Kriegsmarine dagger signed by H. Voight, U-boat commander- original?

[Discostu]

Hi all,

I recently purchased a large collection and this dagger was in there. I noticed that on the other side of the makers mark there is a faded but visible signature: "H. Voigt". There is also a "36" on the metal part where the handle should be. I did some research and found that there was a "Horst Voigt" who was a U-boat commander- he died in 1980. His boat U-1006 was also sunk, yet he lived!

http://www.uboat.net/men/commanders/1308.html

http://www.uboat.net/boats/u1006.htm

I was wondering if this was indeed his dagger, and if I could find out more information. Where he died is also important as I beleive he may have had contact with the veteran I purchased this off.

Any help is greatly appriciated, and anyone who has parts for the dagger please let me know! (the cross guard is important, I think it may have had a button)

Thanks!

[Discostu]

Forgot to add about the signature, is there any special type of tool to etch a blade like this? Or could it have been done on the boats?

[Billy G]

I'm not sure if the signature is original or not. The only way you would be able to prove, relatively speaking, that this dagger was the original property of the U-Boot commander would be to have some provenance as to where it came from & from whom. If you have contact with the vet who brought it home, that would be the best place to start. Otherwise it's just fanciful speculation. If you can, try to get an affidavit from the vet pertaining to who he took the dagger from. If it's your prospective H. Voigt, you're in luck & it could add much to both the value & history of this particular dagger.

The numbering is simply a tang marking done at Alcoso's factory IMHO & isn't some sort of accountability number. If it were, it would be on the scabbard or maybe the blade ricasso.

[Discostu]

Hi Billy,

I bought the group off the family of the vet- he had died 2 months prior. I guess I will never know, though I suppose I could try looking for the u-boat archives and maybe find a copy of his signature on paper?

I agree though it will take some work!

[F. J. Stephens]

H. Voigt

Discostu,

The way that the name is etched upon the dagger is not difficult to achieve, and it looks to me that it has been done using some very mild acid, that is slow acting. I have seen experimental etches performed on steel blades using something as mild as acetic acid (such as vinegar, or lime juice) - this doesn't so much as bite into the metal other than for a depth of a micron or so, but discolours the metal (the same way as fingerprints can discolour a blade if left untouched).

A marking such as this could be achieved by applying the acetic acid with a child's paintbrush, and leaving it overnight. The strength of the acetic acid becomes dilute and weakened, and carefully washed off and dried some hours later, reveals a discoloured trace on the metal surface where the design had been placed.

In view of the simple, and unpretentious, way the name has been applied to the ricasso (the name for the flat portion of the blade directly under the crossguard), I would think that it is highly possible that it was placed there on the blade by the original owner - purely for the purpose of marking his own dagger for the sake of identifying his ownership of the piece.

I have no idea if this particular "H. Voigt" was a person of any note - it is not an uncommon surname, and there could have been several Voigts with the same "H" initial in the Kriegsmarine at any one time.

I would regard the marking as an interesting piece of personalisation, and most probably contemporary to the original period service.

FJS