Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very good condition early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from the famous maker SMF. Early examples such as this were originally fit with silver-plated nickel alloy mountings, with lovely brass "Sunwheel" style Swas (Hook Cross) emblems. These were also often coated with a lovely "blue oxide coating" as well, common on edged weapons from other branches. Later they would move to the "Air Age" aluminum material, which didn't develop the lovely patina that this sword has.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, with brass caps for the "Sunwheel" Swas (hook cross) designs on the pommel. They do show some wear, with the plating between the "arms" of the swas on the pommel having worn away a bit on both sides. The nickel alloy rims around the pommel show just a bit of wear and denting, and still also retain some of the original oxide coating. They have very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. The lower cross guard sun wheels still have complete plating between the legs. The crossguards are nice and crisp and they both have good detail to the feathering of the downward pointing quillons, which still have a lot of the plating, showing a lovely patina.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. The leather is in very good condition, still retaining the original color well, though there a few spots where the blue finish has been worn through. It also shows some color loss due to wear. The original double twisted and bullion wrapped wire binding is intact, with a great worn look and some of the copper base metal showing.

The blade of this example measures 30 1/8 inches, and is in very good lightly used condition. The nickel plating is still retained very well on the blade, showing some wear from the runners and cleaning. There is scattered minor plating flaking and oxidation on much of the blade surface, and it definitely looks to have been in service for some time. The edge is unsharpened, which is correct, though it does show some bends and small dings. The point of the blade is still intact and unbent. The leather blade buffer at the top of the cross guard is still present, with almost all of the original blue finish.

The reverse ricasso of this sword is marked with the SMF trademark logo, which features the etched king holding an upward pointing sword, and is known as the "Seated King". The king is sitting on the firm initials SMF and is positioned above an arch shaped town location SOLINGEN. Solinger Metalwaren-Fabrik Stöcker & Co. GmbH, also known as SMF, were one of the major suppliers of edged weapons to the Luftwaffe during WWII. As the name implies, they were located in Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in Western Germany. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS. Above the maker mark is a Luftwaffe Weimar-style "Stick Eagle" over inspection number 5, very commonly seen on Luftwaffe edged weapons.

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the metal body that we can see, though it does have a bit of a bend, which does not interfere with sheathing the blade. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in good shape, showing some small areas of finish loss and pressure denting, but no major tears or other damage, just overall wear and some whitish deposits on the exterior. The original seam is still securely glued down, and we honestly cannot tell where it is. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with worn plating. The mounts are in good condition, showing a lovely nickel patina with a few areas original silvering remaining. The sword hanger is present, but definitely shows old dried dirt in the grain of the leather. It also shows cracking in the leather around the scabbard loops on both sides, with one side torn through.

A very nice early Luftwaffe sword from a well-known Solingen maker, with a nickel-plated blade. Ready to display!

Specifications:

Blade Length: 30 1/8"
Blade Style: Double Edge w/ Partial Fuller
Overall length: 37 1/8“
Crossguard: 5"
Scabbard length: 31 1/8”