Army Officer's Sword - Help Please

[fredswiss]

Notaguru, that seems to be a much more difficult task than one would expect. I've tried to research a couple of German distributor's names that appear on TR edged weapons and was not able to come up any information about them.

[Frogprince]

It's been three weeks since my last posting, 300+ views. Can't anyone find reference to F.A. Bower Imp. being in operation pre-war?

I continued my own research until it seemed to hit a wall and I stopped looking. Nothing prewar, but postwar branching out into blades made in Italy and Japan, and as near as I can tell stopping in the early 1980's. With the caveat that I don't have a lot in the way of documentation verifying that specific information, and my point here being what if any actual proof did Joe P and Tom W have??? Or was it just another one of those dealer/collector guesses that went South into oblivion? Thinking now of Occam's Razor: "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" or one should not make more assumptions than needed ie: The simplest explanation is usually the best with that being that the marking is postwar. FP

[fredswiss]

FP:
1) You certainly have every right to your opinion;
2) Neither Joe P nor Tom W own or are selling this sword so they clearly have no ulterior motive to offer a favorable opinion;
3) For you to categorize their opinions "as guess that went South into oblivion" is a bit much IMO.

[Frogprince]

FP:
1) You certainly have every right to your opinion;
2) Neither Joe P nor Tom W own or are selling this sword so they clearly have no ulterior motive to offer a favorable opinion;
3) For you to categorize their opinions "as guess that went South into oblivion" is a bit much IMO.

1) Yes, comments were what was asked for at the beginning of the thread.
2) As to a motive or a lack of, what does that imply? I'm just a collector with an opinion and nothing to gain no matter which way the topic goes. I’ve also never owned or sold a comparable item myself because I'm adverse to taking risks and having something come back to bite me at a later time (if I had ever sold one in the past).
3) What I actually said was: ………… and my point here being what if any actual proof did Joe P and Tom W have??? Or was it just another one of those dealer/collector guesses that went South into oblivion? ………… Which was intentionally worded as questions. With the second one more generic to be evaluated by readers based on their own understanding of the issues - instead of a definitive statement. FP

[fredswiss]

3) I fully agree that you mentioned 2 perfectly valid possibilities regrading the comments made by Joe P and Tom W ("proof" and "guesses") but there is a third possibility......"knowledgeable opinion".

[juoneen]

Another possible senario for consideration

I noticed the blade does not come out of the handle lined up perpendicular like most army swords or even between the curved swastika plate or back one where letters were engraved for personalization , so is that significant or not, with this in mind , could the blade have been replaced due to some other reason after the war . I have owned army swords where the plating was coming off , could it be possible to have sent a sword to a company to have a blade replaced back in Germany post war due to some reason (broken, bent ,or damaged blade ? ), yet the sword have been a war souvenir brought back by a soldier ?

[fredswiss]

Juoneen, that's certainly a possibility. As far as the blade not being as perpendicular as with most swords, that doesn't concern me that much. While I may be wrong, I believe that is a fairly common trait of Paul Seilheimer swords. I have a TR period Seilheimer edged weapon catalogue and it seems most of their swords have that look. Thanks for your input. I appreciate it.

[Frogprince]

I noticed the blade does not come out of the handle lined up perpendicular like most army swords or even between the curved swastika plate or back one where letters were engraved for personalization , so is that significant or not, .........................?

A very good observation that I missed when looking at the double struck F.A. Bower Import Co. stamping. It not only looks tilted, but the langets seem to be off center with the blade which is not typical for the handful of catalogues I briefly checked. If I remember it correctly, Atwood was supposed to have had some parts imported that were put together here. With Bower doing the same for the guns that he was bringing into the country to avoid paying full tariffs, that were put together by a local gunsmith that usually requires at least a minimal set of skills. Could that be a factor? FP