Luftwaffe 2nd pattern dagger by SMF.

[TWS]

I'm sorry to tell you that your dagger has an Eickhorn scabbard. Here's my SMF 2nd model to compare your scabbardbands.

Regards
Danny

Interesting. Thanks for catching that. I'm not a blades guy and might never have realized it because it sure fits well. The dagger just clicks right into place in this scabbard.
I already think I know why that might be. This was a G.I. bring back from some small-ish village in occupied Germany. The G.I.'s were going into German houses and "confiscating" anything military (or simply valuable) they could find because they wanted souvenirs. The local people and the town Burgermeister were raising hell with the U.S. unit commander over this "banditry" and plundering. So, to try and get things under control the commander collected an entire musette bag of various daggers. He brought it into the unit's improvised mess hall and poured the daggers out on a table and told his guys "you want a souvenir? Here, take a souvenir! But stop barging into people's houses and taking stuff because I'm sick of the complaints."

Therefore, I bet the G.I.'s played around with the daggers and during all the rummaging around the scabbards got swapped. Because the first actual collector to own it was my friend that I just bought it from, so unless the G.I. took two Luftwaffe daggers and transposed the scabbards over the years by accident, 1945 was the last time that could have happened. I'm 99% sure my friend didn't mess up and swap it with one from his other daggers. He's too careful with his collection.

[jamie7d7]

Very nice. My 2nd pattern is an SMF also, love them orangey grips

[Frogprince]

I understand the scenario regarding items kept in homes, and at this late date it's hard to say with certainty what happened to something that doesn't follow what is usually found. With that said, I generally have a harder time accepting the pre-end of war scenarios with items that were Wehrmacht property (ie: Luftwaffe and the other branches) that were probably stored at bases etc. Best Regards, Fred

[TWS]

A little update. I want to thank the couple members with sharp eyes and the advanced knowledge who made comments about the scabbard or at least scabbard bands being Eickhorn.

My curiosity was aroused as I know I'm the second collector to ever own the dagger. I wrote Tom Johnson and he said there's absolutely nothing unusual about that. He said he even covers it in his books. The manufacturers in Soligen routinely helped each other out during times of high demand by supplying each other with scabbards, hilts, pommels, and other parts, etc. Tom even has period invoices documenting this activity.

Not posting this to sound defensive. I like the dagger and feel great about it. I'm posting to share what I learned from Tom.