The Tom Kendall Heer Collection and Military Antiques

[heers68]

Great finds Tom! Love the Rosenberger SMF, and I have yet to get an example of the "big chested" guard you discovered! Best, Kevin.

[T Kendall]

Well the 2017 Max show has come and gone. I would like to say I had a great time with Ivan and Kevin as we spent the whole week together and had a great trip. This has become a tradition for us that I hope we can continue for years to come.

I have not added an army to my collection since the SOS in Feb-2017. I went to the Max with the mind set of going in conservative and looking for a Horster Type-2 to finish off my crossguard collection. Yes a common dagger and many to choose from just looking for the right one to fill the slot. I also thought maybe a nice slant or perhaps two may turn up and of course its dam hard to pass on any slant especially some of the rarer variations.

Well long story short the first hour of Wednesday dealer setup up I had spent 90% of the money I had allotted for the trip To my surprise we had stumbled on a dealers table that had begun pulling out slant after slant. Needless to say this was a rare opportunity and we found out during the negotiations that this was Ford Crews collection that was being sold on behalf of his daughter due to his passing.

Now if you are into army daggers you should know who Ford Crews was. A man I greatly respected not only for his knowledge of army daggers but the person that he was. We have correspond over the years mostly by email but also in person at the Max and SOS when he would attend.

Off the top of my head a few things he discovered and introduced to collectors was the Weyersberg scabbard flaw - the unique Holler head enhancement as seen on the Holler Type-2 and the horizontal cross grain on the center segment on some of the Early Holler army daggers. There are certainly more revelations but these are a few I can think of off the top of my head. Search him on GermanDaggers.com and you will see firsthand for yourself the many contributions he has made to the army field and his true love and passion for collecting army daggers.

He will be missed and remembered RIP Ford Crews. Well after the smoke cleared Kevin and I bought 11 army daggers from Fords Collection 9 of which were slants. I was fortunate to pick up a killer Klaas 2nd & frosty distributor marked Holler 2nd that ironically I traded to Ford many years ago and never knew one day it would return back to me.

The 5 slants were a Axt - Plumacher - Wusthof (Sorry Kevin ) - P.Sielheimer & Alcoso that Ford had attributed to a General Rossing. One of these daggers (PS) has a new crossguard Type I will introduce soon once I get the dagger photographed I have been looking for one of these blockhead guards for years I have shown a sneak peak of the guard on WAF if anyone is interested. I will post the daggers as I get them photographed and it will be a slow process.

[T Kendall]

Here is the Plumacher slant. Great dark patina with beautiful detail / handwork to the textbook Plumacher hilt and scabbard. The bright blade is untouched with all the crossgrain but has suffered some deep scratches on both sides. Overall a beauty and IMO ranks as one of the rarest army daggers.

[Larry C]

Hi Tom...I lost the plot about lines into that great block of text and thought I was in an algerbra nightmare

I broke down into paragraphs for better comprehension for the other readers and myself..i think you and Fred Prinz had the same English teachers..LOL...anyway .... Yea I heard about the Ford crews collection after the fact being put out on the tables..sounds like a mini Max Show right at that table !!

I had seen some nice Heer daggers throughout the show still being offered reasonably. Great show and good to see you and all others i had seen in the past..and also some new faces that I was honored to meet also.

Regards Larry

[T Kendall]

Thanks Larry ! Grammar never was my strong point Enjoyed seeing you at the show !

[gerrit]

Tom that is a lovely addition to your collection!
I just love it, i have seen a few pics with your Max loot on it and i envy you and Kevin, great daggers.
Normally it takes years to find what you both bought from the Ford collection, congratz to you both.

Luckily i had Larry & Ivan who were willing to pick a few lovely early ones for me, another WKC type 2, a Klaas Type 1A slant and a Höller slant which you both saw at the show.

Looking forward to the other ones

Ger

[T Kendall]

Tom that is a lovely addition to your collection!
I just love it, i have seen a few pics with your Max loot on it and i envy you and Kevin, great daggers.
Normally it takes yours to find what you both bought from the Ford collection, congratz to you both.
Luckily i had Larry & Ivan who were willing to pick a few lovely early ones for me, another WKC type 2, a Klaas Type 1A slant and a Höller slant which you both saw at the show.
Looking forward to the other ones
Ger

Ger
Thank You - I did see your daggers all very nice and rare pieces you did very well. The Holler I am pretty sure was part of Doug Ritchie,s collection at one time.

[North of 55]

Hello Tom

Impressive dagger ! Thanks for sharing and a hard one to find also. Your making me jealous

Cheers

Mario

[Larry C]

Hello Tom

Impressive dagger ! Thanks for sharing and a hard one to find also. Your making me jealous

Cheers

Mario

Out of the Great White Woodwork of the North !! ..great to see you Mario at the show and here on the forum

Regards Larry

[T Kendall]

Hello Tom

Impressive dagger ! Thanks for sharing and a hard one to find also. Your making me jealous

Cheers

Mario

Mario
Thank You ! see at the SOS I hope.