Eickhorn Luftwaffe Dagger (With Etchings) for your review...

[JasonZ]

Gentlemen,

Can I please have your opinions on this Luftwaffe dagger? Here is the info I have on it:

"Original Luftwaffe dagger here with unit/soldiers name etched into scabbard on left and right side with etchings also on the blade! Light yellow trylon grips with portapee and hangers. Patina is matching throughout and retains most, from the pommel to crossguard and scabbard. Blade is maker marked Carl Eickhorn and is an original polished blade. Scabbard has very nice pebbling."

Thank you in advance!
Jason

[JasonZ]

more pics...

[JasonZ]

some more...

[JasonZ]

even more pics...

[JasonZ]

a couple more

[JasonZ]

and the last pics

[Schlange]

Looks like original and relatively untouched Luftwaffe dagger 2. model produced by Carl Eickhorn Solingen in period between 1937 - 1939. IMO inscription on dagger blade and scabbard are made by engraving method.


Schlange

http://www.mojalbum.com/schlange88/album

[JasonZ]

Thank you very much Schlange. Is there a preference between engraving and etching in the collecting community?

Jason

[Frogprince]

I can only speak to a personal preference, with period factory etching a preferred first choice for a personalized private purchase blade. With the second choice period hand engraving that has been used a century or centuries earlier for the same purpose. With this example created using what looks like in the images most probably that of electric pencil type of engraving (or rotary - needing a closer look) which is where it gets more problematic because they are now so inexpensive and easily available. FP

[JasonZ]

Thank you Frogprince!

I've attached 2 pics of the engravings in the scabbard and I'm working on getting better pics of the engravings on the blade.

[angler]

I agree with FP looks very much like an electro pen.

[JasonZ]

Thank you Frank, here are a few more of the blade

[JasonZ]

and of the scabbard

[JasonZ]

Does anyone have some pics of what an original factory engraving would look like when compared to more modern electronic pen engraving?

[Frogprince]

The new photos are helpful, but they also in my view raise some possible questions about how and when the engraving took place (with the caveat that lighting and image processing may or may not also be factors). With some of the images seeming to show traces of whitish corrosion byproducts in some crevices etc., and in the protected side grooves of the pebbling a granular gray type of look common to the zinc phosphate finish of later production daggers. That is contrasting with a smoother bluish look at the rounded narrow sides of the scabbard. And the blade showing what appears to be signs of deep corrosion/pitting in some locations that has been polished away (at the surface). FP