Original Item: Only One Available. This is an very good condition matured early pattern SA Dienstdolch (Service Dagger) with a beautiful blade, made by rare maker August Bickel of Steinbach-Hallenberg, near Suhl, Germany. This is only the sixth item of any type that we have had from this maker, and all edged weapons from them are quite rare. It does look to have sustained damage to the grip at some point, which bent the crossguard to one side, cracking the grip and probably bending the tang. It comes comes compete with an original early production anodized scabbard, which is in very nice condition, though it does have a repaired hanger ring, as well as an early pattern belt hanger clip.

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a great example with a lovely aged look. The crossguards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout with all fittings having a nice aged matured patina. There is definitely age to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated. They show only light wear with no evidence of major cleaning over the years, which is definitely rare to see. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Mi, for Mitte (Center), an SA Administrative region to the West of Berlin, with Magdeburg as the main city. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely dark red brown mahogany color, with medium center ridge construction, which has a lovely aged look to the surface. The wood is still in very good condition, however it has is split at the bottom with a chip missing on one edge by the pommel, caused by the bend to the "Rat-tail" tang from when it was probably dropped. The pommel nut does not show any turning on the outside, and the grip is still tightly secured, with no wiggle. The SA symbol button is still set in the grip, with the enamel almost fully intact, showing patination to the metal borders of the insignia. 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 and bright, still showing almost all of the original factory final grind cross grain on both sides! This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. It shows some signs of light cleaning, but the grain is still present in most areas, except where the runners have worn it smooth. There are few tiny spots of oxidation and staining, with no major rust issues. The edge is correctly unsharpened, showing just a bit of light oxidation roughness. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, and the factory darkening is just a bit worn. Definitely a great condition blade!

The reverse ricasso is etched with the diamond-shaped trademark logo of August Bickel, with the 'Combined AB' monogram logo at the top over the name and address of the firm:

(AB Logo)
  AUGUST | STEINBACH-
    BICKEL    | HALLENBERG‧

August Bickel, Metallwarenfabrik (Metal Wares Factory) is a seldom seen maker from Steinbach-Hallenberg in Thuringia, near Suhl and Erfurt. This metalsmithing company made many high quality tools for export prior to 1914, and afterwards their trip-hammer forge allowed them to make SA and NSKK daggers during the NSDAP period. They did not have polishing facilities in house, so daggers were shipped to F. & A. Helbig and Jacob Kehr-Ritz for edging and polishing. The machine tools in the factory were captured and moved to Russia after the war ended, per GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS by J. Anthony Carter.

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 still looks to retain some of the lacquer near the fittings, and the original brown anodization is still well retained on the obverse, while the reverse shows more oxidation peppering, and also has a shallow dent present. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, with a great look and some dents and scratches showing typical wear. The chape is dented at the end, as the nickel alloy is somewhat soft, making this a common thing to see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, though the hanger loop fitting broke off long ago, and was re-soldered, though not exactly neatly. All four "dome head" screws are still present.

Attached to the hanger ring on the scabbard is a very nice early pattern leather belt hanger, which has the correct solid nickel alloy hardware, and is complete with the buckle, slider, and clip. The leather shows wear to the finish, though it is still supple, and the spring clip is fully functional. There are no markings on the leather or hardware that we can see.

A lovely repaired early wartime SA dagger with a great blade and some great service wear, made by a very rare maker and complete with the original scabbard and 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.