Germany, Kriegsmarine. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, by Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie

(Kriegsmarine Offiziersdolch). A well-preserved Kriegsmarine Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 42 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 25.5 cm-long nickel-plated magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip and edges, and with narrow dual fullers running approximately two-thirds of the length of each side. It bears double-sided acid-etched designs consisting of central fouled anchors flanked by arabesque and serpentine designs. The obverse ricasso is maker marked with the logo of Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie, Solingen, set below the firm’s classic knight’s helmet logo. The blade sits securely within a gilded bronze crossguard, which bears double-sided central fouled anchors, with the seam covered by an intact brown wool buffer pad. The reverse of the crossguard is inset with a functional push-button spring release connecting to a clip emanating from the ricasso. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed brown celluloid, with the ribbing retaining a period original twisted and rolled bronze wire cord. It completes with a gilded bronze pommel consisting of a German national eagle perched on top of a wreathed mobile swastika, screwing in to maintain the dagger’s structural integrity. Wrapped around the crossguard and pommel is a matching portepee, consisting of a stylized silver aluminum wire acorn suspended from a strap of identical construction. It is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a dimpled and gilded bronze shaft. The upper third of the shaft has two integral oak leaf bands, each retaining a loop for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat is flanked by two rivets, and retains a functional catch to lock onto the blade’s clip. Minor issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include some running marks to the blade, minor tarnishing of the bronze features, loosening of the pommel eagle, and friction of the push-button release which renders extraction of the blade from the scabbard difficult. The dagger remains in an overall near extremely fine condition.