Original German WWII Early Luftwaffe Officer Sword by SMF with Scabbard – Nickel Plated Blade Original Items

Original Items: Only One Available. This is a very good condition early example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer’s Sword from the famous maker SMF. Early examples such as this were originally fit with silver-plated nickel alloy mountings, with lovely brass “Sunwheel” style Swas (Hook Cross) emblems. Later they would move to the “Air Age” aluminum material, which didn’t develop the lovely patina that this sword has.

The blade of this example measures 28 1/4 inches, and is in very good lightly used condition. The nickel plating is still retained beautifully on much of the blade, with some light scuffing from cleaning, there is also runner wear from the scabbard on the central flat area, however it does not look to have worn through the plating. The edge is unsharpened, which is correct, though it does show some bends and small dings, and there is a bend in the last 1/2′ or so near the tip of the blade.

The reverse ricasso of this sword is marked with the SMF trademark logo, which features the etched king holding an upward pointing sword, and is known as the “Seated King”. The king is sitting on the firm initials SMF and is positioned above an arch shaped town location SOLINGEN. Solinger Metalwaren-Fabrik Stöcker & Co. GmbH, also known as SMF, were one of the major suppliers of edged weapons to the Luftwaffe during WWII. As the name implies, they were located in Solingen, the legendary “City of Blades” in Western Germany. For more information, please see J. Anthony Carter’s fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

Above the maker mark is a Luftwaffe Weimar-style “Stick Eagle” over inspection number 5, very commonly seen on Luftwaffe edged weapons. The leather blade buffer at the top of the cross guard is still present, with almost all of the original blue finish.

This early Luftwaffe Sword has very nice plated nickel alloy mounts, with brass caps for the “Sunwheel” Swas (hook cross) designs on the pommel. They do show some wear, and most of the original silver plating looks to have worn away, so they now show a lightly oxidized nickel patina. The pommel also has very nice rims, with some minor edge scratching, and very nice stamping to the oak leaves and acorns which run around the circumference. The lower cross guard sun wheels still have complete plating between the legs. The crossguards are nice and crisp and they both have good detail to the feathering of the downward pointing quillons, which still have a lot of the plating, showing a lovely patina. Both sides are however bent away from the marked side of the blade, with one quillion being more bent than the other.

The grip is a wood based type, with original Moroccan blue leather covering. The leather is in very good condition, still retaining the original color well, though there a few spots where the blue finish has been worn through. It also shows some color loss due to wear. The original double twisted bullion wire wrapping is intact, with a great worn look and some of the copper base metal showing.

The scabbard shell is nice and straight, with no denting to the metal body that we can see. The original Moroccan blue leather here is also in very good shape, showing some small areas of finish loss and pressure denting, but no major tears or other damage. The original seam is still securely glued down, and we honestly cannot tell where it is. The scabbard mounts are a fine matching nickel alloy with worn plating. The mounts are in good condition, showing a lovely nickel patina with a few areas original silvering remaining. There is no sword hanger present on this scabbard.

A very nice early Luftwaffe sword from a well-known Solingen maker, with a nickel-plated blade. Ready to display!

Specifications:

Blade Length: 28 1/4″
Blade Style: Double Edge w/ Partial Fuller
Overall length: 35 1/4“
Crossguard: 5″
Scabbard length: 29 1/4”