BACKGROUND: The Sword/Sabre 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 army’s to this day as a symbol of strength and power. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 and the reintroduction of conscription in early 1935 a wide variety of new sword and sabre designs were introduced to outfit the rapidly growing Wehrmacht. Originally, (circa 1934-36), Police personnel utilized army Officer/NCO’s swords with the army style gold finished components modified to a silver finished. On June 17TH 1936, Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler was appointed to the newly created position of Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effectively giving him full control of all police agencies within Germany. As a result of this appointment and the restructuring of all the separate German state police into a single national police force new regulations were instituted in July 1936 to bring about uniformity in dress for all police through-out the country. One of the new uniform regulations was the introduction of distinctive swords designed and produced exclusively for wear by the SS-VT SS-Verfügungstruppe, (SS-Special Purpose Troops), Polizei, (Police), and Feuerschutzpolizei, (Fire Protection Police), Officer’s and NCO personnel with minor variations depending on the branch of service and the individuals rank. Of Note: Bestowal of the Police swords was discontinued early in the war and were generally replaced by pistols.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Roughly, 84cm long, bright, nickel/silver plated, drop forged, steel blade with long, shallow fullers to each side. The blade is in overall very good, clean condition with minor surface scratches and scuffs and minimal surface spotting. Unmarked. Leather washer is missing. The hilt consists of a nickel/silver plated, steel, cross guard, ferrule, "D" knuckle bow, pommel and a black dyed wooden grip with an inset, die struck, alloy wreathed police eagle. The plain cross guard features a downward curving arm to one end and extends upwards into the "D" knuckle bow, with a raised central spine to the other end. The ferrule is ornamented with vertically embossed, repeating oak-leaf and acorn design. The plain pommel has a screwed on oval tang nut. The blackened hardwood grip features repeating horizontal grooves for a secure grip. The police emblem features a national eagle with out-stretched wings encompassed within a vertically oval oak-leaf wreath. The sword comes complete with its original magnetic sheet metal scabbard with a black finish, an integral bottom drag and a nickel/silver plated top fitting. The scabbard retains a good portion of its original black enamel painted finish. The top fitting is retained by two small screws and features an ornate Celtic swirl pattern with overlapping arms with narrow impressed grooves and a recessed subtly textured background field. Top fitting is missing band that’s normally present. The scabbard also has a plain horizontal scabbard band with a raised metal bar to the reverse and a suspension ring intact. Nice worn and used example showing the expected age and wear.