Named Daggers

[PaulChep]

I am glad to see a forum for daggers on this website. I collect imperial German Iron Cross mainly but I have always had a interested in daggers. I expecially like named daggers because I like doing the research. It can be challenging working with the archives in Germany. Over the next few days I will be posting named daggers and personal history. I would like to hear from other collectors with similiar interested.

[Skipper Greenwade]

Hi Paul,

I owned an RAD Leader's dagger named to a RAD General named Hermann Kretschmann. The dagger came to me with a couple of photos and a good deal of documentation on Kretschmann that had been compiled for the previous owner by Rob McDivitt (great researcher, by the way!)

I sold the dagger because I decided the condition wasn't quite up to my standards. The new owner did some more research and was able to locate several more photos and some other documentation. The dagger was subsequently featured in a three-page spread in Tom Johnson's Volume VI (pp 244-247 if you have the book)

In retrospect, I should have probably just kept the dagger and purchased another example in 'my' condition...live & learn, I guess.

My point here is that I agree with your take on the named pieces. The names add a lot of 'personality' (no pun intended) and they can prove to be very rewarding research projects, especially given the information that is available now on the 'net.

I look forward to seeing your other posts

Best,
Skip

[PaulChep]

Hi Skip, I agree, when a named piece is fully researched with career info and pictures it brings the dagger alive! I will do some nice posts this weekend. I'll start with a named Navy dagger. The officer was a U-Boat torpedo officer and I was able to contact his brother a get a ton of information and pictures.

[Bob Rodgers]

Named Daggers

I agree with you guys, Named daggers are great. There is only one thing that bothers me about these daggers. Seller want a premium for Initials only daggers. Researching inital only daggers are in most cases a waste of time. I will post some pics of my named peices also. none have been researched yet

[Joe]

I had this dagger researched using the SS number 5648 that was stamped on it. It belong to SS Lt. Ulrich Muller.
Joe

[Luftm40]

Thought I would post this. One of my favorite groups. Wolfgang Rehbach was originally a KM officer, but was seconded to the Luftwaffe to act as an observer in flying boats. He ended the war back in the KM. He was later in the Bundesheer, where he served as an armor officer...quite the varied career path! Include are all of his award docs, medals, badges, some photos and a great early Horster KM dagger and hanger. The hanger is trimmed to be worn with a Luftwaffe uniform. The dagger is an early Horster w/ stamped MM. The parts are all stamped "14" except the pommel, which is unmarked. I think this is an early pre-III Reich era dagger upgraded during the period with the "new" style swastika pommel.

[Luftm40]

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