Lets see your Imperial trench knives

[ErichK]

Some of mine.

[Chip M]

Adler1,

Love the two straight handled Demags.

Chip

[Hoss]

Sorry
I meant Adler not David
Erich,
Your knife on the far right is similar to Jenko,s.
Do you know what era they are?

Eric

[Adler 1]

Sorry
I meant Adler not David

No problem Eric...

Love the two straight handled Demags.

Sorry Chip, these are actually not Demags, but something that's much harder to find...
It's a trenchknife / bayonet, generally called the EB2...
Most of the EB2's were produced by Franz Koeller & Cie, Solingen-Ohlings and Gottlieb Hammersfahr & Cie, Solingen.
This one is produced by Robert Klaas & Cie (see the manufacturers stamp of the 2 birds)...
I think it's a private purchase for a few reasons:
1) there is no inspection stamp present.
2) the leather of the strap is of finer Quality than normal (mayby that's why it has a period repair...)
3) there's a button hole at the back of the strap, which I think is not standard.
Nevertheless it's a very rare item, certainly in the original color...

Enjoy,

Adler 1

[Chip M]

Adler1,

Obviously, trench knives are not my area of expertise. I thought that Demag made a straight handled version. I have no reference material on the subject, but I thought I had seen them before. Regardless, I would love to have a metal straight handled version of some type. Thanks for the correction.

Chip

[gregM]

You guys have some very nice trench knives. I would love to add a German
trench knife to my collection but right now they are price prohibitive.
(I especially like the the style of the one in post #2-second from the top and
Erich's #2,3,5,6)

I do have a couple from the other side of "no man's land"

[sb98]

Super collection Adler 1. I really like all your metal hilted ones and the stag handle.

Greg, when I first saw your post I thought, "what's that etched on the blades ?".

Here are some of my German and Austrian knives.

[LA MITRAILLE]

Hello,

One model for bavarian troops....






And to compare, my koeller





David

[Hoss]

Gents
Just received these items from a good collector friend of mine in Germany.
The crankhandle knife isnt mint, but whats neat it came from the vets family estate so Iam only the second owner apart from the soldier in 90yrs.

Eric

[Hübner]

Hi all,

I was searching for some information on trench knives, when I found this topic.
Well, I am able to buy multiple bayonets, knives etc. from a German guy.
There are a few knives where I would like to have a positive identification from.
Can anyone tell me more about these 3 particular knives? (Original, type, value)
I believe the first one is a WWI German trench knife. I have some question marks regarding the last one...











Any information is welcome.
Sorry for the pictures, but they are the only ones I have.

Many thanks all, Tom

[sb98]

Hi Tom,

The first knife is from WWI, the second is a WWII Luftwaffe fighting knife, and the third is from WWI in a bayonet style. All of them look original based on the poor photos. They all have condition problems and I would suggest waiting for better examples as none of these are rare.

Value? I can tell you what I'd expect on ebay. The top one is missing the retaining strap on the belt loop and has no paint left on the scabbard. I recently got a complete one with a very nice blade for $120. It's one of the most common styles and is usually found with no marks on it.

There are fakes of the Luftwaffe knife and it's hard to tell the condition on this one, so I'd want to see better pics. The bidding can get crazy for these, but you can get a nice one in the $250 range.

The third one is junk at this point, and not worth collecting IMO. The blade is worn out, crossguard is broken off, the press stud is missing, and the scabbard is missing the leather strap and looks to be repainted.

Hope it helps.

[rick1]

Adler1,

Obviously, trench knives are not my area of expertise. I thought that Demag made a straight handled version. I have no reference material on the subject, but I thought I had seen them before. Regardless, I would love to have a metal straight handled version of some type. Thanks for the correction.

Chip

You are absolutely right chip! Demag did make a straight handled version. I have owned a couple mostly coming from that mint lot...here is an example.

[nzef1940]

Good to see this thread spring back into life, I have a nice French version, that I will post shortly, though not German it is WW1 and bloody nice.

[Adler 1]

You are absolutely right chip! Demag did make a straight handled version. I have owned a couple mostly coming from that mint lot...here is an example.

Indeed Demag also made a straight handled version... but with wooden grips...
You can see it in my first picture at the bottom left...
Here are a few additional pics of two Demag cranckhandles and the Demag with wooden grips...

Adler 1

[GWA]

Here are a few from my collection.