Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice early pattern NSKK Dagger, made by the very desirable firm of Ernst Pack & Söhne of Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in western Germany. It comes comes compete with an original belt hanger and early pattern scabbard, which looks to have been refinished in black enamel at some point. It is very possible that this was originally an SA dagger, which are identical to the NSKK dagger except for the finish color on the scabbard.

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a really nice example. The cross guards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout, with all fittings having a nice lightly aged patina. There is some age to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Nrh, for Niederrhein (Lower Rhine Region), which encompassed a relatively small border area north of Cologne along the Rhine. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior. The nickel alloy pommel nut is in great shape, showing minor signs of turning on the hexagonal portion, and the handle is still tight on the tang.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely deep red cherry color, with medium center ridge construction, showing just a bit of wear and a few small dents. The grain is lovely, and there are not any chips or cracks present whatsoever. The symbol button is nicely set, and still has almost all of the translucent enamel intact, showing light wear to the surface. The plating has worn and oxidized a bit. The grip eagle is a fine example being the style with beak that points straight. Most of the details are still there to the eagle to include the beak, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons, wreath and mobile swas. There is a bit of wear and oxidation, showing that is the correct solid nickel silver for an early pattern eagle.

The blade of this example is in very good condition, looking to have seen light to moderate service during the war. It is mostly bright, though we can see that if definitely suffered some water related rust stains in the past, and is now very lightly oxidized overall, except where runner wear has worn this away. However, we can still see the factory final polish grind crossgrain throughout the blade in the light, though it is a bit faint. This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. There are just a few areas that look to have seen a bit deeper oxidation, and the edge is correctly unsharpened, with an intact tip. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, and the factory darkening retained at about 25%.

On the rear of the blade, there are the etched maker name and logo of E. Pack & Söhne, Ritterwerk (knight work), which is still fully legible! It shows their trademark "Young Siegfried wielding a hammer" Logo, surrounded by:

J. Anthony Carter's book GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, this firm used this trademark only on early SA and NSKK daggers, which they made a good number of. They were one of the known manufactures of the early daggers with the Röhm signature. They also manufactured various other edged weapons during the war under various trademarks. 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.

The scabbard shell is straight and is the early-war style, which was produced with a black "anodized" finish on the steel, which was then lacquered to protect it. This example looks to have lost the original lacquer and finish during the war, and was then refinished with black enamel. We can see the texture of past removed oxidation under this finish, which is in very good shape, and shows some age related deterioration, so we believe it is a period refinish. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, with a great worn look and a bit of oxidation. The chape has some light denting at the bottom ball, as the nickel alloy is somewhat soft, a common thing to see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, however all of the securing screws are missing, removed during the refinishing process and unfortunately lost.

Attached to the hanger ring on the scabbard is a very nice later pattern belt hanger, with nickel plated steel hardware and brown finished leather. The leather is in good condition, showing a wear and wrinkling to the finish, and there are several cracks in the finish as well. The fully functional spring clip on the end is marked with (RZM) code M5 / 71 for Overhoff & Cie. of Lüdenscheid, whose OLC in a diamond trademark is also present. There is some loss of plating on the end clip, and the leather itself is unmarked.

A very nice early wartime NSKK dagger with a fantastic blade, made by a desirable Solingen maker. Complete with a repainted scabbard and hanger, this dagger is ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 8 3/4"
Overall length: 13 3/4”
Crossguard: 3”
Scabbard Length: 10”

History of the SA & NSKK-

The SA or Brown Shirts, were a private political formation which Adolf AH and the NSDAP used to maintain order at organized Party meetings and demonstrations. The group was formed in 1921, and grew to a huge force of nearly 3,000,000 men by the later 1930's. To instill esprit de corps, as well as create employment for the Blade City of Solingen, it was decided each SA man would carry a dagger with his Brown Shirt uniform. Huge quantities needed to be produced to accommodate the demand. The dagger initially was produced of hand-fitted nickel mounts with attractive finished wood grip and brown anodized (a bluing process) finished scabbard.

The blade was etched with the SA motto, Alles für Deutschland. Examples produced prior to 1935 were stamped with the German sector of the SA group on reverse lower crossguard. Later examples underwent standardization through the RZM ministry. These pieces were produced of cheaper plated zinc-base fittings and scabbards were simply painted brown.

Prior to his "unmasking" as a traitor, Ernst Röhm was the leader of the SA. In 1934, he distributed approximately 100,000 SA daggers with his personal inscription on the reverse blade. These daggers were to honor individuals who had served with the SA prior to December, 1931. Other than the inscription, these pieces were identical to the standard M1933 SA dagger. After the Röhm purge, the inscription was ordered to be removed. Many examples were returned to the factory for grinding. Others were simply ground in the field by whatever means were available. Examples will occasionally be encountered with remnants of the original inscription remaining on the blade, but mostly none will remain. Some blades exist with an intact inscription, reflecting only the removal of the Röhm signature. Very very rarely is an example seen with a full, untouched inscription, as the holder would have surely risked a charge of treason.

After the purge, the NSKK, which had been a part of the SA, was split off into a separate organization. They retained the same daggers as the SA, however now used a black painted scabbard, and their officer's daggers had a few differences as well. Many already had SA daggers, so these had the scabbards painted black over the original brown anodized finish.