Original Item: Only One Available. This Army Dove Head Sword is a fantastic condition example, with an excellent etched nickel plated blade by WKC Waffenfabrik, black enameled scabbard, and a lovely officer's troddel knot. While the blade is marked, the fittings are not the WKC style, and their shape and style attributes the hilt fittings to Emil Voos of Solingen, who was known to have produced fittings for other makers and retailers, as well as unmarked examples. Many identical design Dove's head with large langets and this eagle style have been attributed to Emil Voos of Solingen. Please see page 126 of SWORDS OF GERMANY 1900-1945 by John R. Angolia regarding the "Emil Voos" pattern of officer swords. This piece is also a real treasure as it is not constructed from the later war aluminum, but rather is made of solid brass. It really looks magnificent, retaining much of the finely gilded finish.

The dove head and backstrap are embossed with very decorative plant and floral designs, and looks to have involved a large amount of hand enhancement and engraving. We really haven't seen this type of pattern before on one of these swords. The "flat" P guard has the classic German oak leaves and acorns motif, with a closed wing Wehrmachtadler Eagle in the center. The ferrule looks to have a laurel or beech leaf motif on it. There are lots of hand enhancing and many of the backgrounds have received pebbled decoration. The chappe/langet features a raised out Emil Voos style "open wing" National eagle, which shows excellent detail to his beak, eye, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons and mobile clutched swas. The other side is a blank shield and would often be used for the officer to add a monogram, however this example is still blank.

There is a very nice leather and bullion officer's troddel sword knot wrapped around the hilt in the correct Heer pattern. It does show some degradation to the leather finish, with some fraying of the bullion on the "knot". The grip of this example is a black celluloid over a carved wood base. The celluloid is still in excellent condition with no cracking or other degradation that we can see. The grip is wrapped with a skein of 4 wires, with the center pair twisted together, and all still line up with the grooves correctly. The hilt and guard are still firmly attached to the tang of the blade, with no wobble we can detect.

The nickel plated blade is 35 1/4" inches long, with the original leather blade washer no longer present. This blade is of high quality spring steel, and the plating is still in very good shape, with just a bit of scuffing and scratching in places, and no major flaking or other issues. There is no damage to the edge either, and the tip is unbent. Unlike almost all that we see, it also actually has an etched design on both sides of the blade, bearing the old Bavarian motto In Treue Fest (steadfast in loyalty). We assume that the owner was from that area, and had this example custom made just for him at an outfitted, utilizing parts from several makers.

The ricasso is stamped with the trademark "Knight's Helmet" (Ritter-helm) logo of legendary maker Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Cie Waffenfabrik of Solingen, which is completely hidden under the langet:

(Knight's Helmet)
W.K.C.

This company is a famous manufacturer of military swords and cutlery in Solingen, Germany - a city famous since the middle ages for its metal-working and craftsmanship in sword making. Per J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS, the traditional manufacturing of swords at WKC dates back to the year 1774 when the Weyersberg first registered the ''Kings head'' as their trademark. Later in 1883 the company merged with the Kirschbaums, and the company Weyersberg Kirschbaum & Cie was formed, which continued into the Weimar Period. It was then rebranded as W.K.C. Waffenfabrik GmbH, and produced many edged weapons during the NSDAP Period. The company is still in operation today.

The steel scabbard is in great shape, showing no bends to the body and just some minor denting. The black enamel paint of this scabbard is mostly complete, but shows a lot of checking and crazing, which has caused the finish to flake off in places. This has exposed the steel of the scabbard, so there is some oxidation in places, giving it a fantastic "aged" look, which is simply impossible to duplicate. The hanger ring and loop are still intact, with both throat screws still present, though the sides of the throat look to have been ground down a bit to fit inside the langets.

Overall a great condition example of an Emil Voos pattern German Army Officer Dove Head sword with an etched blade by WKC Waffenfabrik. Complete with scabbard and troddel knot, this is the full setup! Ready to research and display!

Specifications:

Blade Length: 35 1/4"
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 39 7/8“
Guard dimensions: 5" width x 5” length
Scabbard length: 36 1/4”

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.