Early SA Ed Wustoff w/ Surprise

[Larry C]

Thanks Gents,, although the dagger itself is quite common,,I found it very satisfying after I gathered all the information about the gruppe mark and put to rest, doubts I myself had, because of its rarity. This project unlike any other took a few weeks to put together especially the documentation to support this SA gruppe.
Happy anniversary Ronnie on your 1000th post,, you dont look a day over 750 and best wishes on your Golden 5000th... may you live long and dagger prosper!

[gerrit]

I love the dagger, great find!
Nice research you did, i try to do some research on a 1938 Honour ring of the city of Frankfurt, but they are not so willing to cooperate.
Goldsmiths association is not responding to mails at all, others just send a short reply: no info.
Only the Franfurt Historical Museum was delighted and was willing to buy the ring, but didnt had proper funds...
So overall: well done!

[Larry C]

Thanks Gerrit the research was worth the work!! In regards to your Honor ring research..even to this day some people in Germany still dont want to talk about or give out any information in fear of some kind of backlash,, or accused of being a sympathizer because of the Third Reich period. Then again there is that small percentage of Germans that are more than willing to help out with ones research. its good to hear the Museum in Frankfurt was interested in the Honor ring which shows that the museum wants to uphold the History of that time period. The same thing we have here with our American history and some of it is dark,, but yet we still uphold it to teach and to show that it must not be forgotten. I extend back to you a good well done also Best regards Larry

[Larry C]

A Stunning Find!!! as another "Oe" gruppe marked early SA dagger has surfaced,,,this one belonging to GDC member "Pat". This dagger is an NSKK version and in almost mint condition. The chances of finding another one like this is very slim,,but similarly this dagger is an Ed Wustoff also AND Serial numbered!! This example now solidifies my example as the "Oe" Punch strike to the lower crossguard is similar and must of been done by the same guy. The lower part of the letter "O" is bare. Below are 2 photos of Pats example. Regards Larry

[gerrit]

Thats a gorgeous dagger, totally love it

Larry i have a little theory, IMHO:
about the Oe stamp, before the "Anschluss" or annexiation in 1938 Austria was an independant country (former Habsburger Dynasty till 1918, and transformed into a republik since 1921)
As we all know after 1936 no Gau markings were aloud/used anymore.
So to stamp a dagger with the Oe before 1938 would mean that Oesterreich would only be a gau in the Reich....thats could be seen as collaboration, and after the annexiation no Gau stamps were used.

Cheers,
Ger

[lucabrnroma]

really nice dagger and a great history lesson...is there a Sa serial numbers database ?
luca

[Larry C]

Hi Luca...as far as a master list of SA men...such as a Dienstalterliste....no none has surfaced. There may be a few broken lists of men and regiments but none that have been published..and are in the hands of a few collectors. IMO I feel most of the SA list during the period was much obsolete or shelved somewhere..and maybe good parts of it was destroyed towards the end of the war. Who knows.....then again..someone or somewhere it may be sitting wrapped up and hidden. Just speculation...but wishful thinking for a resurfacing. Regards Larry

[PNWcollector]

Larry, A beautiful dagger and a very well researched write up!

Something I've always loved about collecting is getting to hold something in your hand that was there to witness such a turbulent time in world history.

Thank you for taking the time to put this post together and make it easier for others, like myself, to shed a little more light on a lesser known area of collecting these blades.

-Sam