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

(Kriegsmarine Dolch für Offiziere). A Kriegsmarine Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 42 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 25.5 cm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade with a sharpened tip and with dual narrow fullers running the majority of the length of side. Acid-etched designs are visible on both sides, each consisting of a central fouled anchor flanked by arabesque and serpentine imagery. The reverse ricasso bears a maker’s mark of “CARL EICKHORN, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s squirrel logo. The blade sits securely within a gilded bronze crossguard, bearing central fouled anchors, with the reverse inset with a functional push-button release connecting to a clip which emanates from the ricasso. An intact brown wool buffer pad covers the seam where the blade connects with the crossguard. The handle grip is composed of a single piece of ribbed off-white celluloid, with the ribbing retaining an intact twisted and rolled wire cord. It completes with a gilded bronze pommel in the form of a German national eagle perched on top of a wreathed mobile swastika, 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 cord of identical construction. The dagger is accompanied by its original scabbard, constructed of a gilded bronze shaft with etched designs distributed around the exterior circumference. Two integral oak leaf bands set into the upper third of the shaft retain loops for the accommodation of a hanger. The throat retains a functional catch to lock onto the blade’s clip, firmly holding the dagger in place during storage. Issues consistent with age and wear are evident throughout, and include some running marks to the blade, tarnishing of the bronze fixtures, and cracking throughout the celluloid of the handle. The dagger remains in a very fine condition.