The Tom Kendall Heer Collection and Military Antiques

[gerrit]

These slants Ivory grips are the holy grail for the Slant collectors, i have never seen one before, although i know i european collector who ownes one.
Im very happy you shared this one with us, that includes Degens one also
Thx
Ger

[dr73]

Tom, your Puma dagger is a true work of art! That slant Ivory grip is just amazing. It would be the centerpiece of any heer collection. Congretulations on finding this great dagger. Nice to see that it has the same characteristics as my Puma. Makes me feel even better about my dagger

Danny

[T Kendall]

Thanks guys
Danny - Great Puma the 3 examples shown certainly do validate each other. I love they all have the same hand enhancing technique to the crossguard feathers.

[T Kendall]

As I continue to attempt to complete my heer dagger crossguard collection I am working on the more common examples having been fortunate to acquire the harder to find examples. I have been looking for years for an Alcoso type-3 for my collection and found this example to fill the slot. The crossguard and pommel are a lightweight base metal which generally did not hold a silver plate well. This is the case with this example but the crossguard has good detail which can be hard to find on this Type-3 and a beautiful personalization to Dr. Scholtz Zahnarzt (Dentist) while likely not researchable it adds interest to the piece. The pommel and scabbard are typical Alcoso The pommel being one of the best looking non enhanced varieties of the period and the scabbard has the double flat head screws you typically see on the Alcoso product with some nice hand detail. You rarely if ever see hand work to this style of pommel and crossguard they are detailed enough that it seems Alcoso felt they didn’t need the hand enhancement certainly this saved them precious time in the assembly & fitting process. Fortunately the blade is very nice and has the second variation maker mark the dagger was likely produced somewhere between 1936-1937

[Larry C]

Tom that crossguard eagle is awesome..you can tell when Doctors or the more affluent have the nicer daggers. The font type name on the back is one i have never seen..and has been executed perfectly. Thanks for sharing this and is a great addition to the family collection here. Regards Larry

[heers68]

Tom, Great looking mid period Alcoso. Looks like a really nice blade and pleasing grip. The personalization is really something special! Love that Germanic font! Neat to see the very typical trait seen on these type three Alcoso's where the ferrule sticks out a touch proud of the cross guard, looks like this one actually was very slightly dinged where it stuck out..cant tell you how many I have owned and seen like this. Congrats! Kevin.

[dr73]

Thanks for sharing yet another beautiful army dagger with us Tom. I love that personalisation on the crossguard. Congretulations on this find

Danny

[T Kendall]

Larry- Thanks I love this old Germanic font as Kevin put it. This is the same font/style the Germans used allot in fact the German rank lists are in this font. There is a name for it but it escapes me at the moment. I actually have another dagger in the works with the same font/style and have seen others it certainly screams German. The personalization is what sold me on the dagger not to mention the crossguard detail and textbook Alcoso features.
Kevin-Thanks my friend I learned something thanks for the info on the ferrule and yes it has been dinged. The dagger certainly has seen some carrying time the dentist was likely a busy man
Danny- Thank you Sir !

[avenger]

A wonderful collection for a kind, patient and helpful gentleman. Congrats Tom!

[T Kendall]

Here’s a dagger for you Heer collectors especially those that study crossguards and configurations. The crossguard is a rare Type-2 early generic that to date has been seen on products by Plumacher - Axt - Voos. I have previously only seen the guard coupled with slant grips - makes sense as it’s an early type used on initial production examples by producers who didn’t make their own fittings. Klaas has a history of using guards from other producers likely in times of shortages to fill orders examples I can think of would be a Pack Type-3 & Generic-B. This guard is usually seen with hand enhancement to the wings feathers although it’s difficult to see as it’s usually covered by a heavy silver plate. This example was extensively hand enhanced in house by Klaas. If you study it you will see many techniques that attribute this enhancement to Klaas the style of enhancement to the feathers how they are enhanced by thick lines on the top and finer lines on the lower feathers. The cross hatching to the eagles breast and the familiar Klaas enhancements to the eagles head. This is the finest example of this rare crossguard I have seen due to the extensive Klaas enhancements I was pleased to add this to my sedge of cranes.