New reference book on army daggers

[Wim Vangossum]

Books already received? Any comments? Does it include some of the more obscure rare makers, information about the early brass based specimen with much hand work, information about the designer Paul Casberg, etc...


Regards, Wim

[Bulldog]

Books already received? Any comments? Does it include some of the more obscure rare makers, information about the early brass based specimen with much hand work, information about the designer Paul Casberg, etc...


Regards, Wim

The book is a picture reference only so no detailed information is included.
Regards Russ.

[Serge M.]

The book is a picture reference only so no detailed information is included.
Regards Russ.

I must have missed that info somewhere.
I thought it was a reference book. I get it, it is....but it's pictorial.

There are no detailed info on any of the Army dagger makers, other than clear photos of daggers with brief descriptions ?

-wagner-

[Wim Vangossum]

I was a bit afraid for that. For pictures of maker variations you only have to search a bit on the net to find what you want to check. For in - depth information about manufacturing proces, designs and prototype work of Paul Casberg, some of the ultra rare makers, one-of-kind presentation versions etc... I would spent my money to buy a good reference book.


Wittmann's book was a perfect work of art so many years ago in both text and picture work. So now in 2016 I was looking for some kind of Wittmann based book on 100% steroids not only in pictures but also in text and back ground research


Regards, Wim

[Bulldog]

There are no detailed info on any of the Army dagger makers, other than clear photos of daggers with brief descriptions ?

-wagner-[/QUOTE]

That's correct Wags, each 2 pages contains a picture of a specific dagger shown out the scabbard from the obverse, reverse and in the scabbard, at the side are some close up pics of the maker mark, cross guard, pommel and top of the scabbard showing the screws and band. Above these is a brief description of the production period, pommel (number of leaves), cross guard type, maker mark, screws and grip.
The book is useful to identify the fittings and the daggers are shown in chronological order for each company.
Best Russ.

[M Wipf]

Received my copy today, makes a great quick reference. I like it!

** One picture is worth a thousand words **

Ger and Danny did a wonderful job on this reference. Crispy, beautiful images.

And the little card with the detailed images is pretty cool.

All the best ..

Mike W.

[saar]

This website: http://www.heeresdolch.de/ has all the needed basic info/photos and more about Army daggers. It is pretty good and it is free.
There is a smilar LW daggers(2nd) website http://www.luftwaffendolch.com/
but it is not finished yet.

[Wim Vangossum]

This website: http://www.heeresdolch.de/ has all the needed basic info/photos and more about Army daggers. It is pretty good and it is free.
There is a smilar LW daggers(2nd) website http://www.luftwaffendolch.com/
but it is not finished yet.

That are not bad sites to check but sadly the quality of the pictures is not always that good (some maker marks completely in shadow etc...)

I suppose the new book has very professional clear pictures and is great for quick analysis. It's also not very expensive and interesting for a newbie.
I'm only a bit dissapointed because I was hoping on a new 'bible' on the subject. Like I said: the old Wittmann book on heavy steroids


Regards, Wim

[Dutch Daggerman]

Heeresdolche/flashcard

Today, I received the book and flashcard.
I agree with what the other collectors are saying; this is a more than good referencebook and the flashcard is THE extra treat.... fullcolor pictures from all described daggers, ready to blow up in perfect quality, where can you find this on the web??? I didn’t! Untill I had this book/usb-card in my hands.

I’m a collector and researcher of TR daggers since 1995. Ofcourse, I almost own every reference book that’s available on the market until this day: Atwood, Tom Johnson, Tom Wittmann, Frederick Stephens, Ralf Siegert etc. etc
If you want a cosy book: buy Tom Johnson Volume I-VIII (period 1975-1996), a goldmine of information!
If you’re looking for a very good reference book about WH, LW, KM or SS: I recommend you to buy Tom Wittman(period 1995- 2003); A goldmine also, but small b/w pictures, and we are now 20 years later. (Wittmann mentioned 2 Eichorn crossguards, but we know better now: actually 4 different guards exist).
But, if you’re a collector that only wants to buy/collect TEXTBOOK WH daggers: this is the book you need. I’ve never seen a book or website before that shows this amount of different makers with their different parts over the years of production.

The main problem of early reference books are the analog photographs: these books contain non or bad close-ups. This problem however, has been solved by better quality pictures of digital camera’s over the years. And, in the last 15 years, not only unknown producers/different crossguards etc. were found, also lots of information has been exchanged between collectors by using Internet, collector-fora etc. etc.
Looking at the collectors names below the daggers you can see that a lot of seasoned army daggers collectors have contributed with pictures of their rare daggers in the proper format, that alone is a real achievement.
Collectors who like to share information/daggers with us, will always gather more knowledge and i think this book realy contributes.
IMO There is no book available that has this many early daggers with Slants like Gräfrath, Carl Schmidt, Herder etc. over 120 daggers are displayed.

Is there a problem with this book.....Mmmmm, yes, a small one: as I’ve mentioned before, in my opinion this book is a reference book especially made for the textbook collector. Starting collectors, for example, can get disappointed if their dagger doesn’t have the “right” crossguard, pommel, scabbard from a specific maker in a specific period. The advanced collector knows, proofed by original documents, that producers sometimes used parts from other producers. The authors mentioned it, but in my opinion to briefly.
For example a late Eickhorn can have a generic A crossguard. Is it textbook? No. Is it an original piece from the Third Reich period? Yes! But, the unexperienced collector thinks he bought a parts-dagger.

Better info on the Internet? I haven’t been able to find it. The mentioned websites are absolutely NOT complete, they consist of some big mistakes and we don’t have to start a discussion about the quality of the pictures(compared with the flashcart, of course).
Where can you easily find the 5 different crossguards from WKC, where can you find the 13 leaves(!) pommel from WKC, Look at the Paul Weyersberg type 2 (flashcard #91e): you see the small handmade curves behind the swastika from the crossguard! Never seen before.

My conclusion of the new book “Heeresdolche”:
Until now, this is the best referencebook you can get if you want to compare daggers with textbook variants.
To new collectors or allround collectors(medals, helmets, uniforms, flags etc.) that are looking to add a dagger into their collection, I’d say to you: Do not forget that not every dagger without the “textbook-parts” is an undesirable part-dagger!

Regards,

Edwin van Veelen

[AR-50A1]

Received my copy last Monday. Ten thumbs up!

A beautiful reference with outstanding photography.

Bill

[daveo0578]

looksgreat

[kross]

Ger and Danny are super guys & friends. Kudos as they put a lot into this book. Well played and top shelf. Got my copy yesterday. Worth the investment!

[rlimike]

Received my copy today .... definitely worth adding to my reference library.

[daveo0578]

Ordering!

I sent in my order info. Waiting to hear back. Looks real nice!

[Serge M.]

I received my book. It is a very nice high quality photographic reference book with great clear detailed photos of many makers.

-wagner-