Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very nice early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from the famous maker SMF. Early examples such as this were fit with silver-plated nickel alloy mountings, with lovely brass "Sunwheel" style Hankenkreuz (Hook Cross or Swas) emblems. Later they would move to the "Air Age" aluminum material, which didn't develop the lovely patina that this sword has.

The blade of this example measures 28 1/4 inches, and is in very good used condition. It still retains most of the nickel plating, though there are areas of plating loss and oxidation. There are also a few areas of light pitting, as shown. The sword looks to have seen long service, and is also marked with 68874, marked with an engraving pen. This could be the operating number of the owner, or maybe the soldier who captured it.

The reverse ricasso of this sword is marked with the SMF trademark logo, which features the etched king holding an upward pointing sword, and is known as the "Seated King". The king is sitting on the firm initials SMF and is positioned above an arch shaped town location SOLINGEN. Solinger Metalwaren-Fabrik Stöcker & Co. GmbH, also known as SMF, were one of the major suppliers of edged weapons to the Luftwaffe during WWII. As the name implies, they were located in Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

There is also a faint Weimar eagle 5 inspection stamp above the maker mark, a common Luftwaffe inspection mark, who continued to use the Weimar style eagle throughout the war. The leather blade buffer at the top of the cross guard is about half missing, and in worn condition.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, with brass caps for the Swas designs. They do show some wear to the plating, probably from storage and cleaning, but still have a great look. The pommel has very nice rims, with just some light edge scratching, and very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. The medallion sun wheels are very good as well, having great aged brass finish which really sticks out against the silver next to them, though some of the plating is worn through. The lower cross guard sun wheels still have complete silvering between the legs. The crossguards are nice and crisp and they both have good detail to the feathering of the downward pointing quillons, which still have a lot of the plating.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. This leather is in very good condition throughout and still shows all of the leather grain. There is some wear and finish flaking, and the blue color has faded to more of a green. The original double twisted bullion wire wrapping is intact, with a great dark patina and some of the copper base metal showing

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the metal body. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in very good shape. There are no cuts or nips; the only signs of age are a few bruises in the surfaces of the leather, but this is to be expected on any Luftwaffe sword. This leather is all there, and we cannot even find the seam, so it has not lifted at all. However, the leather at the bottom near the drag is somewhat bumpy, so it may be lifting, or there could be oxidation underneath pushing it up. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with silver plate. The mounts are in good condition, with fully intact plating with a great patina in places. The Moroccan leather sword hanger is present, and shows age, with wear to the leather, but is fully intact and has no repairs.

A very nice early Luftwaffe sword from a well-known Solingen maker, with a nickel-plated blade. Ready to display!