Question on daggers

[usmedalman]

I have seen two basic types of dagger hangers, those with only one buckle hole and those with three holes. Is one earlier than the other? More valuable than the other?

Also, is there any way to tell approximately when a dagger was made based on the number on the blade?

Thanks,
John

[Mike G.]

Hi John,

The dagger hanger with three holes is the earlier production type hanger.

There basically are three production cycles for the parade dagger.
1st - 60s era: The handle is translucent, and on some, has a marbled appearance. There is no molding seem along the side of the handle. The blade is serial numbered and also has a maker's mark.

2nd - late 70s through 89: The handle is cream colored, opaque. There is a molding seem along one side of the handle. The blade usually is serial numbered, and usually is lacking a maker's mark.

3rd - Post 89. Many of the parade daggers, particularly the General and Admiral types, that are being offered for sale today, are put together from surplus parts. They can therefore be a combination of the two variations referenced above. A company grade officer parade dagger that has an opaque handle with a seem, and is lacking both a serial number and a maker's mark probably is a Post 90 era dagger.

There is no way to date daggers unless they are acquired with the certificate. These of course can be faked, but usually they are legite. If possible, the best way to acquire a dagger is in the box in which it was issued, along with the certificate. The serial number on the box; on the certificate; and on the blade should of course all match.

[Gordon Craig]

usmedalman,

Michael has covered the basics very well. I 'd just like to mention that later issue boxes, the green "pebbled" ones versus the earlier "marbled" ones, rarely have a serial number on the box. Also, Generals and Admirals daggers normally have low serial numbers. Not more than three digits as a rule.

Regards,

Gordon

[Ralph P]

Hello all - I don't want to derail this thread, but I have a follow up DDR dagger question. There are two dagger threads currently running on the international estand and after viewing the threads and posts, it got me thinking so I did some searches to my question, but at this time have not found an answer...So I am posting my question to the forum members. I do apologize ahead of time if the answer is already out there and I missed it.

My question is...Was there a branch of service whose daggers would be more rare over another service?

[Gordon Craig]

Ralph,

The rarest daggers to find are those of a regular navy officer. Seem to be lots of Admirals daggers but far fewer regular officers ones. In the Generals daggers the most difficult ones to find are those for Border Guard Generals and that applies to the hangers as the General Officers daggers are all the same. The days of daggers being plentiful have come and gone. Especially those with a matching number on the dagger, guarantee and the box. This refers to the normal NVA dress daggers. If you want to go into the presentation pieces, ie those presented to high standing graduates, they are all rare but the naval ones are the rarest.

Cheers,

Gordon

[Mike G.]

Hi Ralph,

Gordon is correct. The Regular Officer Naval Dagger (which like the General Officer dagger is gold, but without the staatswappen on the pommel), is without question the most scarce. I waited years to acquire the one example I have. Fortunately, it turned out to be an early 60s era one.

[Roy Queen]

I've owned three standard DDR daggers over the last 5-6 years, and I have noticed that it has been getting harder and harder to replace the ones I have sold or traded. The dagger in the collection now will remain because it had taken about 2 years for me to replace my last one I owned.

[Ralph P]

Gordon and Mike - Thank you both for the very good information about which daggers are rare. Thanks...