Polish army dagger,engraved

[militarymania]

what is the inscription on this dagger?what would the value on this be??.....thanks,,Robert

[3mk]

Hey there,
Sorry to inform you but this is a fake Officers Dagger.Real ones would have white/orange ivory grips and not yellow.The most I think you can sell it at as a repro is $75-100,

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Robert,

It’s difficult to come to any conclusions as to authenticity based on these photos. Is there a maker’s mark on the ricasso side of the blade (with the dedication)? If so, are you able to post a close up picture of this mark and also of the etching?

From what I can decipher the engraving states that the dagger was presented to an armoured corps officer cadet in 1938.

Regards,
Tony

[militarymania]

hi tony,,,there is no makers mark only the engraving of "honor & Fatherland",in Polish of course,,,i will post pics of the dagger,,,thanks,,RObert,,,any idea of what it is worth?...Polish items are not my area of collecting,,,

[A.J. Zawadzki]

This dagger has positive and negative characteristics. At present the negative outweigh the positive I am sorry to say. I am not keen on the dedication as it does not mention the recipient by name, and has a grammatical error if I am not mistaken, although it’s difficult to read it from the pictures. As far as the absence of a maker’s mark, this is not necessarily a red flag as there were several pre-war dagger producers that did not mark their products. Some remain unknown to this day (I own one such dagger). The etching pattern is not a standard Borowski type (he was the most prolific dagger maker, and his products are typically marked) so the lack of a mark is a possible sign of another maker. But again, I would need a good close up look at all of the details before make a judgment call.

As far as value, if this is a genuine dagger then without the dedication it would be in the $1400 - $1800 range. A dedication would a good 50+% to that value.

Regards,
Tony

[militarymania]

hi AJ,,,here are some more pics of the engraving,,i hope these will be better than the ones i posted before,,comments welcomed,,,Thanks,,,Robert

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Thank you for the additional pictures, although they don’t show all of the blade etching. The part that is visible is rather crude, and what I would consider sub-standard to what is typical of genuine period daggers. So far it’s not looking too good. But keeping optimistic I’ll say the jury is still out until I see close up pictures of the rest of the dagger and scabbard. Any chance at these?

Regards,
Tony

[militarymania]

Hi Tony,,,here are some more pics,,some close shots of the fittings and engraving,,,Robert

[militarymania]

couple more pics...

[A.J. Zawadzki]

Hi Robert, sorry I wasn't clear enough with my request. I need to see the entire etching side showing the floral sprays. There are plenty of pics of the engraved dedication, but not of the "Honor i Ojczyzna" side of the blade. Sory to be a nuisance, but these pics are crucial in arriving at a more definite opinion about this piece.

Regards,
Tony