Original German Early WWII SA Dagger by Rare Maker Julius Bodenstein of Steinbach Kr.M. with Scabbard Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an very good condition early pattern SA Dienstdolch (Service Dagger), made by the very rare firm of Julius Bodenstein, located in Steinbach, Kreis Meiningen. This company is known for making early pattern SA daggers in somewhat limited numbers. It comes comes compete with an original later production scabbard, which is in very good shape.

The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a great example with a lovely look. The crossguards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout with all fittings having a nice lightly worn patina. There is just a bit of age to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated. They show only light wear with just a bit of light denting and scratching, and do look to have been cleaned a bit over the years. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Fr, for Franken, a district in west central Germany, with the principal cities being Nürnberg (Nuremberg) and Suhl. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely dark red brown mahogany color, with medium center ridge construction, showing only light wear and a few small dents. The grain is lovely on this example, with some great color variation. This grip is in excellent condition and fits the crossguards nicely, with no cracks or chunks missing, and a lovely polished glow. The pommel nut does show some light turning on the outside, and the grip is still tightly secured, with no wiggle.

The SA symbol button is still nicely set, and still has the dark brown enamel fully intact, with the nickel emblem showing just a bit of verdigris around the edge. The grip eagle is a fine example being the style with beak that points straight. It has just a bit of verdigris on it, showing that it is solid nickel alloy, and it has patinated nicely. The details are still there to the eagle to include the beak, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons, wreath and mobile swas (hook cross).

The blade is in very good condition and bright, still showing areas of the original factory final grind cross grain on both sides. This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. It has been cleaned and polished over the years, which has made the cross grain faint except near the cross guard. There are also some small scratches present, but no real oxidation, and the edge is correctly unsharpened, though it does show some denting. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, though the factory darkening is worn from cleaning and polishing.

This fine example was produced by very rare maker Julius Bodenstein, and the rear of the dagger is marked with the companies double oval trademark:

JULIUS BODENSTEIN

STEINBACH Kr.M.

According to J. Anthony Carter’s book, GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, this company was one of eight firms in Steinbach, Thuringia that were involved in making daggers and all types of commercial knives during the Third Reich Period. Julius Bodenstein was listed as both a Messerfabrik (Knife maker) during 1925-1938 and Stahlwarenfabrik (Steelware maker) in 1942 after Julius’ son Otto joined the company. They made only a few early SA daggers with the double oval trademark. This is only the second knife of any type we have had by Bodenstein.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the later wartime style, with a brown enamel painted body and steel plated fittings. Most likely it was replaced during the service life of the dagger, as the early style scabbards would lose their color relatively easily. The body still has almost all of the original brown enamel paint on the steel scabbard body, with one small area of chipping and oxidation. There is some crazing and checking on the paint, but nothing major, and the original texture on the rolled steel body can still be seen. The scabbard shell is equipped with fine matching nickel-plated steel mounts. These mounts are in very good condition overall, with only some light wear on the contact points. They nicely match the crossguards and are complete with all four dome head screws.

A very nice early war SA dagger from a rare maker, complete with a great original replacement scabbard. Ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 8 3/4″
Overall length: 13 3/4”
Crossguard: 3”
Scabbard Length: 10”

History of the SA-

The SA or Brown Shirts, were a private political formation which Adolf AH and the NSDAP used to maintain order at organized Party meetings and demonstrations. The group was formed in 1921, and grew to a huge force of nearly 3,000,000 men by the later 1930’s. To instill esprit de corps, as well as create employment for the Blade City of Solingen, it was decided each SA man would carry a dagger with his Brown Shirt uniform. Huge quantities needed to be produced to accommodate the demand. The dagger initially was produced of hand-fitted nickel mounts with attractive finished wood grip and brown anodized (a bluing process) finished scabbard.

The blade was etched with the SA motto, Alles für Deutschland. Examples produced prior to 1935 were stamped with the German sector of the SA group on reverse lower crossguard. Later examples underwent standardization through the RZM ministry. These pieces were produced of cheaper plated zinc-base fittings and scabbards were simply painted brown.

Prior to his “unmasking” as a traitor, Ernst Röhm was the leader of the SA. In 1934, he distributed approximately 100,000 SA daggers with his personal inscription on the reverse blade. These daggers were to honor individuals who had served with the SA prior to December, 1931. Other than the inscription, these pieces were identical to the standard M1933 SA dagger. After the Röhm purge, the inscription was ordered to be removed. Many examples were returned to the factory for grinding. Others were simply ground in the field by whatever means were available. Examples will occasionally be encountered with remnants of the original inscription remaining on the blade, but mostly none will remain. Some blades exist with an intact inscription, reflecting only the removal of the Röhm signature. Very very rarely is an example seen with a full, untouched inscription, as the holder would have surely risked a charge of treason.