Hello...

[Johnny "the kid"]

Hello all,
I have been a "regular" on GDC, and am getting my toes wet here as well. So far I love the forum.
I thought I would post a few pics. of my 5 Heers to break the ice.
Hope you enjoy!
Johnny

[Johnny "the kid"]

#2

[Johnny "the kid"]

#3

[Serge M.]

Johnny those are just a pleasure to look at.

I never thought of finding that type of grip color array...till now.

Great display. Thanks for sharing.

-wagner-

[JR.]

Oh yeah Baby.............

[Santi]

Superb !

[sdp]

Good to see you here Johnny.

[PHILBROWN]

can i ask a daft question, are the difference in grip colour patina, or maker differences?

[Santi]

can i ask a daft question, are the difference in grip colour patina, or maker differences?

As far as im concerned, the colours of the grip are just variations that the recipient could choose from. It is not patina nor differences between manufacturers.

[pvluger]

Very nice! Glad you're here, hope we can keep expanding this edged weapon forum.

[Anthony N]

Welcome aboard & those daggers are delicious
Ant.

[Mac 66]

Hi Johnny very nice collection of daggers there ......welcome to the forum.......cheers scott.

[Johnny "the kid"]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I recognize a few of you from "another" forum. I look forward to knowing everyone.
Maybe I will meet some of you at the SOS!
Glad you enjoy the Heers!
All the best!
Johnny

[Josh B.]

As far as im concerned, the colours of the grip are just variations that the recipient could choose from. It is not patina nor differences between manufacturers.

Sorry Santiago, but I'm afraid I'll have to strongly disagree with you on this one. Though a number of materials were used to issue grips for army daggers (ivory / trolon /celluloid over wood or even plaster) the current thought is that all were issued with grips that were white to offwhite or light yellow during the period. The use of materials was up to the individual manufacturing firms, so I guess you could say color variants might loosely match manufacturers, but this won't generally hold true as many used the same base materials which will age identically. Over time, exposure to sunlight and elements will change the early plastics different colors giving the dark colors variants seen on lufts, army's and the like. (I've seen a DRK leader's dagger that was apparently left in the sun for a number of years have a dark orange handle on the front and a pale yellow reverse). One of the grips of the army daggers shown above was even painted white over a black handle- the period white finish has simply worn off. This is what I've gathered from my own observations and what I've found in the Wittmann books. I believe that the color variation is great for collecting purposes, adding additional variation and beauty to our collectibles, but it most likely did not appear in such a wide variety during the period.

Best,
Josh

[Santi]

Josh, im glad you corrected me. Thank you.
I knew that the grips came with different materials but i thought the colours were period. I thought about this because when reading Detecting The Fakes by Robin Lumsden and going through the daggers section, he mentions "The handles could be regulation white, yellow or orange in colour". He says the same thing for kriegsmarine and luftwaffe daggers.
The book is quite old, so maybe there have been other points of views since then, but i dont know.
I dont have those Wittmann books, just this one (Detecting..) and another one about medals by Mr. Ailsby, so not many sources to look at rather than the knowledge in the forum.
Yes, Johnny's example with the example with black handle painted white is great, i imagine its hard to find some remaining white on daggers with black handle painted. I for one, heard about the myth about the "funeral daggers" and thought it was that way, until somebody told me it was a wrong idea and that they were black handles painted white.
Thank you for correcting me!