So if the tag on the dagger bears no weight, and the veteran who brought the item home isn't to be believed, what would constitute providence that an edged weapon or for that matter any relic, was found in a certain setting? And what then would be considered a 100% real document? A modern day collector using a time machine, going back to 1944 and video taping himself discovering the relic?
Obviously a written document from that veteran, that identifies his name, unit he served in, and dated and signed, stating where the item was found and the circumstances. That gives a buyer some ability to verify a story and have confidence the story is authentic. Photographs associated with that veteran from the theatre of service may also be useful if available. Many veterans have now passed away but a written document from a family member of the veteran relaying the story could also establish provenance if the details can be verified. Without provenance the collector can only value the item on what they can see, not the story.
Also keep in mind that veterans are not immune from forgetting circumstances and events that happened 70 plus years ago and even embellishing the truth to make the story more interesting. It is common to get things mixed up and forgotten..
We hear stories everyday at the museum when a family member comes in and wants to donate their relatives items and claims this and that about said veteran, but without provenance and further evidence it's simply a story.. Most Veterans were not thinking about writing information on a paper tag and attaching it to something they picked up off the battlefield 70 years ago, they were more concerned about survival, and post war memories can be clouded and confused..
Read some of the obituary's out there,, I.E. "so and so served in WW2 in such and such unit and was awarded 6 bronze stars for example"... Well the problem with that statement is are we talking Bronze Star medals for Valor and Meritorious Service or Bronze stars that are affixed to a campaign medal to show participation in a campaign???
Had a situation happen a few months ago as a matter of fact, a family member claimed the relative jumped in Italy with the 101st Airborne Division, well the 101st was never in Italy, that was purely an 82nd Theater.. Swore up and down that she was correct until I showed her evidence and she backed down and apologized..
Now after I conducted extensive research for her since she had admittedly been misinformed by the now deceased relative the actual facts of the story was that the relative was indeed a paratrooper, he did serve in Italy, but with the 82nd Airborne and then when he was wounded he was not able to rejoin the 82nd in time for Normandy, so he sat out that jump but managed to link up with the 101st and somehow managed to jump with them into Holland. He finished his time of service in the Army with the 101st and was discharged
(Part of my job as a museum curator is to educate the public and inform them when they make inaccurate claims, most of the time they are grateful but every so often you will run into those who insist that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and with that you just have to shake your head and say to yourself, reading is fundamental)...
@ JR Meda,
Not saying that your friend who picked up his Luftwaffe dagger from the cockpit of a plane in Normandy is not telling the truth, It could have very well happened,,, the whole reason behind the response to the topic was the fact that the dagger pictured was fake and the paper tag with the story on it would obviously convince many people if their focus was not on the etched dagger but the "provenance". It had been determined that the Luftwaffe Dagger was made by a manufacturer who did in fact produce 2nd Pattern Luftwaffe Daggers but they were not etched which was the big red flag warning with this dagger that was posted. The focus on the tag with the information was the distractor to take focus away from the fake dagger...
Sadly someone learned a $2000 plus error and it is my opinion they focused only on the significance of the information written on the paper tag and not on the artifact itself, Had the buyer done some simple research they could have concluded that the dagger was fake and any follow on information about it would have also been a red flag...
Smitty
If we had a time machine that could go back and see when the tag was attached to this "humped up" dagger - what we would see I think is some dealer writing it to try and jack up the price. As for the carrying one in the cockpit of a combat aircraft do the proponents of such a practice know how much room there was, or the complexity of flying one? Privately owned or government issued pistols neatly secured in holsters is one thing, but daggers (presumably on hangers) as weapons to defend yourself? Best Regards, Fred
Good point Smitty. My own grandfather, a veteran of two world wars, in his advanced years confused his own war experiences with stories he had heard from his old mates years earlier. He firmly believed it occurred to him, but we knew he was mistaken.
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