Railway Dagger

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hello ,

I am thinking of getting a Railway dagger 2nd type , the one with the reichsbahn winged wheel symbol on it . How rare are these ? how much do they go for ? and do they have hangers specific to them ?

Thanks

Grant

[lakesidetrader]

These daggers are beautiful creations and very rare. The 2nd model will run you $2k-3K for a decent one. There were specific hangers as well designated for these. Please be careful there are excellent postwar repros out there and one can get burned very easy on these. Suggest you look at a trusted dealer to buy from.
P

[Skipper Greenwade]

Hi Grant,

I bought my '38 Railway several years ago and paid $5,000.00 US at the time. It is in near mint condition and was purchased complete with the hangers, the correct knot and an Eickhorn quality control tag. The photo below shows it in the box with its Robert Klaas 'cousin' (a 1st pattern Railway).

Johnson's Volume VIII breaks it down like this:

Dagger in excellent condition - $3,000.00 with the brushed steel scabbard and $3,200.00 with the the earlier, silvered scabbard.

Hangers - $900.00 (That sounds cheap to me ! ? ! ?)

Portepee - $450.00

Happy hunting - they are quite eye-catching and mine remains one of my favorite daggers.

Best,
Skip

[Grant Broadhurst]

Hello,

Thanks for the info , didn't realise they were so expensive !

I am looking to get one eventually as i want to get a Reichsbahn Helmet , tunic , beltbuckle and dagger to go on a display in a room .

Just got this bizarre interest in Reichsbahn stuff ever since i started my job as a train driver .

Thanks for the picture Skip ! lovely

Grant

[Ron Weinand]

Railway Hangers

Over the years I have watched the Railway Hangers. The ones with square style plain buckles are super rare. I have always wondered why this variation??
Also, which maker used this style hanger: Eickhorn, Horster or no maker blades??
Skipper, did your Eickhorn come with those hangers or were they purchased separately?
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria

[Gary B]

Dear Grant,

I agree with Skip and Paul (Lakeside), the RR daggers are quite rare and expensive. I got one a few years ago from Tom Whitmann. From what I have seen hangers sell for closer in the $1500 range (I wish I saw a dealer sell them for $900!). Portopees have been produced postwar using the original materials and I can not see how people can tell the post war from the war time ones. There is a casting flaw on the winged wheel crossguard in Eickhorn produced models that people look for on the originals but I am sure that can be faked as well. In my opinion, the contrast of the brushed silver and black make it one of the prettiest daggers produced by the TR.

Gary B

[lakesidetrader]

Agreed Gary!

The very 1st ones made were silver plated and have patinaed to a beautiful black. I like those best!

[Skipper Greenwade]

Skipper, did your Eickhorn come with those hangers or were they purchased separately?
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria

Ron, The entire rig came together from Art Hayes. I'm not sure if they came to him as a set.

Best,
Skip

[daggers]

EICKHORN poduced at least three varations of the socalled 2nd Modell: Leightweight scabbard, heavily silvered (early, "seldom"); steel scabbard heavily silvered (middle, "rare"); steel scabbard, brushed steel only ("common"). My classification seldom, rare, common is ONLY in relation WITHIN 2nd Mod railway daggers. In my opinion the 2nd Mod railway dagger generally can be considered as rare.

It has also to be mentioned that some of the EICKHORN daggers do have periodly camouflaged the socalled "flaw" by chiseleurs and it can be seen only through a lupe that it once has existed.

[Ron Weinand]

Railway 2nd Model Daggers

Over the years in motel buys, I have encountered two: Eickhorn with the lightweight aluminum silver plated scabbard with the formed throat, complete with hangers and knot and a Horster of the brushed steel scabbard type.
Also, there are only two manufacturers of the 2nd Model Railway: Eickhorn and Horster. The unmarked 2nd Model Railway is a Horster. Horster scabbards are different from the Eickhorn models by the size of the scabbard rings.
Horster marked daggers are unique in that the typical Horster TM is not used and the TM used on the 2nd Model Railway is the type used on the early Horster police bayonets: written out Horster TM and no symbol is used. These are rare.
There are also at least three different forms of hangers used with this model dagger and the one with the plain square buckles is the most rare.
Ron Weinand
Weinand Militaria

[daggers]

Ron, it comes because the plated steel scabbards often have lost their plating due to age or bad storage (and can be brushed up easily ). As I do own myself also an EICKHORH railway dagger "2nd Mod." with steel scabbard still having 100% silvering and about 20-30% of the original frosted look of the silvering, there can be no doubt this variant did exist. In my opinion during a very short period due to it´s scarceness.The dagger once came with the original hangers and portepee.