Article about: This is being sold on Whittmans, I really don't care for it one bit, I had a friend that sent me a few pics of an identical dagger less the sharpening from the U.K., any comments are welcome
Hello , i found another one , here are pictures and description for reference,
Here on offer is what I believe to be a very rare example of a WW2 RAD Officers Czechoslovakian Dagger by WKC, Solingen.
I have owned this dagger for over 30 years and have been puzzled as to its construction and use?
I was really pleased to see that the exact same type of dagger was recently listed on Tom Wittmann’s Militaria web site. Tom Wittmann is a world famous collector, author and authority on German edged Weapons and I truly value his knowledge.
The dagger is unusual in that it has an enlisted RAD man's style hilt and a RAD officer's blade and scabbard.
Tom states that he believes these where made especially for German RAD leader’s that may have been assigned to Prague or one of the German occupied districts in Bohemia and Moravia.
It appears that the RAD Hewer style hilt has been lightly trimmed on the crossguard area around the lower quillion. This trimming or thinning of the area makes the hilt flow much nicer with the scabbard.
The ferrule and beak area at the pommel appear to be the same as a standard RAD Hewer.
The plating throughout the hilt is in excellent condition with no lifting and with a lovely dark patina finish.
Instead of the normal stag plates you would find on a RAD Hewer, the RAD officer's stlye of ivorine or celluloid grip plates have been fitted. These grip plates are in excellent condition and have been skilfully cut and fit the grip area perfectly. The front plate does not sit totally flat against the metal hilt as the folded metal tags on the back of the metal insignia are holding it in a slightly raised position. There is also a very small grove cut in the front plate just above the enamel emblem. The plates are held in place by two original screws with threaded circular nuts.
In the centre of the front grip plate front, is an enamelled Hitler Youth ‘shield’ insignia, the type of which apparently were used in Czechoslovakia during WW2. The insignia consists of the black enamel swastika within a silver diamond which is inlaid in a shield shaped device, having red enamel edges with white enamel centre. There is a slight chip to the white enamel near the swastika emblem.
The scabbard is a standard RAD officer example, with the exception that it does not have any screw holes or screws fitted to retain the scabbard throat. The silvering finish is in excellent condition, with a tiny area missing near the tip and a couple of tiny lifts on the reverse. The right edge has the two carrying brackets that are in the shape of ‘ears’.
The plated blade is the RAD officer's type, and it is in excellent overall condition, measuring 10.25” (26cm) in length. On the front of the blade is etched the RAD motto "Arbeit adelt" in gothic text, which retains some of its original background darkening.
The reverse ricasso is etched with the knighthead trademark, beneath which are the initials of the firm and its location, "WKC Solingen". There are some runner marks to both sides of the blade otherwise; this blade is in excellent condition.
The dagger fits tightly into its scabbard and inserted measures 15.9” (40.4cm) long and weighs a heavy 600g.
All I can say is this is a rare opportunity to own what must be one of the rarest types of RAD officer’s dagger ever made at a very resonable price.
Please see my pictures for the details of the condition, which complement this description.
Im not convinced of the story...Sorry but why a Hitler youth emblem and not a Rad insignia ?
We all remember the story of the Luftwaffe Black gripped funeral dagger ?
There is not enough proof in my opinion when the word " Believed " is used in a description.
30 years is not long ago and Attwood or whoever before that may have had a hand in this assemblage...these thoughts the same as " I believe " also may be the case.
This dagger doesnt matter where or who it came from ....what matters is provenance and a little more history than just conjecture.
Again ...why the Hitler youth emblem and I see visual distress / gouge beneath the grip emblem.
Belief can kill alot of people in a hospital if just guessing.
Regards Larry
More history of the RAD in the Czech Republic will support the dagger and not the present story.
It is not the size of a Collection in History that matters......Its the size of your Passion for it!! - Larry C
One never knows what tree roots push to the surface of what laid buried before the tree was planted - Larry C
“The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.” - Winston Churchill
I am going to digress for a moment and say this, Atwood had NOTHING to do with these! They are way after his day. I see two things happening here that I have seen over and over.
Someone with high regard in the collector world posts something for sale at, say, $2000 as a "RARE Variant". A halfway competent Knife maker sees it, and says to himself, "Geez, That is a lot of Money!" Then discovers that most or all of the parts are readily available on the internet for a total of about $400 Tops, and Voila, He has one too!!
Maybe not quite as nice as the one the high dollar Dealer has, maybe the Emblem is mounted on the surface of the grip, instead of nicely inlaid like the one the dealer has, but close enough. and with a much nicer blade, to boot.
For a total expenditure of about $400 and 3-5 hours of work, he can make $1500 Bucks! Hell of a deal! #2 One of the "tricks of the trade" is to actually point out a problem, i.e. the missing screws, and talk about how that "Proves" it actually is a Rare Variant.
It would be easy to tap and add screws, but you don't want to vary too much from what the Dealers Example is like. Then all the examples come out of the woodwork after languishing in your Uncle's, Grandfather's, 2nd Cousins maiden Aunt's, etc. Trunk, Garage, Underwear Drawer, for the last 30-50 years!
This thing has it all for the Faker, Nothing to compare it against for the collector, some "Plausability" for it's existence, and it is sitting in the store of a respected Expert. It doesn't get any better!
OK, Back to the comments and photos I was posting, Shortly.
Replicas/fakes have been around a long time. Those of us who can remember the 1970's can witness to that. Those made in that era are now wilth some degree of patina that makes them more convincing. But lack of quality in manufacture usually expose them, the Solingen maker had high standards pre war. And I agree with Larry without provenance and documented evidence of existence during the TR, it is highly likely the "rare varient" is a fake cobbled together by some clever person.
Uhhh, Hey Anderson...That was MY post not Larry's. He just edited it for clarity, I think? I am new to the forum and learning. I was not aware that somebody could edit another persons Postings. But if Larry did it for that reason, I thank him.
Anyway, onward and upward! Just to be clear, I wasn't being offensive to you Anderson. I assume you just saw the "edited by" tag and thought it was posted by Larry. NO prob.
I went and dug around in my parts pile some more and ran across a fair Original, Alcosa, RAD Leader blade and thought I would throw it into the mix.
To be honest, after 50 Years in this hobby, I have Never seen a RAD Leader Blade with the WKC Maker on it!
I did NO grinding or fitting of any of these parts and just dry fit them. You can see they go together quite nicely just like they are.
And, When slid into the Scabbard it really does look like they were all put together Originally. They did not need any trimming or fitting to look right.
There was a slight gap between the blade shoulder and the grip, but that would be very easily concealed under the Leather Buffer that I did not add due to the fact that it is also missing on BOTH of the "Unusual" one examples. Wouldn't want to have something on there that is Incorrect, Would we?
What do you guys think so far?
Next, I will give an opinion on the scales (Grip Plates) and insignia attachment, If you guys would like me to go on.
.
- Larry C
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