H48654 OFFICER'S SABER, E. PACK & SÖHNE MODEL # 542. (Säbel) 

BACKGROUND: The Sword/Saber is an age old military tradition, that evolved from a functional weapon into an item of uniform dress ornamentation by the start of WWI. This strong tradition continues in many armies to this day as a symbol of strength and power. After Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933 and the reintroduction of conscription in March 1935 a wide variety of new sword and saber designs were introduced to outfit the rapidly growing Wehrmacht. This revival in sword/saber production resulted in the numerous blade manufacturers, mainly located in Solingen, to develop a wide variety of ornate designs in an attempt to compete for the lucrative manufacturing contracts which resulted in over one hundred different patterns of the army sword/saber being produced during the Third Reich era. Dress regulations for Officers and senior NCO’s prescribed wear of side arms as a component of particular forms of dress. As a result of the war situation production of the swords and sabers was to be discontinued as per regulations of May 27^TH 1943, although those already issued could still be worn on ceremonial occasions. Additional regulations of December 23^RD 1944 indicated that all officers ranks were to wear a pistol in place of the sword/saber or the dress dagger. 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: This example is the E. Pack & Söhne model #542. Roughly, 31 1/2" long, slightly curved, drop forged steel construction, nickel/silver plated blade with narrow, shallow fullers running three quarters of the way up both sides of the blade. The blade shows moderate age dulling and the nickel/silver plated finish shows small spots of wear to the base steel and numerous small lifting bubbles and surface spots. The reverse ricasso is well marked with the deeply stamped manufacturers logo, name and location. The logo consists of the legendary Germanic hero "Siegfried" wielding a hammer positioned above the manufactures name and location, "E. Pack & Söhne Solingen". The brown leather blade washer is still intact. The saber has die cast brass langets, cross guard, ferrule, "P", knuckle bow, back-strap and "leopard’s head" pommel with a gilt finish. The obverse rounded tip, shield shaped langet has an embossed right facing national eagle with out-stretched wings that extend outwards on the obverse of the cross guard. The reverse langet features an embossed oak-leave pattern encompassing a small, smooth, plain, raised vertically oval plate suitable for inscribing a name, initials or an emblem. The integral cross guard features a downward curved, curled tip to one side with an embossed foliage design, and the base of the, "P", knuckle bow to other side. The ferrule and knuckle bow both feature an embossed, repeating oak-leaf patterns while the back-strap features an embossed foliage pattern running into the leopard’s head mane. The leopard’s head pommel features a nicely detailed mane and pronounced snout with inset red glass eyes and the top of the knuckle bow is inserted into the leopard’s mouth. The tang end is just visible in the leopard’s mane. The saber has a black enamel painted, tooled alloy, contoured grip with a central bulge, and repeating, recessed horizontal grooves with three twisted brass wire wrap. The gilt finish to the hilt fittings is retained about 80% with small spots of wear to the base brass. The grip also retains about 80% of its black enamel paint with small spots of wear to the base alloy. The saber comes with its original, black painted, sheet metal construction scabbard. The scabbard retains about 80% of its black paint with numerous small scrapes and scuffs revealing the base metal with moderate surface spotting. The scabbard has an integral drag to the bottom edge and a sweated on horizontal scabbard band near the top edge with a raised rectangular suspension bar to the reverse and a suspension ring to the reverse edge. Both of the small, dome headed throat retaining screws and the inset throat are intact. The top edge of the throat has a stamped numeral, "5 42", which may be a date. Of Note: A photographic example of this model appears in J.R. Angolia’s book, Swords of Germany 1900/1945, on the top of page 111. Nice example.

To Order this item, please use one of the two e-mail addresses below to contact us. Please make sure to quote the item number in your e-mail

-E-Mail Address pawmac@nbnet.nb.ca  Or  guild@nb.aibn.com

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