Germany, Third Reich. A Forestry Service Senior Official’s Cutlass

(Forstdienst Hirschfänger). An extremely well-preserved Forstdienst (Forestry Service) Senior Official’s cutlass, measuring 38.5 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 25 cm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip and lower edge. The blade features double-sided, acid-etched hunting scenes, with the obverse bearing a depiction of a boar being pursued by a pack of hounds through a forest, while the reverse shows a pair of deer running through a forested setting. The blade sits securely within a one-piece gilded bronze hilt featuring a hand guard decorated with raised oak leaves, a clamshell-style guard bearing a raised hound, and with an intact brown leather buffer pad covering the seam. The handle grip consists of two pieces of off-white celluloid, each bearing three gilded bronze acorns situated within a pair of oak leaves. It is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a boiled and blackened leather shaft. Gilded bronze fixtures are secured to both the tip and throat, with a downward-pointing hook emanating from the obverse of the latter for the accommodation of a frog. The throat also retains a functional spring catch to firmly hold the cutlass in place during storage. Demonstrating only minor, age-appropriate issues, including some running marks to the blade, scratching of the handle grips, and some verdigris to the bronze elements, this striking example remains in an extremely fine condition.