Luftwaffe Double-Etched Dagger - Original ?

[Frogprince]

Guys sometimes collectors wont give away all the faults in copy daggers, as the fakers also learn from these post's on how to perfect there trade and making it even harder to work out the good from the bad ................

There is some truth to the above statement. On another forum there was a member who was actively creating and adjusting faked daggers to see if they would pass inspection. And once it was figured out what his "game" was - he got "booted". With on the sword portion of that forum fakes from the former East Bloc and some other places also being regularly posted. With for example three different generations of faked German naval officer's swords (using the same basic sword) over time looking for acceptance. Another where repeated requests for better pictures were ignored and so on. With my point being that sometimes it's a balancing act on how much information you want to give out.

It also depends IMO to some extent on what the situation is with the item, and how it's faked. With some discussions ending abruptly. Others being quite lengthy and hard fought trying to get an item accepted. And some where the facts are obvious, but with some collectors avoiding (IMO) discussing them if higher profile names might be involved. FP

[Alan M]

Ronnie - Sadly you may be right, although I do find the argument about informing the fakers a bit of a red herring, also what's the point of joining a particular forum if you aren't prepared to take part above the level of the one word post i.e. copy, fake, crap, etc, who can tell if you are serious collector with any depth of knowledge or a member who just likes racking up his number count without knowing or contributing much ? Regards

Hi Alec , i understand that you are disappointed with the lack of an expansive answer to your post but it is not always an easy way to explain through the medium of text , as the answers required are sometimes much more complex than can be given in a short statement ! Knowledge is king in militaria collecting and the experience of having genuine daggers pass through your hands and owning them over an amount of years is really the only way of educating oneself ( and Ronnie has plenty of both ) , that way you see and feel the quality of the authentic and gain an " eye " for something that is not right ! Authentic Third Reich dagger etched blades are of a very high quality of workmanship and do not turn up "everyday" and therefore command a high premium value wise on the markets . Could i ask you what price the seller was asking for this dagger ? I believe Ronnie , who has a real nice collection of daggers and vast experience in this field was just trying to help you with a simple answer that the etching is not up to the accepted standard and maybe saving you some money ! You really need to see a genuine etched blade up close and then you will see the reason for Ronnie`s reply .

[AlecH]

Hello Alan,
I wasn't intending, in signalling Ronnie out at all - I was using you figuratively in the sense of passing comment generally over the almost silent stance some collectors as a group. The guy at the flea-mark had the dagger and some medals, one a bronze Spanish Cross, he was looking for 1300 Euro - too cheap you say, he's as I say a coin collector offering the pieces I think for a third party, didn't manage to get a look at the Spanish Cross but it got the thumbs down from the medal collectors. More I don't know at the moment, learn more later. Regards

[85ronnies]

Hi Alec would you like me to PM you with all the differeces in what makes this a bad dagger? I do feel the reply was aimed at me but hey no problem if you check my post's on the dagger forum you will find hardly any "one word post's" i spend a lot of spare time on the dagger section of the forum and am always more than willing to help out any collector like myself who needs some info about their dagger if i can. I also think that if you know anyone who is always on the dagger section would say the same about myself,
I do this because i absolutley love collecting third reich daggers and looking and learning on this excellent forum, I dont think myself so shallow on having X amout of posts makes me any more knowledgable than a guy with 6 posts, please dont find i am having a pop at you but i think it's ok for me to reply on the queries you have put up, as i said before and really do mean if i can PM you with the bad points of the dagger in question i would gladly do so

please dont think there is any malice in this reply, there really is not, hope you dont mind in me replying like this
best regards Ronnie

[AlecH]

Ronnie,
Thanks for the last post, to clear the air, if my post comes across as a personal knock, I'm sorry, I can only repeat, honestly it was never meant to be. Please if you want, by all means send a PM over the bad points of the dagger. Regards

[85ronnies]

No prob's Alec and thankyou i will PM them tomorrow if you dont mind just off to bed at the mo
and thanks again for your kind response
best regards Ronnie