Original Item: One of a Kind. This is a lovely early 1st Model Luftwaffe Dagger, made by the maker Gebrüder Heller GmbH, Stahlwarenfabrik (Steelware Factory) of Marienthal bei Schweina in Thüringen, Germany. It was made in the mid to late 1930s, before 1938 when the change was made to use aluminum fittings. It has plated mounts throughout all being nickel alloy plated with silver, probably with a copper flash coat. These were probably all originally oxide coated on the silver to give them a lovely blue color, however cleaning and use have worn away most of that, and the copper flash coat is even exposed in some areas. This example is also missing one of the two swas insignia on the crossguard. 

The crossgrain is completely gone on this example. 

The aluminum mounts defy age and remain nice and mostly bright, with a fine matte finish. The rest of the fittings however show wear and oxidation from use in service. The dagger is missing one of the two "Broken Sun Cross" swas medallion inserts in the crossguard, but both on the pommel are retained. They have lost some of their original plating and gilding, but still have a great patina overall. The guard is the standard down swept "wing" type, with good detailing. The rim of the pommel shows some small dents but nothing major. The grip is a carved wood base covered in blue Moroccan leather, which shows overall wear through the finish on the raised portions. It is wrapped with twisted brass wires with a straight wire on each side, which have had the plating worn away.

The 12 inch blade of this piece is not nickel plated, which is actually fairly rare for one of these daggers, which are almost always nickel plated. We can still see traces of the original factory final polish cross grain, however the surface is overall lightly stained, with evidence of rust peppering removed by polishing and cleaning. The blade shape is nice, with no edge dents, but it may have been sharpened and cleaned a bit. The original blue Moroccan leather blade buffer is in place on top of the guard.

The reverse ricasso is marked correctly with the "Balloon Seller" trademark of the Gebrüder Heller, and under the trademark is:

GEBR. HELLER
MARIENTHAL
b.SCHWEINA/ THR.

Gebrüder Heller GmbH, Stahlwarenfabrik (Steelware Factory) was located in Marienthal bei Schweina in Thüringen, Germany, and was founded in the early 20th century. They manufactured edged weapons for Germany during WWI and WWII, and had a satellite drill bit company in Schmalkalden. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout with no major dents. The Moroccan leather covering the scabbard nicely matches the grip and is in very good condition. There are some areas where the leather finish has worn or has been scratched, but that is expected on a scabbard of this age. The mounts on the scabbard body are well patinated steel, which still retains most of the original plating. The throat still has all of the original flush mount screws.

The attached aluminum chain has six ringlets making up the upper chain and nine on the lower. These two chains are attached to an aluminum snap clip, which is marked on the back with the OLC in a diamond trademark of Overhoff & Cie. of Lüdenscheid, who produced numerous clothing accessories. It is also marked GES. / GESCHÜTZT, for Gesetzlich Geschützt (Protected By Law), indicating that the clip was a trademarked design.

A very nice service used example of the classic 1st model Luftwaffe dagger by a very desirable maker, ready to display!

Specifications:

Blade Length: 12"
Overall length: 17 5/8"
Crossguard: 4 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 13 1/2”