NVA Parade Sword Opinion

[Pauly]

Hi all, I am in a position to purchase the sword pictured below. Sorry, not the best photos in the world. Just wondering what everyone’s opinion if the sword is original or not. It is used and not in unissued condition. The “cockade” is a different type, but I have seen another of this type while looking through all the old threads. I just wanted to get your guys thoughts.

Thanks...

[Greg Collins]

Pauly,

The sword looks good from what I'm able to see. Now, my question... did you get this from a Confederate re-enactor? I'm looking at your location, and I remember hearing that, because this sword is very similar to some that found their way into the Confederate ranks, re-enactors were buying them up shortly after the wall came down. The sword's condition tells me it was used for something a bit more aggressive than ceremony.

[Pauly]

Greg thanks for the reply. I do not have the sword yet. The seller is from Florida. I sent him an email asking if there is any history behind the sword and how did he come to aquire it.

You may be right about something more aggressive. I remember how we were using all types of East German stuff in WW2 reenacting in the early to mid 90's. Converting tunics and East German boots to look more like WW2 German. I think I still have my converted East German tunic, somewhere. It was so cheap and available, it was quite a good thing for newbie reenactors. Could be the same with the sword.

[Rev462]

Pauly -

While anything is possible, I don't think it's likely that an authentic NVA sword would be used by re-enactors. NVA swords have always been extremely difficult to find and very expensive - even 15 years ago.

On the other hand, repro NVA swords are cheap and plentiful and it's probably quite possible that re-enactors would use them. (But would they leave the DDR Staatswappen on the crossguard?)

(By the way, the swords with the enamelled Staatswappen, like hat cockades, are repros.)

I've heard that the DDR Staatswappen on authentic swords can be quite crude, as it appears to be in the photo. I have a sword that looks very much like the one in your photo and, frankly, I have been wondering about its authenticity. Greg Collins' comment makes me feel a little better about mine.

[Capt. R]

The offered sword looks a bit crude to me. The fit to the grip and crossguard are not good. Also, I have always understood that a significant curve to the blade indicated a repro. The Original swords I've seen have only a slight curve to the blade.

On whether to buy - It all depends on how much the seller wants for it - I wouldn't pay too much for this one. And if you do purchase, get a written warranty in order to inspect it before "accepting."

[Greg Collins]

Insofar as the staatswappen is concerned, I doubt many in these parts (I'm in Central Virginia myself) have a clue about it... the only symbol of Communism/Socialism that is known by anyone seems to be the hammer and sickle- and that knowledge is fading at a pretty rapid rate.

I do know that one Confederate General (who's name escapes me now- may have been Joe Johnson) had a Solingen blade that had that same distinctive guard. This is why swords of that type were, at one time, sought by re-enactors. Also, those uniforms aren't inexpensive by any means. A re-enactor will drop over 1K on his kit with NO problem.

[iannima]

I have asked a couple of questions about swords on the German speaking forum a few years ago, and this is the gist of what I have gathered from the veterans assembled there.
Swords were NOT issued to individual officers on a permanent basis like the daggers (which were at one time purchased upon graduation). Swords were only issued as and when needed, and otherwise kept in the Waffenkammer. If you look at any ordinary NVA parade (i.e. not Wachregiment) you will notice that swords are only to be seen with a handful of officers: basically those defending the flag and VERY few others. The vast majority of officers would have worn their own daggers. This to me means that NVA swords were very few and far between to start off with, possibly only up to a dozen or so per regiment. This justifies the fact that so few genuine ones ever appear for sale and the price that they generally fetch. This also implies that any sword that has not got the number engraved on the opposite side to the Staatwappen is by definition VERY suspicious. Such -I am afraid- is the case of this one. I would also consider EXTREMELY unlikely that a genuine sword be mistakenly subjected to rough treatment by Civil War re-enactors. If you think about it it is rather odd that swords are one of very few DDR item for which reproductions are available from a variety of sources.
My personal gut feeling is to stay away and save your money for better purchases.

[Pauly]

Well I got a response back from the seller, doesn't me give much to go off of.... "I got it from a buddy of mine who deals in militaria years ago when all the DDR stuff was coming into the country. I thought that it was cool."

I guess that's the reason I started collecting East German stuff too...because I thought it was cool (and I couldn't afford WW2 German stuff).

I'll see if I can get better photos. Thanks for the replies guys.

[Mike G.]

The sword depicted on this thread is a reproduction.

A couple of points worth noting:

The DDR emblem on the original DDR NVA sword hilts are not crude. They in fact are very well defined. One must be very careful about colored staatswappen. Generally, they are fake and the seal is borrowed from an enlisted hat emblem.
But ..... there are MfS presentation swords that did in fact have a very ornate and detailed "Colored" staatswappen. These swords however can clearly be identified as MfS presentation swords, and we normal collectors are unlikely to ever have opportunity to acquire one. They are already in the hands of collectors (most of whom are still living).

The curvature of the sword blade is not indicative of whether a sword is authentic or not. They do in fact very. The very first DDR swords in fact were refurbished Werhmacht swords.

There are a number of very good threads on this forum that depict some great pictures of real DDR NVA swords. David H. has perhaps the largest personal collection of NVA DDR swords, and there is considerable variance in blade curvature and in the style of the scabbard. The staatswappen however remains the same on all, and is as I earlier commented, very detailed. The swords are serial numbered. The grip is leather. The wire securing the leather to the grip is ornate.

Find the thread by David H. and have a look/see at some of his swords.


Here's some help:

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262652
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http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231954
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http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185271&highlight=david+blade<O</O<O</O<O</O

Keep looking - there's more - especially from David H.