Here we have a nice untouched early S.A. dagger including all nickel fittings and an anodised scabbard. The nickel fittings haven’t been cleaned on this dagger for many years and have therefore developed a lovely aged patina. There are many collectors that prefer a more polished look to their daggers and choose to clean them. I personally enjoy seeing a build up of patina on early nickel fittings, so I choose to leave them as they are.

The dark wooden grip fits the cross guards perfectly and is gau marked WF to the rear of the lower cross guard, this tells us the original issue location was in Westfalen.

The blade is in stunning condition with cross graining running all the way down to the tip of the blade. It is also unsharpened and shows a nice etched motto. The maker is F.HERDER and is displayed with the cross keys logo.

The anodised scabbard does show surface rust and shows an indentation to the left side of the scabbard and to the ball of the lower scabbard fitting, but luckily the ball has still kept its overall shape.

The dagger fits the scabbard perfectly with that nice snap we all like to hear.