H049959 OFFICER'S DAGGER WITH PORTEPEE. (Heer Offizierdolch mit Portepee) 

BACKGROUND: Traditionally German Army Officers had worn a saber as part of the uniform dress and this tradition was carried on through the Weimar era, (Circa 1919-1933), Reichswehr, (National Defence {Force}), and on into the Third Reich. In an attempt to build morale and curry favour within the Army, Hitler introduced the dress dagger for optional wear with the walking out dress, and retained the saber for wear on more formal occasions. The dress dagger was designed by Berlin graphic artist Paul Casberg and was officially approved for wear on May 4^TH 1935 along with specifically styled dagger hangers and a new pattern portepee. The edged weapon portepees were originally introduced in the Prussian army in 1808, and continued to be worn with the Dress uniform, as a tradition and identifying item through WWI, the Weimar era and on into the Third Reich, with minor modifications. Originally designed as a functional item to secure the blade sidearm to the holder’s wrist the portepee evolved into a purely decorative accessory. The Third Reich era Officer’s dagger portepee was introduced along with the Officer’s dagger on May 4^TH 1935 and was intended for wear by all Officers and Senior NCO’s with permission to wear the dagger. Of Note: Production of the dress dagger was to be discontinued as per regulations of May 27^TH 1943 and further wear of the dress dagger and portepee was prohibited by order of September 5^TH 1944. Additional regulations of December 23^RD 1944 indicated that officer ranks were to wear a pistol in place of the dress dagger. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The dagger features a roughly, 10 1/4" long, drop forged steel construction, nickel/silver plated, stiletto style blade with a flat central ridge and a full length, including the hilt, of roughly, 14 1/2". The blade is in overall very good, clean condition with light to moderate scabbard runner marks and most of the original cross-graining is still visible. The reverse ricasso is well marked with the deeply, acid etched, manufacturer’s logo and script. The logo consists of a vertically oval cartouche with the manufacturer’s name and location, "Carl Eickhorn Solingen", encompassing a stylized, seated, squirrel clutching a downward pointed sword. The original brown leather washer is still intact. The dagger has a cast alloy, nickel/silver plated, crossguard, ferrule, and pommel which all show rich, dark, matte grey age tarnish. The obverse crossguard features the embossed, army style national eagle with outstretched wings, clutching a wreathed, canted swastika in its talons and a plain reverse. The ferrule and pommel both feature embossed repeating oak-leaf patterns. The dagger has a molded, dark yellow, celluloid grip with the correct, diagonally angled ribbing. The dagger comes with its original, tooled, magnetic sheet metal construction, nickel/silver plated scabbard with a random pebbled pattern to both the obverse and reverse and smooth side panels. The scabbard shows the same rich, dark, matte grey age tarnish as the hilt fittings. The rich, dark, matte grey age tarnish gives the hilt fittings and scabbard an almost blued appearance. Both of the sweated on scabbard bands with a repeating, horizontally embossed oak-leaf pattern and the hanger suspension rings are intact. The single, dome headed, throat retaining screw is also intact. The dagger also comes with a portepee. The portepee consists of the main components of, strap, slide, stem, crown, and ball all worked in bright, silver/aluminum wire threads. The dual, interwoven, silver/aluminum straps are inserted through the interwoven slide and into the top of the interwoven stem. The crown consists of horizontally laid, twisted, silver/aluminum braiding while the crown consists of vertically laid, twisted, silver/aluminum braiding, both mounted on an internal base. The bottom of the ball has a circular recess with an inset piece of bright, silver/aluminum fabric. Although incorrectly tied the portepee is in overall good, clean, condition with small spots of light to moderate chafe wear.

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