Germany, Kriegsmarine. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, by Carl Eickhorn

(Kriegsmarine Offiziersdolch). A very well-preserved Kriegsmarine Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 41.5 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 edges. The blade bears double-sided, acid-etched designs consisting of central fouled anchors flanked by arabesque and serpentine imagery. Stamped onto the reverse ricasso is a maker’s mark of “ORIGINAL EICKHORN, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s classic logo of a squirrel clutching a sword. The blade sits securely within a gilded bronze upper crossguard featuring central fouled anchor designs, with the seam covered by a partially-intact buffer pad. Emanating from the reverse of the crossguard is a push-button spring release connecting to a clip emerging from the blade’s ricasso to release the scabbard lock. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed white celluloid, with the ribbing retaining a fully-intact twisted and rolled bronze wire cord. The dagger completes with a pommel consisting of a gilded bronze German national eagle perched on top of a wreathed mobile swastika. Wrapped around the upper crossguard is a matching portepee, consisting of a stylized silver aluminum wire acorn suspended from a cord of identical construction. It is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a dimpled gilded bronze shaft. The upper third of the shaft features two integral oak leaf bands, each retaining a loop for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat retains a functional catch to lock onto the blade’s clip, and is secured together with dual side rivets. While the blade demonstrates an age-appropriate patina and some fatigue is visible to the portepee’s wire, the dagger is otherwise free of evident faults and is in an overall near extremely fine condition.