Original Item: Only One Available. This is an original German WWII Heer Army Officer Dove Head Sword by ALCOSO of Solingen, dating circa 1936-1940 and complete with its original black enamel steel scabbard. It is particularly appealing for its factory style interlocking E K monogram on the reverse langet, along with its steel based plated hilt, black celluloid grip, nickel plated blade, and early ALCOSO scales trademark.

The hilt is unusual in that the base material is magnetic iron or steel rather than the more commonly encountered gilt brass or aluminum. It appears to have been nickel plated and then brass plated beneath the final gilt finish. Approximately 50% of the gilt remains, with wear exposing the brass and nickel layers beneath and a few areas worn through to the base metal, where light oxidation is present. The Dove Head pommel, backstrap, side tabs, flat P guard, and ferrule are decorated with high relief oak leaves and acorns.

The obverse langet features a high relief open wing Heer national eagle looking to the right, with strong remaining breast and wing feather detail and a mobile hook cross held in the talons. Hand enhancing is visible in the decoration, helping sharpen the cast details. The reverse langet has an oval personalization field bearing an interlocking:

E K

monogram, which appears professionally and likely factory executed.

The grip is black celluloid over a carved wood core and remains in very good condition without visible cracking or major damage. It is wrapped with three pairs of twisted wire, the center pair being somewhat larger, and the wire remains largely intact with only light oxidation. The hilt components remain tight to the blade, though the backstrap has some movement and one side tab has lost its end rivets.

The nickel plated blade measures approximately 32 1/8" and remains in very good condition overall. The plating is well retained with scattered light oxidation specking and some scuffing from past cleaning, but no major flaking or chipping. The edge remains correctly unsharpened with only minor roughness in places, and the tip is intact and straight. The original leather blade buffer remains present at the guard, though it shows age related deterioration.

The reverse ricasso is stamped with the trademark Alcoso used from 1936-1940. It depicts the scales with the firm's initials, ACS interspersed. Above is the firm's name in an arc, ALCOSO, and below the town of business, SOLINGEN, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany.

Alcoso is a trade name of Alexander Coppel & Co. KG, Stahlwarenfabrik, located in Solingen, the legendary German "City of Blades." Per J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, the company was a major manufacturer of edged weapons and tools from the end of the 19th century up until the WWII period. Unfortunately, as NSDAP-control increased, brothers Carl Gustav and Dr. Alexander Coppel, the Jewish owners of the firm, were forced out. In 1936 the firm had been "Aryanized", and started using the name ALCOSO to hide the Jewish family name. By the end of 1936 the brothers were ejected from their Solingen offices, and by 1940 the brand trademark initials ACS were changed to AWS to reflect the change in ownership and name: Alexander Coppel Solingen to Alcoso-Werk Solingen. Carl Gustav Coppel committed suicide in Solingen in 1941, and Dr. Alexander Coppel was arrested in 1942 and sent to Theresienstadt Prison camp, where he died August 5th 1942. The factory itself was destroyed by Allied bombers in November 1944.

The steel scabbard remains in very good condition and retains more than 80% of its original black enamel finish. It shows scattered small areas of finish loss from oxidation and scuffing, along with attractive age related checking and crazing, and there is no obvious evidence of repainting. The body is mostly straight with no notable dents, though it has a slight overall curve that does not interfere with inserting or removing the blade. The hanger ring and rectangular hitching slot remain intact and show only light finish loss.

With its interlocking E K monogram, circa 1936-1940 ALCOSO trademark, unusual steel based plated hilt, high relief oak leaf decoration, black celluloid grip, well preserved nickel plated blade, and original black enamel scabbard, this is a particularly appealing Heer Officer Dove Head Sword. The hilt finish loss, oxidation, slight backstrap movement, missing side tab rivets, blade scuffing, and minor scabbard curvature are all fully disclosed. It would display especially well in a Heer officer sword, ALCOSO edged weapon, monogrammed military sword, Dove Head sword, or advanced German WWII edged weapon collection.

Specifications:
Overall length: 36 3/4”
Blade length: 32 1/8”
Blade Style: Single Edged with Fuller
Guard dimensions: 5" width x 4 1/2” length
Scabbard Length: 33 1/8"

The German Army (German: Heer, was the land forces component of the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, from 1935 to 1945. The Wehrmacht also included the Kriegsmarine (Navy) and the Luftwaffe (Air Force). During World War II, a total of about 15 million soldiers served in the German Army, of whom about seven million became casualties. Separate from the army, the Waffen-SS (Armed SS) was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. Growing from three regiments to over 38 divisions during World War II, it served alongside the army but was never formally part of it.

Only 17 months after AH announced publicly the rearmament program, the Army reached its projected goal of 36 divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938, four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the Anschluss in March. During the period of its expansion by Adolf AH, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground (Heer) and air (Luftwaffe) assets into combined arms teams. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and the "battle of annihilation", the German military managed quick victories in the two initial years of World War II, prompting the use of the word Blitzkrieg (literally lightning war, meaning lightning-fast war) for the techniques used.

The German Army entered the war with a majority of its infantry formations relying on the horse for transportation. The infantry remained foot soldiers throughout the war; artillery also remained primarily horse-drawn. The motorized formations received much attention in the world press in the opening years of the war, and were cited as the main reason for the success of the German invasions of Poland (September 1939), Norway and Denmark (April 1940), Belgium, France and Netherlands (May 1940), Yugoslavia (April 1941) and the early campaigns in the Soviet Union (June 1941). However their motorized and tank formations accounted for only 20% of the Heer's capacity at their peak strength.