Germany, Weimar Republic. A Fire Brigade Officer’s Dress Dagger, by Carl Eickhron

(Feuerwehr Dolch für Offizier). A rare and well-preserved Fire Brigade Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 49 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 35 mm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip. Acid-etched onto the blade are double-sided designs, with the obverse bearing a ladder and crossed axes topped by a fireman’s helmet, while the reverse bears an intertwined hose, hook, and axe, with both sides flanked by detailed arabesque imagery. The reverse ricasso is maker marked with the logo of Carl Eickhorn, Solingen, in the form used between 1921 and 1933. The blade sits securely within a gilded bronze crossguard, the obverse of which bears a central raised pair of crossed axes overlaid by a helmet, with the seam covered by a partially-intact brown leather buffer pad. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed and lacquered black wood, with the ribbing retaining an original twisted and rolled gilded wire cord. It completes with a rounded pommel that maintains the dagger’s structural integrity. It is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a boiled and blackened leather shaft. Gilded bronze fixtures are riveted to both the tip and throat, with the latter retaining two loops for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat also retains a functional spring catch to firmly hold the dagger in place during storage. Minor issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include some running marks and verdigris to the blade, tarnishing of the bronze gilt elements, and loss of finish to the scabbard fixtures. This scarce blade remains in a near extremely fine condition.