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Captured German Army Dagger Ivory handle?


manayunkman
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Ive been finding Army daggers since the 1960s and never found one with a handle like this.

 

Its not bakelite or celluloid but hard as a rock not soft.

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Kurt Barickman

Yes, Army, 2nd Model Luftwaffe and Naval sometimes have ivory grips; not saying yours is for sure but they are out there.

 

Kurt

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That's ivory, you can tell by the grain and cracks.

 

Agree: striations like that are consistent with ivory: bone would have lots of dots, not lines. And, synthetics should have none of that.

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Would seem a little out of place on an otherwise ordinary plain jane army dagger....I would also expect it to perhaps have a damascus blade with the recipient's name on it, along with deluxe hangers.....These "extras" of course available at an additional cost to the buyer....Don't know if an ivory grip was allowed as an only upgrade or if they offered packaged options?.....Bodes

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Thanks to all.

 

There was a faux ivory handle too.

 

Anyone ever see one?

i’ve seen a lot of pre war faux ivory while pricing Estate Sales, and it always looks like something other than real ivory. The lines were very evenly spaced it almost looked like wood grain.

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There a couple of things you can can do to determine if the handle is elephant ivory. The first is check the end grain for schreger lines. (See photo)The second is the red hot paper clip. In an inconspicuous spot Touch the red hot paper clip, ivory will be largely unaffected where plastic or celluloid will melt and give off an odor.post-137056-0-65937400-1569244247.jpeg

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It's definitely ivory. I dont think the hot paper clip test works, most resins nowadays have a lot of heat resistance.

There are safer ways to determine an authentic piece.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Ivory, for certain, great score! as to extra cost options there were several: deluxe hanging straps, name-etched blades, engraved pommels or guards and so on. this might've been an impulse buy for the newly appointed (and probably not rich) Lt. forgoing all the other fancy bits he figured he'd spring for the ivory handle. or someone loaned him the reichsmarks for the upgrade. who knows? nice imperial 'butcher-blade' bayo, too -- esp. if it has the sawback (many had these ground off.)

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To add to what was already shared. The bayonet is a model 98/05 "Butcher Blade". I would be interested to know if it has a one piece wooden grip and also if there is a piece of metal protecting the top part of the grip(From muzzle flash) Is there a maker on the ricasso and is there a crown and year on the spine of the blade by the ricasso?

A wonderful collection of photograph and the camera that took them to boot!!!!

Great Vet pick up!!

Semper Fi

Phil

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  • 3 months later...

oustanding -- very rare, early ivory piece! made the better with the all-over, unmessed-with tarnish and yeh being an eickhorn doesn't hurt it one bit, just the opposite! great score, the bayo indeed looks excellent, too.

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  • 1 year later...

I know this thread is old, but I stumbled upon it and thought I'd post an example of a Heer dagger with a genuine Ivory grip AND a standard (non-etched) blade to show they do exist. This one is in my private collection.

 

As you can see in the photos showing the entire dagger, the blade is smooth and the hangers are the deluxe type (original to the dagger). Who knows why some chose a specialized blade and some did not, but in my experience the ones without the specialized blades are not near as common; it is more common to find these with etched blades AND ivory grips than smooth blades and ivory grips. Does this make them more valuable than the engraved ones? That's up to the buyer.

 

Notice in mine how glass like (polished) the grip is compared to the one from the OP which is very dull. I'm not suggesting the grip owned by the OP is not genuine Ivory, but I think we need better photos to be sure. I also do not think the lines running vertically through his grip are cracks. Cracks (in my experience) in celluloid / plastic grips tend not to be so long and straight, so I personally believe the OPs dagger grip is indeed Ivory, but better photos, taken in the daylight, will help immensely with that definitive determination.

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