wardaggers.com - German Army Officers Dagger Reproduction Awareness

GERMAN POST WAR REPRODUCTION DAGGERS - ARMY - LUFT - SA
" Either war is obsolete or men are " R. Buckminster Fuller



	____REPRODUCTION AWARENESS____
Page 2 SA REPRODUCTION	So the current Chinese reproductions are EASY to spot right, lack of definition, poor makers marks, seams on the fittings and grips and irregular ridge lines on the blade are just some of the immediate red flags. What about some of the better earlier reproductions that are without a doubt sat in collections with the owner oblivious to the items shady history. Below are 2 daggers both fitted with Generic type "B" cross-guards, one is legitimate, the other is a very well done fake. Before we start see if you can spot the good from the bad!.	Page 3 LUFT REPRODUCTION

	The reproduction dagger has the yellow grip and below are the parts along with some of the tell tale traits and things to look for. The repro parts have been marked with a * to make life easier. Firstly the blade, note the huge size on the tang, this has resulted in the grip being milled with a hole that you could drive a bus through, remember, originally the grips where individually hand finished and shaped to fit the tang, it also bears similarities to the early tapered tang seen on legitimate daggers produced early in the period, but again oversized and not a part you would expect to see on a dagger with generic fittings. The ridge lines on the blade are too well defined with cross-graining that appears to be angled rather than straight across the blade, and the grip is plastic and not the regular trolon used during the period.

	Next the scabbard, the most obvious sign is the swirl to the dotted finish on the reproduction scabbard, notice how the dots appear to form circular areas and although this can be seen on some legit scabbards, you will find the patterning to be less defined and less obvious. The lip on the throat is too thin, scabbard finish has the appearance that it has been silver washed and not plated, the scabbard ball is a 2 piece construction whereas originally all army dagger scabbards are 1 piece, and the fittings in general have a cast appearance with little or no wear.

	The pommel cap is probably more obvious seeing it posted next to an original, although the dimensions, bands, proportions are good the detailing is not. Notice how the fittings have an almost brushed appearance that can be seen easily on the flat part of the ferrule and the left swirl on the cross-guard. Be aware that the pommel is also correctly finished on the interior ( type C ) and the cross-guard bird itself is flawless compared to the original.

	SUMMARY : You will be hard pressed to find a closer reproduction army dagger on the marked today and although good, there are still signs that hopefully I have shown, below is the makers mark alongside an original, for some reason Holler has been used across the board on reproduction daggers and most are obvious due to the addition of "BERLIN" or "GERMANY" incorporated into the trademark. Original period daggers used only "SOLINGEN" which makes this example all the more frightening!. Please check out the SA & LUFT repro pages.

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