Luft2 Maker Marks

[JohnZ]

SMF - Stocker & Co.

Stocker and Weyersberg were the largest producers of Luft2s, which is why super conditioned examples are realtively easily found even in today's market.

What is even more interesting is that in the time frame of Luft2 production in in all of the volume they did produce, SMF only ever used one TM and that one was almost always found with the waffen amt stamp.

[JohnZ]

Lauterjung & Co, TIGER, large cat

I just love the looks of the Tiger TM Luft2s, especially the TMs themsleves.

Here is what I call the large Tiger mark with block lettering.

[JohnZ]

Lauterjung & Co, TIGER, small cat

The small cat version exists with the words in block and script letters.

[JohnZ]

Lauterjung & Co, TIGER, misc

I have a version that has the lettering in script but with no cat at all, probably a mis strike.

And, here is one on a Damascus balde as well.

I have heard of a version that has the words first then the cat.

And, early Heers and Luft1s have a version of the mark that has the tiger across the blade parallel to the crossguard with the words in block letters. It is possible, since the Heer/Luft2 blades were interchangeable, that a Luft2 will show up with this early maker mark.

Let me know if you see one.

[JohnZ]

Emil Voos

Voos is mostly famous for its etched blades issued under the Voos name, as well as making its etches available to other makers and for a large number of non maker marked, probably distributor sold, Luft2 and Heers (and the rare and elusive Luft1).

I have two version of their snake around stump maker mark.

Version one is the snake followed by the name and parallel to the edge fo teh blade.

The second version is a single oval with the snake and the lettering inside of the oval. This version, I have on both an etched and a plain, plated balde.

[JohnZ]

Gottfried Weyersberg Sohne

G Weyersberg S is only noted as a maker of SAs in Fisher.

I found this Luft2 with the G Weyersberg logo that looks like something they would use on a bayonet, not on a dress dagger.

There are 2 other G Weyersbergs in Fisher, Gebr Weyersberg and Gustaf Weyersberg, both makers of SAs, but the 'S' after the name on the dagger made me believe that this is G Weyersberg Sohne.

[JohnZ]

Max Weyersberg, WMW

I know of three maker marks used by Max Weyersberg.

There is a double oval version with only the name inside of the ovals.

And, there is a version with the name in an arch across the blade.

[JohnZ]

Max Weyersberg, WMW mark

And, the most common Max Weyersberg TM is this one with the two lines of 'WMW' over 'Waffen'.

I believe that there is a one line version of this mark to be found.

[JohnZ]

Paul Weyersberg & Co

Along with Stocker (SMF), Paul Weyersberg seem to have been the largest and most prolific suppliers of dress daggers to the Luftwaffe.

And, just like SMF, they only used the one TM, again almost always found with a waffen amt stamp.

[JohnZ]

Anton Wingen Jr, OTHELLO

I could only find one maker mark on a Luft2 for Anton Wingen, but I believe that there are a couple more out there, one with Anton Wingen spelled out and one with A.W. Jr and Ges. Geschutz on the mark.

[JohnZ]

WKC, Weyersberg, Kirschbaum & Cie

The various WKC TMs used a knight's helmet and breastplate as the basis. There are different shapes to the breastplate and to the helmet.

The tow versions that I have differ in the text type used... look at the lettering in the word 'Solingen' to see the differences.

[JohnZ]

Carl Wusthor, Gladiatorwerk

Here is a maker that is not known at all as a maker of Luft2s, but as a maker of SAs, HJs and a rare maker of Heers. Under the Gladiatorwerk name, they also made HJ honour bayonets.

Imagine my delight and surprise on finding this dagger through a good friend in Europe.

[JohnZ]

Ludwig Zeitler, 1 line TMs

Ludwig Zeitler was an Austrian manufacturer who made a number of dress daggers for the Third Reich. Prior to the Anschluss, they made dress daggers for the Austrian armed forces.

As a relatively small maker of Luft2s, I am still surprised at the number of maker mark variations that I have found for this maker.

Here are two versions of the one line maker mark. The difference is in the thickness of the lettering.

[JohnZ]

Ludwig Zeitler, 2 line TMs

And, here are two versions of the two line lettering, one with rounded shape and one with straight lines.

[JohnZ]

And, thus endeth our lesson for the day.

If you have any marks missing from this, please post them here. If you have or know of any marrks missing from this list, let me know because I would love to add them to my collection.

Cheers,

John