Original German Early WWII SA Dagger by Gebrüder Christians of Solingen with Scabbard Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great early pattern SA Dagger, made by the rare firm of Gebrüder Christians in the legendary blade-making city of Solingen, Germany. It comes complete with the original scabbard, which is the correct early type. The dagger has solid nickel silver fittings throughout, and really is a great looking example. The cross guards and tang nut are in very good condition throughout with all fittings having a nice lightly aged patina.

Close examination shows that they are the correct solid nickel silver, with no signs of major corrosion. The pommel nut is non-magnetic, and shows no turning. There is just a bit of wobble in the hilt fittings. 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.

The grip is a fine product having a nice red brown color, with medium center ridge construction. This grip is in very good condition and fits the crossguards nicely, though it has shrunk a bit. There is also cracking on both sides near the pommel, very commonly seen on these daggers. The SA symbol button is nicely set, and still has all of the translucent 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. Both insignia look to be solid nickel, with no sign of being plated.

The blade of this example is in very attractive excellent condition, with the factory final grind cross grain retained on almost all of the blade! This texture is iconic, and is the definitive identifying characteristic for a real WWII German Blade. We do not see any evidence of post factory sharpening, and there are no nicks or dents on the edge of the blade, even on the tip! There is some light runner wear, visible on almost every example of these daggers, as well as some areas of light surface staining. The acid-etched Alles für Deutschland SA motto is crisp, however cleaning has removed a lot of the factory darkening.

The blade of this example is marked CHRISTIANSWERK over SOLINGEN in an oval border around their trademark “Three-Tined Fork.” This is a mark used during the early WWII Period by Gebrüder Christians, Christianswerk, Stahlwarenfabrik in Solingen, the legendary “City of Blades” in western Germany. Per J. Anthony Carter’s work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS, the oval trademark is exactly correctly for early issue SA, SS, and army officer’s daggers. Later they would move to RZM number M7/1.

The scabbard shell is straight throughout and is the early-war style, with a brown “anodized” finish on the steel, which was then lacquered. The lacquer is completely gone on this example, and oxidation and cleaning have removed most of the brown finish, leaving a lovely gray polished patina. It looks like there was a bit of light oxidation at a time, now cleaned away. The upper and lower fittings are solid nickel silver, and are nicely polished, with some dents and scratches showing typical wear. The bottom fitting is dented a little, typical of the softer alloy. The throat nicely matches the cross guards and the screws for the top and bottom mounts are still present.

A very nice early war SA dagger by a rare maker, with a great blade and 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.