SA Dagger I just picked up today!

[Adrian Stevenson]

While all the parts are original, I personally would have liked to have seen a better fit too.

Cheers, Ade.

[85ronnies]

i did think the same davejb but thought it was because the nut wasn't tight, but looking again ther is a slight step and gap to one side of the grip , can you nip the nut up dean and see if it goes tighter?, sorry
cheers Ronnie

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Ronnie, with my first glance at it I too though it was just loosely done up. But what bugs me is the area highlighted in red. The general fit on that side of the grip is poor and is stepped. The other pic of the reverse side, which I have not copied, shows again a poor fit with a tapered gap.

Given that the blade appears to have had some work done on it, to remove some finger marks/pitting, clearly this has been through a collectors hands. This makes me think more that some other "improvements" might have been carried out and the grip possibly replaced.

Hi Dean, I hope you don't feel too down about us discussing the dagger. But there are some questions which are worth addressing.

Cheers, Ade.

[85ronnies]

I agree Ade, some makers like Karl Heidelberg were known for having steps in there grips like this shown, also Kober and a couple of others, but not this maker to my knowlage, they called this the Suhl step, sorry Dean i dont want to rain on your parade but looking a little more closley Ade has pointed out a few red flags, to me it does look like the dagger has been messed with hopefully you can pull the dealer and use this info for a return,
cheers Ronnie

[davejb]

Im sorry about that Dean, but i thought it was worth mentioning just in case i was right, but i hope it can be rectified by a talk with the dealer, and possibly some money back or a refund, i did also notice that the blade has seen the wrong side of a piece of wet and dry in some attempt to get rid of some staining of sorts

[Dean]

OUCH! @#$&! Well good thing I didn't break the bank on it. like I said, I got a killer deal on it so I'm not really crying about the news. Also, I really appreciate ANY feedback, good or bad because it opens not just my eyes but the eyes of all potential collectors out there. We are very fortunate to have such great experts out there to help. I'm happy to say i dropped under $400 on it although I should have took that deal as a red flag. Again, thanks for all the comments.

[Mac 66]

Dean, you paid under $400 for this dagger which to me is a very good price to pay, the guys have mentioned a few bad points on your dagger but at the end of the day i have seen worse fitting grips than this on unmessed with SAs "especially on late war daggers", this peice is worth more in parts than you paid for it imo.

[Dean]

Dean, you paid under $400 for this dagger which to me is a very good price to pay, the guys have mentioned a few bad points on your dagger but at the end of the day i have seen worse fitting grips than this on unmessed with SAs "especially on late war daggers", this peice is worth more in parts than you paid for it imo.

I was thinking the same thing, but ill do some more thinking before making such a drastic decision .
Thanks,
~Dean

[Dean]

I'm dragging up this old thread after a year and a half years to shed some new light on a few things.
I now have no doubt this SA dagger is 100% complete and not a parts dagger. As for for the poor fit to the shoulders of the blade, I found the reason for this. After closer examination, I noticed a slight bend at the threaded portion of the tang. When the nut is applied, it causes the illusion that the crossguard does not fit properly as one would want to see on a factory dagger. Ill show some pics of what I mean.

The first pic shows the fit with the nut loose.

The second, with the nut tight.

[Dean]

Here is the slight bend at the tang that has caused the poor fit.
I hope this puts to rest , the past opinions that this is a parts dagger and brings it back to original status.
Thanks,
Dean.