Germany, Heer. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, with Hanger, by Carl Eickhorn

(Heer Offiziers-Dolch mit Gehänge). A well-preserved Heer Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 39.5 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 26.5 cm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip and edges. The reverse ricasso bears a maker’s mark of “ORIGINAL EICKHORN, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s classic logo of a squirrel clutching a sword. It sits securely within a nickel-silver crossguard, the obverse of which bears a raised Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, with the seam covered by an intact black leather buffer pad. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed orange celluloid, and the dagger completes with a flattened pommel bearing raised oak leaves around the outer circumference, screwing in to maintain the dagger’s structural integrity. Wrapped around the handle 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 pebbled magnetic metal shaft. The upper third of the shaft has two integral oak leaf bands with loops for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat retains a functional spring catch to firmly hold the dagger in place during storage. Some issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include sporadic tarnishing to the blade, a consistent patina throughout the metal fixtures, and significant material fatigue to the portepee. It remains in a better than very fine condition.

Accompanying the dagger is a matching hanger, consisting of a gilded zink loop with two additional loops emanating from the bottom edge. Descending from each loop is a field-grey doeskin strap topped by a silver aluminum wire tresse. The straps are adjusted with functional gilded zink buckles, and both culminate in functional gilded zink spring clips to lock onto the scabbard’s loops. Unmarked, the hanger measures 27 cm in length as presented. The zink fixtures demonstrate near-total loss of finish with minor oxidation, but the hanger remains in a better than very fine condition.