Germany, Luftwaffe. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, Second Pattern, by Carl Eickhorn

(Luftwaffe Dolch für Offiziere). A Luftwaff Officer’s second pattern dress dagger, measuring 42.5 cm in total length when inserted into the scabbard. It features a 26 cm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade which retains factory-original sharpening to both the tip and edges. The reverse ricasso bears a maker’s mark of “ORIGINAL EICKHORN, SOLINGEN”, circumscribing the firm’s classic logo of a squirrel clutching a sword. It sits securely within an aluminum alloy crossguard, the obverse of which bears a raised Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swastika, with the seam covered by an intact blackened leather buffer pad. The handle grip consists of a single piece of ribbed brown celluloid, with the ribbing retaining an original twisted and rolled silver aluminum wire cord. It completes with an aluminum alloy pommel in the form of a double-sided, gilded mobile swastika situated within a circular oak leaf wreath, screwing in to maintain the dagger’s structural integrity. Accompanying the dagger is its original scabbard, constructed of a pebbled magnetic metal shaft. Two integral oak leaf bands are set into the upper third of the shaft, each retaining a loop for the accommodation of a hanger. A functional spring catch situated within the throat firmly holds the dagger in place during storage. Issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include running marks and tarnishing to the blade, two chips to the handle grip along the seam of the pommel, some loosening of the dagger’s overall structure, and the loss of both of the scabbard’s throat rivets (with a crack visible to the top rivet). The dagger remains in a very fine condition.