Original German Early WWII SA Dagger by Anton Wingen Jr. of Solingen Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent early pattern SA Dagger,  made by the well-known firm of Anton Wingen jun., Stahlwarenfabrik, in Solingen, Germany. It comes comes compete with an original scabbard, which is one of the best we have seen. The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and is a nice example. The crossguards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout with all fittings having a nice aged patina. There is a little age to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated.

The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Wm, for Westmark, which encompassed the area around Saarbrücken, in the extreme West of Germany.

The grip is a fine product having a nice red brown color, with having medium center ridge construction, with just a bit of wear. This grip is in good condition and fits the crossguards nicely, without any cracking. The symbol button is still nicely set, and still has all of the enamel intact.  The grip eagle is a fine example being the style with beak that points straight. The details are still there to the eagle to include the beak, breast feathering, wing feathering, talons, wreath and mobile swas. The nickel plating on both insignia is fully intact, with just a bit of verdigris.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the early-war style, with a brown “anodized” finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. Most of this is still intact, making this one of the nicest early war scabbards we have seen. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, and have a nice patina, with some dents and scratches showing typical wear. The bottom fitting is dented in a bit, typical of the softer alloy. The throat nicely matches the crossguards and all four screws are still present.

This fine example was produced by Anton Wingen jun., Stahlwarenfabrik, a known producer of this knife during WWII. The rear of the dagger is marked:

ANT[ON]
WING[EN JR]
(Standing Knight Logo)
SOLINGEN

This style trademark is specific to early SA Daggers, per J. Anthony Carter’s GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.  They later moved to a simplified tradmark with an RZM code in 1939. Anton Wingen Jr. is a well-known maker from the famous “City of Blades” in Western Germany. The trademark is partly removed, but the factory cross grain is still present. Due to this, we believe this may possibly have originally had the signature of Ernst Röhm on the rear. It was then returned back to the factory, the signature removed, and a new factory polish applied. 

The blade is very good condition, with the usual runner marks as well as light oxidation in places. The original factory cross grain can still be seen in places on the blade, though it has had some polishing done, so it is faint in places. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, and still retains much of the original factory darkening.

A nice early war SA dagger, with an excellent original scabbard. Ready to display!

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.