Nazi Proofed Waffenamt Imperial German Cavalry Saber

[Ed Hicks]

Nazi Proofed (with Waffenamt WaA255 on underside of guard and Nazi eagle proof overstamped on Imperial proof on guard) Imperial German Cavalry/Artillery Saber...This is really unusual and I would think quite scarce...Has anyone seen this before? Sword has solid provenance since WWII and proofs are well struck and obviously real...Can't find this in any of my references...Thanks for looking. Ed edhicks82@aol.com

[Ed Hicks]

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[Ed Hicks]

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[SwordFish]

Ed, nice example. Very interesting. I havn't seen this before. Interesting how it's stamped on the spine of the blade.

You may want to post the saber in the GDC sword collectors section. YOu may get more information from some of the guys who are heavily into Imperial era pieces. I'm sure there are other examples out there, however, as a sword collector, I havn't come accross any.

[phild]

It appears to have been marked at different period within the 3rd Reich era.

One mark would be from the mid-30s and the other one would be later based on the eagle style.

Most of these Imperial swords that were retained during the 3rd Reich are thought to have had wooden grip handles installed (some would have been originally fitted with them in 1916 or so) and were marked like your saber. It makes sense too me that not all would have been fitted with the wooden grip and would have retained the composition grip as yours seems to have.

The German police certainly used these well into the 1930s and maybe later (horse mounted) and these swords are believed to have been used to equip the new German horse Cav. units that were created and used on the Eastern front starting around 1942 or so.