Original Items. Only One Lot Available. This is a great lot of three miniature dagger letter openers, two Heer and one Luftwaffe, with one being maker-marked to E. & F. HÖRSTER SOLINGEN. Often referred to as “salesman samples”, there is definitely debate over the purpose of these miniature daggers, which are quite useful as letter openers as well. They are constructed much as the full size daggers, but the idea of a miniature dagger to be used as a sample by sales staff seems somewhat suspect, as the real thing isn’t excessively large.
The first dagger is a phenomenally rare 1st Model Luftwaffe dagger with its original scabbard, the damage being a good chunk of the grip is missing, about 30% of it. The scabbard is missing its rings as well. This example is in fair shape. It measures 9⅜” long with a 6⅛” blade and 6¾” scabbard.
The second dagger is an orange-grip Heer dagger, marked on the blade E. & F. HÖRSTER SOLINGEN. This example is missing the eagle on the cross guard with some chipping to the grip. It measures 7⅝” long with a 5⅛” blade and 5¾” scabbard.
The third dagger is a white-grip Heer dagger. This one is in the best shape of the lot with the damage being that the grip has snapped in half, but both halves are retained. The scabbard of this example is also pebbled. It measures 7½” long with a 5⅛” blade and 5⅜” scabbard.
This is a great set of letter openers ready for further research and display.