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

(Heer Dolch für Offizier). A Heer Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 39.5 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 is plain with the exception of a maker’s mark on the reverse ricasso reading “ORIGINAL EICKHORN, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s classic logo of a squirrel clutching a sword. The blade 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 off-white celluloid, and the dagger completes with a flattened and rounded pommel bearing raised oak leaves around the outer circumference. 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, firmly holding the dagger in place during storage. Issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include running marks and tarnishing of the blade, patination of the nickel-silver, sporadic chipping and scratching to the handle grip, and some tarnishing of the scabbard. This untouched dagger remains in a very fine condition.