Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely "salty" service used early pattern NSKK Dagger, made by the very seldom seen firm of Wilhelm Kober & Co., based in Suhl, Germany. This maker is EXTREMELY rare to find, and this is only the third edged weapon of any type we have had by this firm. It comes comes compete with an original scabbard, which is in good shape, and had the steel body repainted at some point during WWII service.

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a nice example. It actually looks like the fittings were silver plated in addition to being nickel alloy, and now show a lovely tarnished patina. The crossguards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout, and there is little wear to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, which would happen if they were plated zinc alloy. As these are silver plated nickel silver, they do not show any flaking or oxidation where they contact the grip. The accent grooves are still nice, and they do not show any major damage, with the tang nut not showing any signs of turning. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Th, for Thuringen (Thuringia), a district in central Germany, with the principal cities being Weimar and Erfurt. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior.

The grip is a fine product having a nice mahogany color, with medium center ridge construction, and shows overall wear from use in service. There are small dents, dings, and other wear, though we do not see any major cracks or chips missing. The symbol button is still nicely set, however the enamel is almost completely missing. The plating is missing as well, showing the bronze base metal in most areas, with a ring of verdigris around the edge. The grip eagle is a fine example being the style with beak that points straight. The details are still mostly there to the eagle to include the beak, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons, wreath and mobile swas (hook cross).

The blade is very good service used condition, looking to have been cleaned multiple times to remove oxidation from moisture exposure. We can see that the scabbard runners drew water to the surface, so there are some removed water stain marks in the runner wear. The factory final polish grind crossgrain is still present next to the cross guard, though it has unfortunately been worn away on the rest of the blade surface from cleaning. This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is present but definitely a bit worn due to cleaning, and the original factory darkening is long gone. The blade does not look to have been sharpened, however it does show some nicks and chips on the edge, and the tip is dented / chipped as well.

This lovely service used example was produced by Wilhelm Kober & Co., a known Suhl-based producer of this knife during the pre-WWII period. The rear of the dagger is marked with the trademark "Centaur with a fore-leg raised, brandishing a gun" logo, surrounded with a double oval:

The "GEGR." is short for Gegründet, or founded, as this company was founded in 1874, and according to the DRABS for 1900-1925 was mainly a maker of mechanical hair clippers. They made some attempts to diversify into small electric motors, and only "a few early type SA and NSKK daggers were made during the Third Reich" per J. Anthony Carter's GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS. All of them were marked with this trademark, which was used specifically on these knives. Knives by this maker are extremely rare.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the early-war style, which were produced with a black "anodized" finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. This example looks to have lost the original lacquer finish as well as the anodization, and then was repainted during WWII over the faded finish. We can see some areas where it has chipped away, showing a lightly oxidized steel, which could be traces of the original anodization. The finish has aged a bit, showing some fine crazing in the enamel. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, and like the hilt fittings, look to have been silver plated, now showing a lovely tarnished patina. The chape is dented in at the end, as the nickel alloy is somewhat soft, making this a common thing to see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, however the throat screws are both missing, with only one present on the chape.

A very nice service used early war NSKK dagger from a very rare maker, with an original scabbard. Ready to display!

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

History of the SA-

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.