Early Heer dagger by Robt. Klaas with Slant grip

[Wagriff]

I've always liked the eagles on the Klaas's and this one is especially so. A great find and pick up!

[mlk4114]

Absolutely beautiful!!! So nice to see these fine crafted pieces. Thank you for sharing. You have some wonderful pieces!
Mark

[T Kendall]

I was lucky to have one of these fall into my lap a few weeks ago. It too has the hand enhanced wing feathers. It is one of the few guards that is asymetrical. The left wing tip (facing the eagle) is a straight line, while the left is much more rounded. Its not just the hand filing at the bottom of the wings, but in the design.
Wolfgang

Wolfgang
Good point I have been studying this guard and believe it may be a new variation/type not yet acknowledged by collectors and would like to propose it as a possible new variation a Klaas 1.5 if you will It is very similar to what I call the type-1 on my website (only recently discovered as such) - It has five feather segments to the wing the swastika flaw on the top of the top leg of the swastika and from what I can tell the big nipples protruding from the crossguard on either end that I have only seen on Klaas. Also the eagles left club foot as a few main points of interest. Now what I see that seems very different to me is the eagles wings seem to angle downward as well as the eagles right wing being higher than the left. Also the wreath seems to be unique to this variation. This seems like a good time to get some opinions on my theory would love to hear from you army collectors new variation? Or variation due to the enhancement process?

[T Kendall]

Both types/variations I have seen posted by various collectors but am raising the question do we have two types? Seems to me the one on my site may be the earlier variation pure speculation on my part due to the majority I have seen of this type are seen with a smaller dome head screw and non plated blades.

[T Kendall]

Here is a picture I made some time back when I announced and proposed to my friend Jon that Klass had two different variations pointing out the differences. Disregard the arrows they are dictating the difference between a type-1 and type-2 really the easiest way is the five wing feather segments on the type-1 and the type-2 has a pedestal on the swastika. But back to the subject at hand compare the two type-1 on the right I think the points raised in the above post are visible. Although the bottom example doesn’t have the club toe perhaps due to some hand enhancing. The Klaas Type-1.5 on top and Type-1 on bottom

[wolfeknives]

Tom, I agree with you on all points. There are distinct differences from the type 1 guard. What really stands out is the wreath. It has no true leaf pattern at all, but rather peppling similar to the scabbard shell. Attached is a rather poor photo of my guard, but it demonstrates the points you addressed.

Wolfgang

[heers68]

Tom and Wolfgang, I agree with your points here, this type consistently shows the pebbled wreath and the dipped left side wing..perhaps the first tweaking of the original type 1 mold as it begins to wear? Thus the use of more hand enhancing to improve the failing fine details..just a theory..

Ger, Your Klaas is a real beauty! Congrats on picking up this rare piece. Kevin.

[Degens]

Klaas is probably the most difficult maker to establish cross-guard types for, due to the level of extensive hand enhancing found on the early examples. Only recently did we manage to figure out the easiest method to distinguish between the type 1 and type 2, was by counting the actual wing segments ( shown below ) and as mentioned by Tom earlier.
Of course there are other traits as well such as the pedestal under the swastika, larger quillion swirls, more defined wreath and wing shape either side of the birds head on the later version.
To make it even more complicated, both types can be found with or without a slant grip, although the second version is rarely encountered.

The dagger posted at the start of the thread is a beauty, I have seen it before and have it catalogued, I am also interested in building a database of early Klaas cross-guards, so if anyone has one please can they let me have a high res picture of the crossguard.

In regards to the new variation, I agree with Kevin, the level of enhancement that Klass undertook ( is that a word ) means that virtually each and every early example looks different to the next and as such it becomes extremely difficult sometimes to differentiate.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all members and fellow army dagger enthusiasts, a Klaas slant would be my ideal Xmas present as well !.