A question about Dachau made Swords

[RUHL13]

Hi Everyone,
I wonder if you guys can help me out here.
Are Paul Mueller Dachau (PMD) SS swords desirable?
From what i hear, some people are 50/50 on these, if true...why?
Does everyone want the nickel silver compared to stainless steel?
A friend of mine says he has one, but just hates it and wishes he never bought it.
Any help on this would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks Again.
Regards,
Gary

[SCHUPO]

Gary,

What you hear is correct. These PMD swords are controversial. Some people love them and some people would not have one in their collection. Part of the problem is that all these SS and Polizei swords are the sum of the parts and those parts can be easily switched from Degen to Degen. Another problem is that Paul Müller might have made as many swords after the war as during it as he remained active as a smith for many years after 1945. So, it is difficult to tell when a PMD sword was made/constructed and frankly the quality of those swords is not that great. What everyone wants, it seems, is a textbook nickel Krebs SS Offizer-Degen.

[RUHL13]

Thank You Shupo, i totally agree

[Frogprince]

Gary,

What you hear is correct. These PMD swords are controversial. Some people love them and some people would not have one in their collection. Part of the problem is that all these SS and Polizei swords are the sum of the parts and those parts can be easily switched from Degen to Degen. Another problem is that Paul Müller might have made as many swords after the war as during it as he remained active as a smith for many years after 1945. So, it is difficult to tell when a PMD sword was made/constructed and frankly the quality of those swords is not that great. What everyone wants, it seems, is a textbook nickel Krebs SS Offizer-Degen.

I can't argue with that - it's right on the money. All those guys with the "SS" letter openers, his "SS Prototype" daggers, and a lot more all got 'burned' by Müller . Not a good choice IMO if you want to rest easy at night. FP

[Robin Lumsden]

A friend of mine says he has one, but just hates it and wishes he never bought it.

Speaks volumes!

[RUHL13]

Thanks again, i believe he said he paid alittle over $4000, and now wants to get rid of it to get a nice early one.
Regards,
Gary

[groucho]

stirring the pot

Is it prohibitively expensive for fakers to create rostfrei components?, mueller was still creating them after the war or assembling component parts to create whole swords? Is it simpler to fake nickel components, just things as a novice I had heard.

[Frogprince]

Müller was an experienced metal worker. He might have had some leftover parts, but there was nothing stopping him from making entirely new creations, which is what he did for so many supposed “TR” items. And he had access to all of the period German makers in Solingen (and elsewhere) to help make whatever else he needed.

If anything, back then there was a shortage of the alloys in Germany that are needed to make stainless steel. After the war - no problem. As for the labor costs stainless is a little harder to work with, but not prohibitively. FP