SA Dagger RMZ M7 36 opinions welcomed

[War Medals]

A dagger of mine, wondering what the board thought. Overall in nice shape, no dents on scabbard. Enclosing a few pics, working on purchasing a better camera.

[bsiwula1]

Hello. A nice late war dagger as I see it. Was the scabbard painted at some point? I only ask because I usually think of them as more reddish brown closer to the grip color, just wondering. Otherwise a nice piece congrats! Welcome to the forum btw! Best regards.

Brian

[War Medals]

Thanks for the welcome Brian. I have noticed that one side of the handle is much darker than the other. I feel a prior owner may have applied some oil to the handle. It is probably the least you do to these daggers the better. I have been wondering how close the color of the handle should be to the scabbard. As far as the scabbard being repainted, I will have to take a closer look at it.

John

[bsiwula1]

Absolutely John. It could be the lighting? It's just something you usually see with SA, SS daggers the handle color seems to match the scabbard rather closely. Perhaps oil applied to the grip is the culprit. The dagger fittings/crossguards and mating surfaces to the handles line up well I think. The blade and inscription look clean and un-messed with. As said I believe a nice later period E&F Horester blade. Perhaps search for others from this manufacturer and see what color their scabbards are. Here's a reference for comparison to the RZM stamp from Germandaggers.com. Best regards

Brian

[bsiwula1]

Here's a beauty from a previous thread for comparison.

Brian

Mint SA RZM M7 / 36

[gerrit]

Here's a beauty from a previous thread for comparison.

Brian

Mint SA RZM M7 / 36

Yes i reminder my old dagger that was a true beauty!
Sold that one to Ron, a good dagger to compare with yours.

When you compare the grip and fit of yours with that textbook example of my former one you will notice it has a couple of issues.......

Ger

[War Medals]

Hi Ger, sure was a beauty. I bet Ron is very happy. I took another look at my dagger and can see a couple things that of course could be better. Where the handle meets the crossguard, on one side is a little high. I have read that this a common trait with RMZ daggers. I could not really tell if pommel nut has ever been removed, opens door to a parts dagger. The bottom crossguard meets evenly with the throat of the scabbard to me. I am of course am no expert and appreciate any insight from you. This scabbard appears to have black paint under the brown. Don't know if they used a primmer back then or someone tried to made or was a NSKK scabbard. Blade has been polished and I see a couple distant finger prints that did not come out. I would rate this dagger really nice shape.

John

[War Medals]

Hi Gerrit, I was looking at my SA Dagger today and did some comparisons to the minty M7 36 that you owned. What I noticed was the bottom cross guard is not perfectly flush with the handle. The back of handle is flush but front is not. I also noticed the handle is not flush with the top cross guard on both sides. Back is flush but front of handle out a bit. Wondering what that means. Does this mean that it was taken apart at one time or is a parts dagger? I did not pay a lot for it but like to know what I really have. John

[Larry C]

Hi John...first Im seeing this and sorry to be this late to the party.

The photos are not the greatest being somewhat washed out in a white hue type of blur. The forum requests that clear photos to be taken and the use of indirect lighting inside or outside on an overcast day ..works just as well.

Your dagger is from the late period that has used plated typefittings..which means some plate lift might be seen on some areas of those silvered fittings.
Early fittings were Nickel and did not flake off or lift off from the metal.

Your grip appears to be an early period grip with a Nickel grip eagle..which may explain the slightly misfit you are seeing in the crossguard area.
Also to be taken into consideration the late period of some of these RZM types have been assembled by prexisting earlier stock...and shoved out the door for distribution.
Its rare to see an early grip on a late period dagger.but that possibility exists that it may have done during the late production period......OR also as of recently meaning within the last 30 years.

Do not use direct flash when photographing shiney silver surfaces..the light flashes back into the lense washing out your photo.
The same theory when firing a gun....away from yourself ..and away from your lense

Regards Larry