Original German Early WWII SA Dagger by Ernst Pack & Söhne of Solingen with Scabbard Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an very nice service used condition early pattern SA Dagger, made by the very desirable firm of Ernst Pack & Söhne of Solingen, the legendary “City of Blades” in western Germany. This company had made SA daggers since the Röhm era, and continued to produce early pattern knives after that period. It comes comes compete with an original scabbard, which is the correct early war pattern.

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 lightly aged patina. There is some age to these mounts but there is no lifting anywhere, showing that they are solid and not plated. They show only light wear with almost no denting or scratches. The lower reverse guard is Gruppe/Gau marked Nrh, for Niederrhein (Lower Rhine Region), which encompassed a relatively small border area north of Cologne along the Rhine. This feature was only seen on daggers produced 1935 and prior.

The grip is a fine product having a lovely honey color, with medium center ridge construction, showing just a bit of wear and a few small dents. The grain is lovely on this example, with some very interesting patterns. This grip is in good condition and fits the cross guards nicely, with just a small crack between the symbol and the pommel guard. The pommel nut shows a bit of turning, and the grip is a bit loose on the tang. The SA symbol button is still nicely set, and still has part of the translucent enamel present, with the nickel plating intact. 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).

On the rear of the blade, there are the etched maker name and logo of E. Pack & Söhne, which is still fully legible! It shows their trademark “Young Siegfried wielding a hammer” Logo, surrounded by:

E.P. & S.
(Jung Siegfried Logo)
SOLINGEN

J. Anthony Carter’s book GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, this firm used this trademark only on early SA and NSKK daggers, which they made a good number of. They were one of the known manufactures of the early daggers with the Röhm signature. They also manufactured various other edged weapons during the war under various trademarks. The company survived the war, until it was sold in the 1960s to another knife company from Solingen, and the maker mark continued to be used into the 1990s.

The blade is in good service used condition, showing staining and past oxidation, now mostly cleaned away. This has removed a lot of the original factory final polish grind crossgrain on the blade, which is now really only present on the inch or so next to the cross guard. This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. There is no sign of sharpening on the blade edge, though there definitely is some runner wear. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland (Everything for Germany) SA motto is crisp, with the factory darkening retained almost completely.

The scabbard shell is mostly straight and is the early-war style, which has a brown “anodized” finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. This example has lost almost all of the lacquer, with just a bit retained near the fittings, and the anodized finish is also almost completely removed as well. The body then oxidized, which was then cleaned with what looks to probably have been steel wool or something similar, and now shows a mostly bright patina. It does have dents on both sides, but these do not interfere with sheathing the blade.

The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, with a great worn look and they also show cleaning from some type of mild abrasive. The chape is dented at the end, though not split, as the nickel alloy is somewhat soft, a common thing to see. The throat nicely matches the crossguards, and all fittings have their original dome headed screws, which do not show any signs of turning.

A very nice service used early war SA dagger from a very desirable Solingen maker, complete with an original 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.