need opinion : Army dagger by alcoso with hangers !

[darkmyst]

Hello dear members!

A guy i know is offering me this "been there" alcoso heer dagger ,
i would like to have your opinion about it !

i don't know if it's normal but the grip is not fixed and is turning
the dagger looks authentique and has a nice patina but as a beginner i don't want to make a mistake

here are the pictures (sorry some are a bit blurry)

best regards

[Degens]

Totally original and un-messed with Alcoso mid period army dagger. Lovely black patina........I like it !. Unusually the scabbard looks to have a single centrally placed throat retaining screw ( most ACS daggers have twin flat head side screws ) but that would not bother me looking at the matching patina to the scabbard and overall appearance. They probably just used a Generic shell and added ACS scabbard bands. When you say the grip is turning..........do you mean the whole grip rotates with the pommel screwed down or are you referring to being able to turn the pommel?. The grip is without any doubt an Alcoso grip, it was designed with a flared upper section to marry with the flared pommel unique to Alcoso.

If there is some movement in the grip on the blade tang, this is quite normal with Alcoso army daggers. The firm had a habit of fixing the pommels in place after the hilt assembly and over the course of 60 years the leather blade washer / buffer flattens and shrinks with insertion of the dagger into the scabbard. This causes the hilt fittings to become slightly loose as you are unable to tighten the pommel to counter the shrinkage. Do NOT attempt to force or over-tighten the pommel.......you are likely to damage either the internal thread of the pommel or in severe cases sheer the blade tang.

[darkmyst]

finally a good one! this what i wanted to read !
thanks a lot for your expertise i really appreciate it
by turning i mean that the grip rotate even is the pommen is screwed down
but your explanation about the fact that the hilt fittings becoming slightly loose is the answer i guess
do you think it is possible to eliminate this rotation or i should let it like that?
about the patina should i clean the dagger to make it "shiny" or is it better to let it like that?
i was thinking about a light cleaning with wd 40 to fix the dagger ,
this guy has still very nice pieces to sell
i had the choice between this and this mismatched Luftwaffe dagger i think i'll go for the heer
what would be a fair market price for this alcoso?
i made a post about this Luftwaffe here are some more pix


and one more piece he still owns but my Pocket aren't big enough
very interresting knife

again thank you best regards

[Degens]

You would be mad to clean that army dagger. In my opinion this dagger has not been cleaned since the end of the war, to clean it now would be borderline sacrilege, the patina is what sets this dagger apart from your standard run of the mill Alcoso army dagger. There are ways to eliminate the play in the hilt fittings if the pommel will not tighten, personally I would leave it exactly "as is ". A simple coat of Renwax to the blade would be the only thing I would attempt.
I am an army dagger collector so I am slightly biased when it comes to choosing between the Luft etc but I am sure somebody else can chime in with an opinion on the 1st Luft.............value is always what you are willing to pay. I would be asking for better pictures of the blade before making my decision

[darkmyst]

ok so i won't clean it if i buy it!
i'll prefer to go for an unmessed army dagger than for a mismatched Luftwaffe dagger i think
he ask the same price for both 225€ per piece which is a good price i guess ^^
thank you for the enlightments again
best regards

[Alan M]

Very nice price for that piece , the hangers alone are worth half that price !!!

[Gunny Hartmann]

As said above please don't clean it, as it looks great as it is!...

[PeterCollector]

Hi to all, I just want to say that this is very nice army dagger in untouched condition! If I have chance I will add this dagger into my collection

Regards Peter

[gerrit]

Why would you have any doubts?

That horroble Luftwaffe was posted by you before, you had some advise then.
What do you want with it posting again?
Would you want me to say, hey....suddenly it turned into aa great one overnight? its a great one, buy it.
Any money on that dagger will be lost, can you find a buyer for it in the future do you think? honest?

You know know this is an unmessed Heer dagger for a good price.

The Luftwaffe dagger is not an attractive piece in any way.

Take your pick
Cheers,
Ger

btw: please take the advise at heart, and DONT clean the dagger.

[timothy]

I posted a Alcoso here while back in this column don't clean it leave as is as other's have stated. Good original dagger. timothy