Germany, Luftwaffe. An Officer’s Dress Dagger, Unmarked Version

(Luftwaffe Dolch für Offiziere). A Luftwaffe Officer’s dress dagger, measuring 42 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 edges and tip, and with much of its crossgrain still visible. Unmarked, the blade sits securely within a multi-piece hilt, with the seam covered by an intact brown leather buffer pad. The hilt has an aluminum crossguard, the obverse of which bears a Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swastika, with a handle grip consisting of a single piece of ribbed off-white celluloid retaining an original twisted and rolled wire cord. It culminates in an aluminum pommel in the form of a double-sided wreathed mobile swastika, screwing in to maintain the dagger’s structural integrity. Notably, all of the hilt’s aluminum fixtures demonstrate a post-manufacture gilt coating. Accompanying the dagger is its original scabbard, constructed of pebbled and nickel-plated magnetic metal shaft with an identical gilt coating. Two integral oak leaf bands situated at the upper third retain loops for the accommodation of a hanger, while a functional catch within the throat holds the dagger in place during storage. Issues consistent with age and wear are evident, and include some running marks and tarnishing to the blade, minor loosening of the hilt, spillover of gilt paint onto the handle grip, and chipping to the gilt consistent with the paint bonding poorly to the base metal. This unmarked owner-modified example remains in a very fine condition.