Original Item: Only One Available. This Army Dove Head Sword is a very nice example, made by the firm Ernst Pack & Söhne of Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. It comes complete with the correct steel scabbard, and as a real rarity, has a lovely "matte" finished carbon steel blade, not the usual nickel plated variety! These were custom ordered, so the owner was able to specify certain options. These were harder to keep clean, but had a very distinctive look.

The hilt on this example is the classic gilt brass alloy, and like most we see, the gilding is worn away from much of the surface, though still preserved in the recessed areas of the design. There is just some light patination on the exposed brass where it has worn away, giving it a lovely look. The overall design is a bit of a departure from the other examples we have seen, which mostly take after the "Field Marshall" series of Carl Eickhorn. The dove head and backstrap are embossed with the classic German oak leaves and acorns motif, which extends onto the side tabs. The "flat" P guard has the same motif, and onto the ferrule. There are lots of hand enhancing visible, and it is possible that the entire designs were done by hand, and not cast.

The chappe/langet features a raised out "closed wing" National eagle, which shows excellent detail to his beak, eye, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons and mobile clutched swas (hook cross). The other chappe is blank and would often be used for the officer to add a monogram, however this example is still unmarked.

The grip of this example is a black celluloid over a carved wood base. The celluloid is still in very good condition, with no cracking we can see, just some light wear from use. The grip is wrapped with three pairs of twisted wire, with the center pair being larger, and the wrapping is fully intact, with just a bit of looseness. There is some dirt and oxidation around the wires, which looks to be from various cleaning agents and polishes used over the years. The various components of the hilt are a bit loose on the tang, even though the blade buffer is present.

The matte finished carbon steel blade is 31 3/8 inches long, made of high quality spring steel. It is still correctly unsharpened, with a fully intact tip, and there is a bit of roughness on the edge from the original grinding, but no dents or chips. Thee matte finish is still very well retained, with no signs of major cleaning except about 4 inches from the tip, where it looks like some staining was polished out. This probably came from contact with the scabbard interior. The original leather blade buffer is present, showing light wear.

The reverse ricasso is stamped with the simplified trademark logo of Ernst Pack & Söhne, which is in excellent condition. It shows their trademark "Young Siegfried wielding a hammer" Logo, with the address underneath:

(Jung Siegfried Logo)
E. PACK & SÖHNE
SOLINGEN

Per J. Anthony Carter's book GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, this firm used this trademark on Army Officer swords during before the war and during the early years. They mostly made daggers so there is not as much information regarding the swords. The company survived the war, until it was sold in the 1960s to another knife company from Solingen, and the maker mark continued to be used into the 1990s.

As with the blade, the scabbard is a bit of a departure from the norm, and is not painted with black enamel, but instead is "anodized", or blued, and was originally issued with a clear lacquer coating to protect it. The lacquer is now flaking away in many areas, and there is some oxidation near the drag near the brazing seam, but otherwise it is in great shape, straight and dent free. The scabbard still retains the original hanger ring and flat loop to hook on the belt hanger.

Overall a very interesting example of a German Army Officer Dove Head sword by a known maker, complete with scabbard. Ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 31 3/8"
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 36 1/4“
Guard dimensions: 5" width x 5” length
Scabbard length: 32 1/2”

The German Army (German: Heer, was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force). During World War II, a total of about 15 million soldiers served in the German Army, of whom about seven million became casualties. Separate from the army, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. Growing from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, it served alongside the army but was never formally part of it.

Only 17 months after AH announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf AH, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, prompting the use of the word Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war, meaning lightning-fast war) for the techniques used.

The German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on the horse for transportation. The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war; artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the early campaigns in the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength.