Original Items: Only One Available. This is an excellent early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from a famous maker. Early examples such as this were fit with silver-plated nickel alloy mountings, with lovely brass "Sunwheel" style Swas (Hook Cross) 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 27 1/8 inches, and is very impressive. It has an outstanding nickel plated surface in excellent condition, with just a bit of runner wear on the flats. There are some nicks and dents to the edges of the blade, and there is a dent and a bit of a bend to the tip, so it looks to have been dropped on the tip at some point. We assume this damage occurred after capture, as we often see. There is no real oxidation or lifting of the nickel plated finish.

The reverse ricasso of this great sword is maker marked E. & F. HÖRSTER / SOLINGEN in an oval "lozenge" around the company's trademark downward pointing sword piercing interlocking HHS initials. E. & F. Hörster & Co Gmbh, is a well-known maker from Solingen, the famous "City of Blades" in Western Germany, which marketed many fine edged weapons. Originally founded in 1850 as "Friedrich Hörster" in 1850, the company was renamed to E. & F. Hörster in 1870 at the behest of Friedrich Emil & Fritz Hörster. The firm lasted long after WWII, finally being declared insolvent in 1996. For more information please see GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS by J. Anthony Carter. There is also a Weimar Eagle / 5 above the maker mark, a common Luftwaffe inspection stamp, who continued to use the Weimar style eagle throughout the war. Also, the original leather blade buffer is still present on top of the cross guard, and definitely shows some age related degradation and missing material.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, possibly silver plated originally. This example has lovely brass inserts for the "Sunwheel" swas designs on the pommel and crossguard, which have mellowed beautifully to a golden color. The pommel has very nice rims, with just a few dents and scratches, and very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. 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, which shows a bit of oxidation.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. This leather is in very good condition throughout and still shows most of the leather grain. There is a bit of wear through in places, but it looks to just be the surface layer of leather, and does not extend to the wooden base. The original double twisted bullion wire wrapping is intact, though the plating is worn, so much of the copper base can be seen.

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the non-magnetic metal body. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in very good shape. There are some scuffs and also a good amount of denting, however no areas where the base metal can be seen. The seam is still fully glued down, with no signs of separation in the leather. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with silver plate. The mounts are in good condition, with mostly intact plating with a great patina in places. The leather sword hanger is is present, with an intact box hanger ring.

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

Specifications:

Blade Length: 27 1/8"
Blade Style: Double Edge w/ Partial Fuller
Overall length: 34 1/8“
Crossguard: 5 1/4"
Scabbard length: 28 3/4”