Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very good condition early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from the famous maker SMF. 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 28 1/8 inches, and is in very good lightly used condition. The nickel plating is still retained beautifully on much of the blade, with some light scuffing from cleaning, there is also runner wear from the scabbard on the central flat area, which has worn through the plating in two spots on the reverse. The edge is unsharpened and does not have any nicks, and the tip has just the tiniest bent on the very end. Really a nice early example!

The reverse ricasso of this sword is marked with the SMF rademark logo, which features the etched king holding an upward pointing sword, and is known as the "Seated King". The king is sitting on the firm initials SMF and is positioned above an arch shaped town location SOLINGEN. Solinger Metalwaren-Fabrik Stöcker & Co. GmbH, also known as SMF, were one of the major suppliers of edged weapons to the Luftwaffe during WWII. As the name implies, they were located in Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS. The leather blade buffer at the top of the cross guard is partly present, with probably less than 40% remaining.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, with brass caps for the "Sunwheel" Swas (hook cross) designs on the pommel. They show only light wear, with all of the plating still present between the "arms" of the hook crosses, and have a lovely patina. The pommel also has very nice rims, with some light edge scratching, and very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. The lower cross guard sun wheels still have complete silvering between the legs. 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, showing a lovely patina.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. The leather is in very good condition, still retaining the original color well, though there are two sports worn through to the wooden under portion. It also shows some color loss due to wear. The original double twisted bullion wire wrapping is intact, with a great dark patina and some of the copper base metal showing.

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the metal body that we can see. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in very good shape, with just one area below the throat where tape was used to cover a tear, which when removed took off the finish. There are some small scuffs and tears, abut no other major damage, and the seam is still securely glued down. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with silver plate. The mounts are in good condition, with fully intact plating with a great worn dark patina in places. The Moroccan leather sword hanger is present, and shows age, with wear to the leather, but is fully intact and has no repairs.

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

Specifications:

Blade Length: 28 1/8"
Blade Style: Double Edge w/ Partial Fuller
Overall length: 35 1/4“
Crossguard: 5"
Scabbard length: 29 1/4”