Where It All Started

[Horst]

Guess we all have one thing that got us started in this hobby, mine was this SA dagger given to me while I was a young GI stationed in Germany in the 60,s.
I was visiting a great uncle/aunt in bavaria and he gave me this dagger which needless to say is still in my collection today.
The SA maker is "Carl Heidelberg,Solingen" with the SA group mark "Ns"(Niedersachsen) on the crossguard. The anodizing on the scabbard is complete with little wear the rest of the dagger is in great shape.

Horst

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Such a lovely dagger. Good thing you kept it, because you would have looked back and wish you still had it, trust me.

[Neil Hever]

Speaking of being in Germany in the 1960s, a friend who was an Army brat was in Berlin back then picking up stuff on the cheap at the local Flohmarkt. One item passed along to me is this re-issued Heer Stahlhelm. Always nice to get something real from a friend or family member! Glad you kept the SA blade. NH

[sitges1990]

Handsome dagger Horst, typical of your high quality collection. You have a fascinating family history to go with it. I hope some day I can drop by the bunker for a beer and tour.

Take care,
Jay

[colt45]

got my SA dagger in 62 because it had my boss name on it... BECKER , he wanted it so bad, I still have it... its mint and was $20 back then

[Swordfish]

This was my 1st edged weapon. It was sent to me as a gift from a relative who bought the piece years back for very little. At the time I did not collect edged weapons. Mostly various other items..badges, cloth, EKs, etc., starting about 28 years ago. Once I took posession of this Heer, it was all over with respect to edged weapons. In the process, my interest shifted from mostly daggers to now primarily sabers/schwerts/degens.

Anywhoooo, "heers" a pic of the dagger which lit the edged weapons fuze...

[Horst]

Thanks guys - when the bug bites it bites -

Horst

[cogwheel]

Looking back it seems strange that my first dagger that started my collecting obsession was an SS dagger. Not only that, it was a Himmler dedication dagger, although at the time (1991) I had no clue regarding the significance of that Himmler inscription. An acquintance of a friend of a friend just had inherited a trunk from an uncle who had just passed away and left a number of items he picked up in Germany after the war as an army officer. Neither I nor the seller had any idea of what is was worth so we agreed on a price of $150. It was almost a year after I bought it that I realized what I had - after I had purchased Johnson's books on German Daggers.

[Horst]

cogwheel - you were one lucky man - but I know it fits right in with the rest of your rare and wonderful daggers-

Horst

[Rommel1942]

Damn Cogwheel.. Your one lucky man.. !!