdolch mit Gehänge). A scarce and extremely well-preserved Heer dress dagger, measuring 40 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 26 cm-long nickel-plated magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip and edges. The blade bears a double-sided, acid-etched design, with the obverse decorated with a central Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, flanked on each side by arabesques, while the reverse bears an uninterrupted arabesque motif. The reverse ricasso is stamped with a maker’s mark of “F.W. HÖLLER, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s thermometer logo. The blade sits firmly within a nickel-plated upper crossguard, the obverse of which bears a raised Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, with the seam covered by a fully-intact black leather buffer pad. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed light brown celluloid, and the dagger completes with a flattened, nickel-plated pommel bearing raised oak leaf designs around the exterior circumference. Wrapped around the upper crossguard is a matching portepee, consisting of a stylized silver aluminum wire acorn suspended from a cord of identical construction. It is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a pebbled, nickel-plated magnetic metal shaft. The upper third of the shaft features two integral bands which bear raised oak leaf designs around the outer circumference, each completing in integral loops for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat retains a functional spring catch, firmly holding the dagger in place during storage, and is secured together with dual side rivets. Also accompanying the dagger is a matching hanger, constructed of two field-grey doeskin wool straps. Each strap is adjusted with functional aluminum buckles, descends from an aluminum ring, and completes in a functional silvered zink spring clip which locks onto the scabbard’s loops. The former rings are in turn set within a functional magnetic metal spring clip which emanates from a brown leather backer. One spring clip bears a reverse maker’s mark in the form of the logo of F.W. Assmann & Söhne, Lüdenscheid. Minor, age-appropriate issues are visible to the set, and include some running marks to the blade, sporadic chipping to the nickel-plated features, and some material fatigue to the hanger and portepee. This exquisite dagger is in an overall near extremely fine condition.