One of the rarest Third Reich Swords: May I introducea mint Prison/Justiz Official Sword by Eickhorn

[rala2]

P.S.

I case some readers don't know, the Prison and Justice Official swords as produced by Carl Eickhorn (with the huge and magnificent adlerkopf) were designed by the incomparable Paul Casberg, who also designed the Army, TENO and Feldherrnhalle daggers as well as the Army parade standard flags, the Army standard bearer gorget and many other insignia and badges. He was a true genius of the graphic arts who did splendid work in period advertising as well, and sadly is unknown to today's public due to his Nazi connection.

[Frogprince]

Rala2, I would like to also welcome you to the forum. And while I agree with quite of bit with what you stated - I do most respectfully have a difference of opinion with a large part of one paragraph.

".....................I know of no standard pattern Third Reich sword other than later production Luftwaffe officer swords that were made with aluminum hilts, and in 1936 all swords, both civil and military were being constructed with sand-cast, hand finished brass hilts since brass was cheap, abundant and not yet a restricted war material. Why would there be such a radical departure from the norm for just these two types of sword, which were identical in design save for the plated finishes?..................."

Replicating what happened in WW I, in 1935 there was an edict regarding various strategic materials including copper (both brass and nickel silver are mostly copper). That were to be no longer provided to the civilian market and instead replaced with substitutes. Aluminum being one of them. Later period daggers and swords (besides the Luftwaffe types) - depending on the type/time period having plated iron, aluminum, and lastly zinc as the replacements for copper. That said, it was not all makers at the same time - apparently there was no recall order for the pre-existing supplies of copper to be turned in.

Also finding the statement below interesting because it corroborates Himmler's 1941 directive stating that SS swords were no longer going to be awarded (and then delayed before it was finally enacted).

"...............both the Prison Official and Justice Official swords were introduced on 10 August 1936 and ceased production 31 December 1941, due to the exigencies of the war,..............."

Best Regards, Fred

[gerrit]

There is one thing more in favour of the brass hilted ones: there are lots of late Eickhorn swords of the Fieldmarschal series that have brass based hilts and the LATER over the shoulder logo, and we all know that logo is later in time as the logo's on these swords.

Ger

[Frogprince]

RE:

"...............both the Prison Official and Justice Official swords were introduced on 10 August 1936 and ceased production 31 December 1941, due to the exigencies of the war,..............."

One more factor to be considered IMO is this: About two weeks later in August of 1936, Heinrich Himmler introduced the M1936 chained SS daggers. With the first two manufacturing generations made using nickel silver which very roughly is 2/3 copper before later transitioning to malleable iron/steel and then zinc/steel. Best Regards, Fred

[KurtMenliff]

Hello to all,
Here is my EICKHORN JUSTIZ brass model ...
In the light of that was said here, i'd like to find out if mine is a potential copy too ...

Brass pommel / polished blade & etched Eickhorn 35-41 logo











Best regards
K

[gerrit]

Hi Kurt,

since the day i posted this one there has been quite some discussion about the fact if Eickhorn had the messing to produce these swords, and there are many examples of Eickhorn swords and sabers being built even in the early 40ths with brass-messing hilts.
What common is in the collectors world is that if 1 has red something in a book, or a book has been published with wrong info, an entire community can repeat that info for years, even if there has been lots of proof that it could be an originally production batch.

LST Paul Hoggle has collected these swords for years and had many in his private collection, and is very convinced there are original period brass-messing productions.
I have compared my sword with many period examples and i do believe that in my case its not a post war production.
If you compare mine with yours you can see differences in detail and quality, but what is most striking yours has an etched Logo and that is not done on TR swords.

Perhaps the ones with etched logo's are build with wartime parts, but lacked blades, and they might be the ones mentioned in Angola's swords reference, who can tell?

Best
Ger

[KurtMenliff]

Hello Gerrit
Thank you for your message.
Actually i sent pics to Paul HOGLE and the polished blade striked him as odd ....
I also noticed mine seems to have an extra feather at the back of the eagle's head marking a "V" ... I am currently trying to compare with other Justiz Eickhorn swords around .... Would you have a photo of the back of the eagle's head in order to compare by any chance ?
Many thanks

K.

[Anderson]

I would think an etched Eickhorn maker mark presents a problem.

[KurtMenliff]

[QUOTE=KurtMenliff;2223592]Hello Gerrit
Thank you for your message.
Many thanks

[Frogprince]

I would think an etched Eickhorn maker mark presents a problem.

As a general matter and with some specific exceptions as a collector I am not a big fan of etched maker markings. I also know how easy it is to cast brass - that has only gotten easier with the more modern techniques and materials. The example posted here showing some basic technical considerations that apparently were unknown to the faker(s) of this PW fake silver hilted "SS" saber. With others sometimes a closeup personal inspection is best (IMO). Best Regards, Fred