SA Rohm dagger - CD Schaaf ?

[flintlock]

Hi Larry
Thank you very much for your informative and helpful reply.
On comparing the inscription with the photo of the genuine one you kindly posted, it's quite easy to see the differences.
As I've said before I'm new to collecting german daggers and the knowledge you and the other forum members have is astonishing.
Many thanks again Larry, you're a top man!
Cheers
John

[dzyner]

Many thanks again Larry, you're a top man!

Larry is indeed a "top man", one of the most knowledgable (and detail oriented) dagger guys I know. I agree with everything he pointed out, and will add a couple of other points to his observations:

1. The grip eagle alone would make this dagger a "no go" for me. It is hard to tell what's going on with it in the close up photo of the grip due to the photo's compression being so high, but to me it looks to have been complerely replaced (may not even be genuine). There is obvious evidence of force fitting around the edges of the eagle, which is enough to make it junk in my opinion.
2. The upper guard is a completely different tone than the lower guard. You can see this clearly in the first photo when you click and view the large version. When reviewing these SA daggers (and SS daggers as well), one thing you want to look for is consistency in the age discoloration between the metal fittings of the dagger AND the scabbard (with the exception being chained scabbards in some cases). Sometimes they'll be different simply because someone attempted a cleaning at some point in the dagger's life and (for whatever reason) simply didn't finish. Time and experience will give you the knowledge to tell the difference.
3. I believe I can also see in a couple of the photos the scabbard throat fitting screws not completely tightened. As Larry mentioned, it has been apart.

Although I'm not a fan of the idea that you should assume a dagger is bad simply because the photos are bad, which some would suggest (i.e. the idea being that if the photos suck then someone is intentionally trying to deceive), in this case I believe that is exactly the case. The Black and White photos completely helped to hide the color inconsistencies that I noted, which is one of the simplest and most basic "tells" of a parts dagger. It also helped to hide some of the flaws with the grip eagle. In my experience there are still a LOT of folks out there who are simply not savvy with a digital camera. If you believe in a dagger, hold out for better photos and take the time needed to guide the seller toward those photos as you did here. In this case it didn't work out, but next time you may find yourself a winner if you're persistent enough!

[flintlock]

Thanks again to all that answered my post.
You guys are amazing.
John