Dagger Scabbard Question

[Dallas]

Just trying to get educated here. I have a dagger coming in that is an early make, but has a "period" repainted scabbard. It is my understanding that all early daggers had anodized finishes.

My question then is how common was it for an original dagger owner to paint over the anodized finish of his early make dagger? Would it be because of the laquer finish being off that he would have wanted it shiny again?

[Frogprince]

“Period repainted” scabbards might be legitimate - and they might not possibly being ust another attempt by a seller to enhance the sales price of a dagger. If a dagger scabbard was missing only its original protective clear coat it’s very easy to replicate and might not be discernible at all if it was not done recently or improperly. Use of a pigmented paint instead of a clear coat, however, would indicate to me that the original oxide finish on a dagger was either missing or noticeably damaged and the pigmented paint was probably used to conceal the damaged original oxide finish of the scabbard. I have seen some daggers that look to have been done 60 years ago. Others appear to have been done in somebody’s back yard with a spray can. And there are a whole bunch in between. My point being that you have to make an individual determination if a repaint is 60 years old or not and then make a decision to buy or pass. And if there is any question as to originality then stick with the oxide finished ones.

Additional comment: While the early dagger scabbards NEVER had an “eloxiert” (anodized) finish, they did have a “brüniert” (browned) ie: blue/black or brown oxide controlled rust type of finish. Later manufactured blue/black scabbards will have a ‘hot dip’ chemically blued type finish. My point here being that some individuals have used later oxide finishes to try and pass off a rework as being original by using something other than paint. FP