SA Dienstdolch

[moonman59]

Hi I have been offered a SA dagger with makers mark of two cross keys and F. HERDER A.S. on it . Is this a common or rare markers ?

[harry211]

The SA dagger was produced in signifcant numbers, starting in 1933 and continuing for a few years after the war ended, with production in Germany finally ending in 1951 with the banning of the Swaz.

I believe that there were a few hundred manufacturers and Herdera of Solingen was one of the smaller ones. As you don't mention it I assume it does not have an an RZM code and so would be an early example.

[zwerge]

The logo would be F.Herder A.S. On a scale of 1-10 they are rated about 5,price around $400-$600 depending on condition.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Please post some pics for us to see.

The maker is Herder Friedrich, Albrecht & Sohn. Sounds like an earlier pre RZM dagger.

SA Dienstdolch production ceased in 1942 due to wartime restrictions. Some daggers did get assembled from old left over parts stock for sale to souvenir hungry GI's in the early post war period. But these can usually be identified by poor fitting parts and a mixture of early, mid and late production features on one dagger. Other daggers did get made up using a complete mixtures of different parts from different organisation's daggers all bodged together to make up complete fantasy items. Few GI's really knew what they were looking at during this time.

Cheers, Ade.