ID of Dagger

[BIGSPANKY]

More swiss

More examples from swiss website...

[BIGSPANKY]

More pics

More pics of first example

[BIGSPANKY]

One more...

One more example from swiss website, collectorsdream.ch i also know that the swiss military in the wwii period tended to emulate german uniforms, helmets, etc, NOTE PIC OF WWII ERA SWISS SOLDIER, so it isn't that far fetched to have a swiss dagger for presentation from germany or maybe as a private purchase option...

[Billy G]

Ding ding, I think we have a winner. It's a beautiful example of a very cool dagger, thanks for sharing it Ed.

[GREAKLY]

i also know that the swiss military in the wwii period tended to emulate german uniforms, helmets, etc, NOTE PIC OF WWII ERA SWISS SOLDIER, so it isn't that far fetched to have a swiss dagger for presentation from germany or maybe as a private purchase option...

While I agree that the cross on the dagger in question looks very much like the ones on the Swiss swords, I am still having difficulty imagining Swiss army using this dagger. I mean, it was mid 20th Century, not early 19th. All military equipment was fairly standardized and variations were minimal. There was no way some officer could have privately purchased such dagger and wear it with his uniform. There were strict regulations as to what could and could not be be used. And any "unofficial" items were simply not allowed.

On the other hand, take a look at the workmanship. While this dagger somewhat resembles the 1st model Luft, the differences are quite distinct. The pommel, the cross-guard, the scabbard. They all look VERY different from ANY German dagger. From the production point, to make such parts just for a single item would have cost a fortune. So, in order to lower the costs, at least a certain minimal number of such daggers must have been produced. But then, they would have inevitably popped up in the collectors' market. Yet, they didn't.

This fact (no such daggers were observed on the market) and the location of the maker pretty much eliminates the "private purchase" theory. I mean, if some Swiss officer wanted to create himself a shiny toy, why would he do it in Germany? And even if he did, how would he convince Alcoso's folks to make him a one-of-a-kind piece? Or, more important, how would he justify the price of such thing, which, again, would have been very high do to the "single-item" production issue?

This leads me to the conclusion that this dagger is more likely a some sort of official presentation piece to a high-ranking foreign official. I mean, if Hitler wanted to give a present to the Swiss president or Swiss Army's Chief of Staff, then all cost and production problems mentioned above wouldn't really have been an issue. For such occasion Alcoso would have made a one-of-a-kind piece and a few comparable examples are known. The question is, would the Swiss President or Chief of Staff wear such "presentation" dagger with their uniform? If it came in a box in mint condition then our quest would have been almost over. But this dagger has a number of clear signs of wear. How did they get there?

This fact (wear on the dagger) in my opinion greatly weakens the "presentation piece" theory. While heads of state and politicians give each other medals and swords all the time, most of those items end up in vaults or museums. Untouched. However, this dagger clearly saw some action. Yet, I find it very difficult to imagine that some high-ranking official was wearing a "presentation" dagger of a foreign origin with his home country uniform. I doubt, any country would allow that to any of its officials. For instance, in Britain, a person awarded with a foreign medal needed to get a permission of the king to wear it on the uniform.

So, the question remains: if this dagger is Swiss, who could have been wearing it? Especially that it is not listed in any of the Swiss army uniform regulation books/plates from the period.

[BIGSPANKY]

Just a few pics

Here are few pics of an 1899 Swiss army ordnance officer's gala/parade sward made by ALCOSO... so it looks like they made edged weapons for the Swiss military since at least then. Also i think this is example is a standard model, not a high end one of type custom production. Also presentation means presentation- it can come from anyone from the president to a friend from the unit, and everything in between, many different budgets means many different qualities and quantities of presentation items.

[BIGSPANKY]

more pics

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