Rad officer dagger hangers..opinion

[lucabrnroma]

hi all...i'd like to know your opinion only on the hangers of this Rad officer dagger...i'm not sure about that bubbling on the brown leather...what do you think??
Thanks a lot

[John Brandon]

Well considering who's selling them I doubt if they are wrong ones. and at $600 it's about the right price. Relics of the Reich have a good reputation. I've seen hangers just like these before, so i would say they were ok, and rare!

[Rossi]

Lucabrnroma,

I grabbed pictures of mine and posted below. Hope it helps. My rig has similar leather hangers you are showing. In regards to the bubbling? Are you speaking of the pebbled grain of the leather on front of straps? Do you have any close ups of the hangers? Are the back of the clips DRGM marked? It looks like they are stamped with it but can't make out letters. One other observation is the front of your clips are pebbled only where as the ones I have do have a cast oak leaf motif into them. My straps are a smooth leather and not pebbled on leather. I believe you are just fine and these are authentic hangers as John Brandon mentioned. If the hangers were only $600 I would buy them. Good luck. See what Gwar, Gerrit, Larry C and the rest of the team says as well.

hi all...i'd like to know your opinion only on the hangers of this Rad officer dagger...i'm not sure about that bubbling on the brown leather...what do you think??
Thanks a lot

[big ned]

The 'bubbling' on the leather is an embossed pattern that is used on second grade leather where the grain is irregular or it has scars/imperfections. The leather is first tanned (most likely chromium sulphate in this case) to make it pliable and supple, then sanded down before being embossed with the pattern and the treated with dyes or pigments to give it a clean, uniform finish. This is known as 'corrected grain' leather and is excellent in resisting wear and becoming misshapen. I see no problem with it being period.

Regards, Ned.

[Rossi]

Great Info and data Big Ned!

[harryamb2]

bravo Ned.

[big ned]

Thanks guys. As you know, I have some experience in both leather and rubber.

[matty01]

Hi Guys, Imo the bubbled type are replica's I am too looking for RAD officer hangers, but I shall be buying the smooth type.

The other problem with the hangers in question is they are being sold by mike morris, I think if you google mike morris militaria (relics of the reich) that will give you more than enough reasons not to buy these.

hope im not too late, Matty

[gerrit]

Well this is a hard one for sure, ive been looking into it before making my contribution.
I had the same reservations about this one as Matty has.
Not because i heard bad things about Mike, but looking at the hangers i didnt like the metal finish.
Ive seen recently 2 very good copy's from Tjechie (CZ) and they did used the bubbling leather and the coloured finish on the metal.
That " an sich" is not proof enough to make it a repro, but im missing the typical wear and its colour change on the metal.
It does show wear and reveals the zinq based metal that could fit the period of the cheap bubbling late war leather, but i dont like the typical dark bronze colour they used as finish.
That alone would be enough for me to look for a textbook flat example like Rossi showed, like that set Rossi!

Militarycollectibles has a similar one, that could have been the model for the repro guys and i will show it here.
That one is priced at 2195- dollars, a bit overpriced it is but it easily triples the Mike Morris hanger, ask yourself why...
That one has that typical colour change in leather and metal that leave little doubt about it.
2 things keeps me from buying this one, first red flag: its price, you all know that!
Second: i dont like the finish on the metal parts, seen that on the recent CZ repro's, and they costs 130 dollars
I would think twice before buying that one.
Im not saying this one is bad for sure, but i have my reservations, and 600 dollars is a bit to much to play with imo.
My advise: if you dont have provenance stick to a well known textbook one......saves a headache or two
Regards,
Ger

[Rossi]

Great stuff Matty, Gerritt and Big Ned. 600.00 did seem a little low to me. I bought mine years ago from a fellow collector with the dagger so good to know roughly what they are going for.

Gerritt is like a pit bull with a tenacious pursuit for the bone. You da man. Thanks as always for your support of the forum bro