Original Items: Only One Available. This is an excellent early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from a famous maker. Early examples such as this were fit with silver-plated nickel alloy mountings, with lovely brass "Sunwheel" style Hankenkreuz (Hook Cross or Swas) emblems. Later they would move to the "Air Age" aluminum material, which didn't develop the lovely patina that this sword has.

The blade of this example measures 30 1/4 inches, and is very impressive. It has an outstanding nickel plated surface in excellent condition, with just a bit of running wear. The very tip of the sword has a small dent (less than 1mm), but otherwise it is excellent. This may be the best blade we have ever seen on one of these swords.

The reverse ricasso of this great sword is maker marked E. & F. HÖRSTER / SOLINGEN in an oval "lozenge" around the company's trademark downward pointing sword piercing interlocking HHS initials. E. & F. Hörster & Co Gmbh, is a well-known maker from Solingen, the famous "City of Blades" in Western Germany, which marketed many fine edged weapons. Originally founded in 1850 as "Friedrich Hörster" in 1850, the company was renamed to E. & F. Hörster in 1870 at the behest of Friedrich Emil & Fritz Hörster. The firm lasted long after WWII, finally being declared insolvent in 1996. For more information please see GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS by J. Anthony Carter.  There is also a faint Weimar eagle inspection stamp above the maker mark, a common Luftwaffe inspection mark, who continued to use the Weimar style eagle throughout the war. Also, the original leather blade buffer is still present on top of the cross guard.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, with brass caps for the Swas designs. They do show some wear to the plating, probably from storage and cleaning, but still have a great look. The pommel has very nice rims, with just some edge scratching, and very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. The medallion sun wheels are very good as well, having great aged brass finish which really sticks out against the silver next to them. The lower cross guard sun wheels still have silvering 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.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. This leather is in very good condition throughout and still shows all of the leather grain. There is no wear through or finish flaking, which makes this a great example. The original double twisted bullion wire wrapping is intact, with a great dark patina and some of the copper base metal showing

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the metal body. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in very good shape. There are no cuts or nips; the only signs of age are a few bruises in the surfaces of the leather, but this is to be expected on any Luftwaffe sword. This leather is all there, with only a small bit of lifting at the seam. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with silver plate. The mounts are in good condition, with fully intact plating with a great patina in places. The Moroccan leather sword hanger is present, and shows age, with wear to the leather, but is fully intact and has no repairs.

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