(Heer Dolch für Offiziere mit Gehänge). A Heer Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 40 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. It is plain with the exception of maker’s mark on the reverse ricasso in the form of the “PUMA” logo of Lauterjung & Sohn, Solingen. The blade sits securely within a silvered alloy crossguard, the obverse of which bears a raised Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, with the seam covered by an intact brown leather buffer pad. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed off-white celluloid, while the dagger is completed by a rounded pommel bearing raised oak leaves around the outer circumference, 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 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. Issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include some running marks to the blade, loss of finish to the silvered fixtures, scratching to the handle grip, and loss of finish with consequent surface oxidation to the scabbard. The dagger is in a very fine condition.
It is also accompanied by a matching hanger, consisting of a silvered zink loop with two additional loops emanating from the lower edge. Descending from the latter are two field-grey doeskin straps topped by silver aluminum wire tresses, adjusted with functional silvered zink buckles, and completes with functional zink spring clips to lock onto the scabbard’s loops. Unmarked, the hanger measures 27 cm in length as presented. Loss of finish is visible to the zink fixtures, but the hanger remains in a near extremely fine condition.