Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great example of a rare transitional pattern SA Dagger, made by the by the well known firm of Lauterjung & Sohn PUMA-Werk of Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in western Germany. This company had made SA daggers since the Röhm era, and continued to produce early pattern knives after that period. It comes comes compete with an original scabbard, which is the correct transitional pattern, and is fitted with a leather belt hanger. This dagger has a combination of early and middle production features, making it a very interesting piece!

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a nice example. The crossguards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout with all fittings having a nice lightly aged patina. There is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated, and they show only light wear with almost no denting or scratches. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Th, for Thuringen (Thuringia), a district in central Germany, with the principal cities being Weimar and Erfurt.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely dark honey color, with medium center ridge construction, with some light wear and a few small dents. The grain is lovely on this example, with some very interesting patterns. This grip is in very good condition and fits the crossguards nicely, with no cracks or chunks missing, and a lovely polished glow. The pommel nut does show some tightening in the past, and the hilt is tight on the blade.

The SA symbol button is still nicely set, and still has most of the translucent enamel intact, with the nickel plating showing some flaking ant 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, showing much of the original factory final grind cross grain on both sides. There is definitely some wear from cleaning however, and some areas of staining still present. There definitely is some runner wear, as with most German daggers. One edge also looks to have been sharpened a bit, but not all the way. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, with the factory darkening retained almost completely.

On the rear of the blade, there is the RZM logo over M 7 / 27. Under this is a clear puma's head in a diamond above PUMA over SOLINGEN, the trademark logo of Lauterjung & Sohn, Puma-Stahlwarenfabrik / Puma - Werk of Solingen, Germany, the legendary "City of Blades". This is a known producer of SS, SA, and NSKK daggers during the Pre-WWII period and after. This company was originally founded on a small scale in 1796, Nathanael Lauterjung officially opened a cutlery and knife making workshop in Solingen during 1855. After his death, the name was changed and registered as "Puma-Werk", to avoid confusion with the other Lauterjung-owned workshops in Solingen. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the mid-war style, which has a brown enameled steel body. This is still in very good shape, with just a few small dents, and some finish chipping in small areas. There is also some scuffing as well as crazing in the finish. There is paint on the fittings, so it possibly was an early war pattern that had the body repainted during service. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, with a great look and just some light wear. The chape is dented at the end, though not split, as the nickel alloy is somewhat soft, a common thing to see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, and all fittings have their original dome headed screws, which do not show any signs of turning.

Attached to the hanger ring on the scabbard is a very nice later pattern leather belt hanger, with a plated steel belt clip. On the back it is marked RZM M5c/93, for maker Paulmann & Crone of Lüdenscheid, a city with a large garment accessories industry. It is in very good shape, with a bit of cracking and wear to the leather finish.

The Reichszeugmeisterei, or RZM, was was based at the Brown house in Munich and NSDAP party headquarters in Berlin. The RZM ensured that the manufacturers of military items were consistent in design, quality of materials and other characteristics of the items. It also defined standards of design, manufacturing and quality and published an authoritative color chart for textiles. The M7 in the code stands for knives/daggers, contractor 27 stands for firm Pumawerk (Lauterjung & Sohn) of Solingen.

A great transitional period SA dagger from a very desirable Solingen maker, complete with a very good 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.