SA Dienstdolch - Wagner&Lange

[josephc]

I purchased this dagger at auction this week. It is my first complete SA. It appears all original early dagger. It is stamped with gruppe Ns. My concerns are that the blade has a good amount of streaks or wear from going in and out of scabbard and i would like to know if the lacquer/shiny finish on the handle and scabbard are original or applied later. I tried to take good pics of the dagger and the finish but found it difficult due to reflections. The finish on scabbard is kind of "swirly".

everything is tight and it has good weight to it.

Any comments to help confirm if I got a good example or not are appreciated.
Joe

[Rescue190]

Nice dagger, I think you are correct on a lacquer or poly applied to the grips. They should not have any finish applied. Looks like the blade has been cleaned pretty heavily but overall in nice condition. One of the screws is loose or may have been taken apart at some time. Thanks for posting
John

[josephc]

Is the clear coat on the scabbard something that can be removed without damage to color.

[Larry C]

Hi Joseph ...John and yourself are correct on the laquer concern...it has been post war applied.
I have this producer in my collection and as you say it is quite tight fitting


The streaks on the blade are normal to see in and out of the scabbard coming from the runners within.
The upper scabbard fitting screws have been replaced and the scabbard itself is not early but mid to late period..being the painted type with plated fittings.

Overall ..all that is within this dagger is Third Reich period except for the fitting screws.

Regards Larry

[Larry C]

And you do not want to remove any coating from this dagger or it will further devalue it. Leave it be.

[gerrit]

John to be correct in your statement you should say that this maker did not applied any lacquer on their grips.
There are a couple of makers that did apply lacquer on their grips like Aesculap or Wolf, just to mention a few.

Ger

[josephc]

Hi Joseph ...John and yourself are correct on the laquer concern...it has been post war applied.
I have this producer in my collection and as you say it is quite tight fitting


The streaks on the blade are normal to see in and out of the scabbard coming from the runners within.
The upper scabbard fitting screws have been replaced and the scabbard itself is not early but mid to late period..being the painted type with plated fittings.

Overall ..all that is within this dagger is Third Reich period except for the fitting screws.

Regards Larry

Are you saying the scabbard doesn't belong with this dagger? It fits so well and the hardware is non magnetic.

[Larry C]

A lot of scabbards fit very well with other daggers..the symetrics of most scabbard lips to the lower guards will fit.


Nickel guards will have a very slight magnetic pull ..as there needs to be a steel base to them ..as no guards are solid nickel and do have some amount of steel content within. If you are not getting a pull..then you may not be sensing the steel ..which is ok also and the guards are the early Nickel type.

The scabbard has that late chocolate brown paint on it and an observation also of the carrying ring eyelet shows plating.

Something happened somewhere when those screws were replaced..either to fill in the void..or a replaced fitting.
The scabbard still appears to be a later period type.

Best Larry