WW2 Nazi dagger/letter opener

[paulcheall]

Thought I'd share this pic from my Dad's war souvenir collection. Background is he was one of the first soldiers to enter Hamburg and said in his memoirs,

"Just across the road, but at 9 o’clock from our billets, there was another large property in perfect condition, and it extended for about forty yards down to a large lake.
The building had been the home of the Gauleiter of Hamburg and he certainly seemed to like comfort. The place was fully furnished and untouched by the war. I went into the house and found several things of interest for souvenirs; a seven-inch dagger, decorated with a swastika and tassel."

I'd be interested to learn if anyone knows more about this item - eg is it a real dagger or a letter opener? I suspect the latter. It is a beautiful object if you can describe such items like that!
Thanks
Paul
PS If you want to see more of it go to: Grim Determination - D-Day

[LMG 1]

It is a salesmans sample dagger used to show the craftsmanship of the factory.
These are very collectable in their own right.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Paul, welcome to the forum and thanks for the thread. As Luke mentions, these were given away as gifts by salesman to promote the firm. They were used as letter openers etc.

Great item and nice to hear the story of how it was liberated.

Cheers, Ade.

[paulcheall]

Thanks Chaps - wow how intreresting. You know it's funny but new stuff gets turned up at every corner while researching this book. I used to use the dagger as a letter opener years ago when I was a teenager! I saw an identical but clearly full scale version of it a year or so ago I think in a movie on TV.
Paul

[LMG 1]

Hi Paul
Your dagger is based on the Heer (army) officers dagger
if u do search on this forum u will see many full size ones.
There are many different variations and makers of this design
of dagger.
Thats one of the enjoyable aspects of collecting these,and welcome to the forum

[colt45]

looks great! i had the SA little dagger for a while

[Walkwolf]

The tassel is an add-on that was put there to represent an Officer's portipee.
It is not in the style of a full size one, but very nice to read that it was
attached to the dagger when it was 'liberated'.

You may be surprised what these little daggers sell for today...........!

[paulcheall]

Thanks for the feedback Chaps. What sort of price do these things fetch then - do I need to inrease my home insurance?! Needless to say I would not want to part with it. Paul

[Walkwolf]

Approximately $300-$400...........

[Hawgwild91]

Hi, I am new to this board. I have one of these same letter openers from my grandfather who served in the 10th Armored division of US Army. He claimed his came off of the desk of Erwin Rommel.