S.A. dagger with gold crossguards?

[Hallibag]

I found this beat-up old dagger today at a yard sale. Of course I was skeptical about it, figuring it was likely a fake, but the elderly gentleman who sold it to me said that he'd owned it for many years, and that he had obtained from a militaria dealer friend who had assured him that it was genuine. Despite this, I'm still skeptical about it's authenticity, so I was hoping someone here might share there opinion as to whether it's the real deal or not.

Now, probably the most unusual thing about it is the gold colour of the crossguards. That, and the strange dots on one side of the wooden handle. I'll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about these daggers, being a collector of Canadian and British militaria, so any guidance would be appreciated!



Edit - Whoops, just noticed that this should be in the S.A. sub-forum. Sorry! Moderator, please move if you can. Thanks.

[Larry C]

Hi Mr Hallibag....this dagger is used and abused ...comprised of varied fittings..none of which are original to each other.

Sadly the degraded blade has a rarer type producer not too easily found.
The scabbard is missing its lower fitting.

The crossguards that you inquire about do not belong to this dagger or the early time period at all and would say its mid period plated type. The gold hue on the guards could be a few things..and would lean more on lightly nicotined from hanging on a vets wall.

One of the forums reputable sources is this Lakesidetrader photo that shows that these early daggers are supposed to fit tightly together.



This SA forum is the correct place you want to be .. when you get a chance ..You will see the large differences between your dagger posted and the daggers of other members.

I will use WRF member Gerrits thread as an example of an early SA dagger

Place here your Tiger striped NSKK or SA Grip

Regards Larry

[maximus71]

Whew thats a rough one to look at, kind of like the last girl sitting at the bar at 2am lol. Blade looks like someone put it to the grinder, Scabbard is also missing its leather hanger ring, I lean towards nicotine toning as well.

[Hallibag]

Well, I knew it was rough but, for $30 Canadian, I couldn't pass it up. Did I overpay?

[mauser9]

Yeah pretty rough but don't think you overpaid at that price.

[Wagriff]

For $30 CD, you could tear it back apart and sell it as replacement parts and Still make some money on it.

[Glenn66]

$30 is a bargain even though she's ugly as hell.

[maximus71]

For that price it's the most beautiful dagger I ever saw !

[Hallibag]

Thanks to everybody for their replies. The seller told me the dagger was already in this condition when he got it, years ago, so we can't blame him for its current state. I'm thinking somebody let their kid play with it, years ago. Anyway, I'm glad my big investment in this knife is safe.

Now, I'm not 100% sure about the crossguards being nicotine-stained. They look genuinely gold-plated, shiny and with a completely even colouring. Has anyone ever seen an example of similar dagger with gold-plated crossguards?

Also, the pommel nut is quite loose. I don't know if that's because the wooden handle has shrunk, or what. I suppose I have nothing to loose by attempting to tighten it up? That should help the dagger's appearance a little bit, as when I pull the crossguards and handle together with my fingers the nasty gaps you see now almost disappear. Of course, there's still all the other problems!

[Larry C]

the 2nd thoughts of the gold hue will be a high nickel content in the plating..that only exposes itself through time which in most cases ..takes quite a few decades.

The third alternative is the guards were period gold washed denoting SA Marine . I would lean heavily more onto my 2nd point of it being high nickel content ..after seeing the heaped abuse upon this dagger ,, surely the Gold wash would of rubbed off during its traumatic transition of being Frankensteined.

Regards Larry