Original Item: Only One Available. This is an very good condition early pattern SA Dagger, made by the very rare firm of Emil Voos, Waffenfabrik (weapon factory), located in Solingen, Germany. This company is known for making early pattern SA daggers, but only made them in limited numbers. It is rated 8 out of 10 for rarity on the McSARR (McAlvanah SA Rarity Rating) scale, assembled based on 18,000 daggers as seen by Mike McAlvanah. Makers of this rarity are extremely desirable and sought after by collectors, and it it is assumed makers of this rarity only made about 1,500-1,000 daggers during the WWII period. We have had items from this company before, but most were swords or HJ knives. It comes comes complete with an original correct early type scabbard, which is in very good shape, and has an attached leather hanger and belt loop.

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a very nice example. The crossguards 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. They show only light wear with just a bit of light denting and scratching. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Nm, for Nordmark (Northern Border), which is an area in the far north of Germany contiguous with southern Denmark. The principal city is the port of Kiel on the Baltic Sea, where many of the most important shipbuilders of WWII Germany were located. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely deep mahogany red color, with medium center ridge construction. It does look to have been finished at some point with lacquer or somet other finish, and this is very well retained. We can see that there was some chipping and cracking near the guards prior to this, which are hard to visualize due to the finish. The end nut does show some turning, and the pommel is a bit loose on the tang as the nut is bottomed out. The SA symbol button is still nicely set, and still has most of the translucent enamel intact, with some areas showing wear and the nickel showing some oxidation. The grip eagle is a fine example being the style with beak that points straight. It has just a bit of verdigris on it, showing that it is solid nickel alloy, and it has patinated nicely. The details are still there to the eagle to include the beak, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons, wreath and mobile swas (hook cross).

The blade is in very good condition, still showing the original factory final grind cross grain on both sides throughout the surface. This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. Some of it has been removed by polishing and cleaning, as is typical, and there is also the usual runner wear that we see on these knives. There is a bit of light staining and oxidation in areas, as well as swirl marks from cleaning, but no major wear, and the edge is still correctly blunt. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, with the factory darkening still partly present.

This fine example was produced by very rare maker Emil Voos, Waffenfabrik (weapon factory) of Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. The rear of the dagger is marked with the company's "Serpent around a stump" trademark logo, with the maker name and address surrounding it in arcs:

Emil Voos, Waffenfabrik, also known as a Spezialfabrik für Jagd- und Sportmesser (Special Factory for Hunting and Sporting Knives), was a Solingen-based knife maker founded in 1925. The "Serpent-and-Stump" logo with the name and address in arcs was specifically used on the early period SA and NSKK daggers made by Voos, which would later switch to the RZM number M7/2. For more information please see J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, pages 539-540. We have only had a handful of items by this maker, and this is the first early pattern SA dagger we have had.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the early-war style, which were produced with a brown "anodized" finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. This example shows overall wear to the lacquer, which is retained at less than 20%, showing scattered areas where it is still present. However, most of the original anodized finish is still present, which looks to be a bit darker brown in color than used by other makers. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, with a great look and some dents and scratches showing typical wear. The chape end ball is dent in a bit, which is a common thing to see due to the soft nickel alloy, however it is not split like we sometimes see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, and the fittings are tightly secured, though it looks like two of the dome-headed screws were replaced with trimmed brass wire.

Attached to the hanger ring on the scabbard is a nice early pattern belt hanger, with solid nickel alloy hardware and brown finished leather. The leather is in good condition, showing a wear and wrinkling to the finish, and some cracking around the scabbard ring. The keeper is present, however the stitching has completely rotted out, so it can be removed. The spring clip is fully functional, and we were not able to see any maker markings on the leather or hardware.

A lovely early war SA dagger from an exceedingly rare maker, complete with a lovely original scabbard and belt hanger. 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.