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German dagger bringbacks from 78th Div. vet


Bob Hudson
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Bob Hudson

Just the other day I was lamenting that it had been a while since some interesting sharp pointy things came out of the woodwork. I got a call Friday that took care of that. These were brought back by a veteran of the 309th and 311th Infantry Regiments of the 78th Division.

 

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The Luftwaffe 2nd pattern dagger has no maker's mark, but has grip wire, portepee and DRGM hangers.

 

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The Army - Heer - dagger is missing the grip wire, but is made by Julius Krebs, apparently not a common maker of these.

 

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The short parade bayonet has the Carl Eickhorn mark and a scabbard that was modied to have a leather strap on it. 

 

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I'm still trying to figure out the bayonet with the red felt insert. It has a 9.5 inch blade, checkered grips and there is no qullion, which I would expect on what appears to be a ceremonial bayonet. There is no maker's mark.

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The DRK German red cross enlisted dagger is a piece of work with its big, heavy, sawback blade. The blade is in excellent condition but the grips and the guards are all broken. 

 

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USCapturephotos

Wow Bob. Great score. I could of used those back in around 2006 or 2007 when I did a big display at one of the last WW2 reunions of the 78th. I had many friends in that division who would have enjoyed seeing your pieces. What was the name of the vet if I may ask?

Paul

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Doctorofwar

Nice haul!  The bayonet with the red felt insert is a variation of a dress “walking out” bayonet- I have seen them before without the quillion although I don’t have one just like it in my collection as they aren’t seen as often. 

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Bob Hudson
1 hour ago, USCapturephotos said:

Wow Bob. Great score. I could of used those back in around 2006 or 2007 when I did a big display at one of the last WW2 reunions of the 78th. I had many friends in that division who would have enjoyed seeing your pieces. What was the name of the vet if I may ask?

Paul

 

Here's some info on him 

 

 

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Bob Hudson
12 minutes ago, Doctorofwar said:

Nice haul!  The bayonet with the red felt insert is a variation of a dress “walking out” bayonet- I have seen them before without the quillion although I don’t have one just like it in my collection as they aren’t seen as often. 

 

Thanks - that kind of what I figured. 

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Fixbayonets!

Very nice bringback daggers!  The Heer is not missing the grip wire, it was not a feature of this dagger.

 

Rob

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Doctorofwar
3 hours ago, Doctorofwar said:

Nice haul!  The bayonet with the red felt insert is a variation of a dress “walking out” bayonet- I have seen them before without the quillion although I don’t have one just like it in my collection as they aren’t seen as often. 

For what it’s worth Homer Brett in his book The Military Knife and Bayonet shows a dress bayonet without quillion and describes it as “an enlisted man’s private purchase dress bayonet”. Rare without quillion.

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Bob Hudson
51 minutes ago, Fixbayonets! said:

Very nice bringback daggers!  The Heer is not missing the grip wire, it was not a feature of this dagger.

 

Rob

 

Thanks - I did not know that. 

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Brian Dentino

A VERY, VERY nice pick up indeed.  Wish I had never sold my Heer dress dagger set.  I miss it.  Nice pick ups Bob!

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The short bayonet could also be a private purchase hunting knife/trench knife or been modified into one. There were may patterns of these knives. If its not slotted I would say its a trench knife. Also thats a pre 1925 early Eickhorn logo with the double squirrel used to just after WW1.

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2 hours ago, doyler said:

The short bayonet could also be a private purchase hunting knife/trench knife or been modified into one. There were may patterns of these knives. If its not slotted I would say its a trench knife. Also thats a pre 1925 early Eickhorn logo with the double squirrel used to just after WW1.

 

Thanks - you nailed it. One source said that logo was used through 1921. On worthpoint.com there are several trench knives like this. Here's the description of one of them: 

 

This auction is for an authentic and very scarce WW1 German Officer's Trench knife and scabbard made by Carl Eickhorn. These knives were produced between 1890-1920 and came with a steel scabbard with leather belt hanger. This particular piece is in good, unaltered condition with much of the original paint remaining. The bird's-head pommel is the variety with the false button. The blade is in nice condition with some staining, and appears to have not been sharpened. The ricasso has the trademark logo for Carl Eickhorn, which is the two "back-to-back" squirrels above the letters "CE". This is not one of the many dress bayonets that you often see, but a fully functional fighting knife intended to be used as such should the need arise.

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We always refereed to the quilless dress bayonets as "Pioneer" (Engineer) but that may be a collectorism, as the felt plug should be black.  Great score!

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