Germany, Heer. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, by Ernst Pack & Söhne

(Heer Dolch für Offiziere). A Heer Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 40 cm in total length when inserted into scabbard. It features a 26 cm-long, nickel-plated, magnetic steel blade which retains factory-original sharpening to both the edges and tip. The reverse ricasso bears a maker’s mark of “ERNST PACK & SÖHNE WAFFENFABRIK, SOLINGEN”, surrounded by the firm’s full “SIEGFRIED WAFFEN” trade name and logo. The blade sits securely within a nickel-silver crossguard, the obverse of which bears a raised Wehrmacht eagle clutching a wreathed mobile swastika, with an intact blackened leather buffer pad covering the seam. A single piece of ribbed light brown celluloid composes the handle grip, while the hilt culminates in a flattened and rounded nickel-silver pommel, decorated with raised oak leaves around the outer circumference, which screws in to maintain the dagger’s structural integrity. Wrapped around the pommel is a matching portepee, consisting of a stylized silver aluminum wire acorn suspended from a cord of identical construction. Accompanying the dagger is its original scabbard, constructed of a pebbled magnetic metal shaft. Dual integral oak leaf bands are set in place just below the throat, 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 some running marks and surface tarnishing to the blade, loosening of the hilt, material fatigue of the portepee, surface oxidation throughout the exterior of the scabbard, and the loss of one throat rivet. Demonstrating all of the classic signs of period wear, this storied dagger remains in a very fine condition.