Italian Colonial Police Presentation Dagger: Presented to ORPO & SS Graduates

[JoeW]

I discussed this question with Rudy d'Angelo, the co-author of "The Military Advisor" article on the PAI RSHA/ORPO dagger as well as other articles on Italian Fascist blades and militaria, in whose magnificent collection resides examples of all PAI swords and daggers. Based on his discussion with Italian sources, the German graduates received the special PAI dagger and a certificate of training at the school in Tivoli. Later, an album was created and presented to them in commemoration of their graduation.

[Raffaello Carola]

Yes is true, unfortunately at moment in the italian police museum
archive I don't find any info about an list of German officers, more
documents of the PAI school of Tivoli are lost during the WW2.

[stoney183]

maraffa ss dagger

i've been looking at your ss dagger and people say they are rare.how rare are they? are there lots of collecters after these and are they worth much as i have one the same as yours but with no holder.

[JoeW]

i've been looking at your ss dagger and people say they are rare.how rare are they? are there lots of collecters after these and are they worth much as i have one the same as yours but with no holder.

Have you read this entire thread Stoney? I think it answers your question.

[stoney183]

hello the dagger you have a picture on your link . do you know how much one of these would cost if i wanted one? are these the one's whats worth £2000+ or £5000+? any info would be great...

[JoeW]

The US dealer Steve Wolfe displayed such a dagger at the last SOS in February. He was asking $7500 I believe.

[JoeW]

That is a rather interesting point, Joe, the absence of an Urkunde. The officer in the centre of the photo (on the link that you supplied), appears to be reading the names of recipients/graduates who are to receive the daggers - so perhaps they are to be regarded as a personal gift from the Italian General (much in the same manner as the Himmler SS daggers) rather than being an "Honour Dagger" as such?

I don't ever recall seeing any reference to a Himmler presentation dagger detailed in any of the SS Dienstalterliste (thus confirming that it is a private or personal gift); and so it might be the same situation for these Italian Colonial Police daggers - a semi-official privately awarded item, and not officially listed as an award or decoration.

There must be more to learn about these pieces, so it will be interesting to see if any of our Italian collector enthusiasts can shed more light on the matter.

FJS

Fred, you know I must correct myself. I should have used the term Honor Dagger. There is a better copy of the presentation ceremony photo shown above that has an explanation indicating a 1940 production date and the information that General Maraffa was presenting the "Ehrendolch" to each graduate of the PAI School course along with an Urkunde. So I would suppose that these should be properly called the Honor Daggers of the German RSHA/Police graduates of the PAI School in Tivoli.

As an aside, I am offering the one pictured above on a GunBroker.com auction.

[Bob Hritz]

Thanks to all of you who have educated me on this wonderful discussion. A good friend collects Italian WWII period edged weapons and was impressed I knew about these.

It is discussion like this that make collecting a joy.

Bob Hritz

[JoeW]

BTT. Though some years old, I thought the subject is worth another look.

[Lampwick]

Thanks for bumping it as I normally scroll through the pinned articles. Very interesting.

[patrice]

Great stuff, very interesting thread, thanks for the reminder.

[HAF]

new for me ,super interesting !

[seppi]

Hello ,

glad to learn something new on this matter . Congrats .

S+