Third Reich Memorbilia (1 Viewer)

Hey, guys, I've just come into possession of this:
http://www.badongo.com/pic/230789
http://www.badongo.com/pic/230792

I did some research on the Paul Weyersberg & Co. Solingen stamp and found it's circa '41-'45. Probably a K98k Bayonet, but I could be wrong. My question is this: it has some sort of laquer or shellac peeling off the blade and I'd like to clean this dagger up nice. Can anyone offer some input? Thanks!

Interesting. Very cool. We have an ivory handled officers knife with scabbard complete with tassel.

Do you know about what these are worth? I have no idea.

Anyway, I would do a lot of research before touching it. I have not taken the time so I have left ours alone. Don't want to ruin the vlaue (if any) to make it look pretty!

There's also some minor rust along a small segment of the edge near the tip. I would like to get rid of that as soon as possible.

looks more like a dagger than a bayonet from the pix. as far as cleaning and value, i really wouldn't even know where to begin. my guess would be to a local gun store or military surplus store and ask the owner about cleaning services for antique weaponry.

kevin t

I'm semi-embarassed to admit this, but my wife and I watch Antiques Road Show frequently, and the appraisers always point out instances where item owners cleaned the items or tried to restore them on their own and how this always decreases the value of the item.

If this stuff you got has any significant value, have it cleaned by a professional.

I love Antiques Road Show.

That's not a bayonet. It's some kind of dagger. It really looks fake to me.

A German bayonet of that age should have a sliding mount to snap onto the muzzle end of a Mauser K98k. Plus the "frog" i.e. belt loop should connect via a rivet on the side of the scabbard.

Go do some digging at http://p102.ezboard.com/bparallaxscu...firearmsforums . The people that post there are very knowlegeable about WWI and WWII firearms and bayonets.

Here's what a bayonet of the period should look like:



Note the hilt has a ring for slipping over the muzzle, and the scabbard has a rivet-thingie for hooking to the frog.

Hint...most of the WWII vintage German weapons didn't have big swastikas on them. For example, I have two Mauser rifles of WWII vintage. They should only have 3 tiny eagle-holding-swastika stamped proof marks along the right hand side of the receiver.

Thanks to the almighty Google, I was able to find..... (courtesy of germandressdaggers.com

You appear to have a RBL 'knife'. The 'dagger' model is the one on the left, I'm not sure what the status difference was...

The RBL knife of 1936-1938 had an 8-pointed star on its handle with the 'RBL' initials in the middle. 1938-1942 remodel replaced the RBL star with a simple swastika. Your's is a later model.
BUT The crossguard eagle should be holding a wreath/swastika with its feet. Your's does not. I would check carefully for signs that your model has been saw or broken for some reason. If it has been sawed, its probably not worth much. If its a reproduction (and they left off the crossguard swastika), its probably not worth much.

I thought that looked like one of Hermann Goering's stupid props. It's got that theatrical look one associates with the inventor of rubber medals to wear in the bathtub…

Thanks for the link, Dennis. I'll check it out.

BTW, there are no obvious signs that anything has been sawed off this dagger. Considering that I found this item in the possessions of a deceased WWII vet who flew over Germany many times in the B-17 Liberty Run, I would hate to be disappointed to discover this item might be a replica.

Oh man, considering the rust on the blade, how creepy is it to think about what this knife may have done.

There's just something so very cool/creepy about that.

When I was a teenager I inherited some WWII stuff from my uncle. I have a nice Japanese rifle that I still have on display (it was a post-war purchase of his and not a war trophy). I also found myself in possession of a few reams of Third Reich letterhead. For some reason having that paper gave me the willies as it spoke to the brutal efficiency of that regime. I wound up burning it all. Weird that the weapon caused no such feelings -- just the piles of blank paper.

What was the evidence at Nuremberg? Mostly paper. Reams and reams, books and books, filing cabinet upon filing cabinet, minutely detailing the most monstrous criminal conspiracy ever brought before a court of law. Everything was documented, everything was minuted, everything was set out quite clearly, showing how calmly and methodically they plunged the world into war and arranged the murder of millions, in a kind of monstrously well-managed business enterprise.

I can understand why that paper would make you shudder, in a way that a weapon would not. At least, in order to shoot a man, you have to look at him and recognise him as an individual, a person.

There is also the possability that the knife's original owner, while German, was not sympathetic to the regime and he (or she) removed it themselves.

The RBL does have a distinctive crossguard not shared with any other German WW2 knife, and its pommel is also uncommon (similar only to a particular Air Service type).

Or maybe you have a super rare prototype that worth thousands.

There is something odd about it, since the swastika on the handle is missing the "glory" behind it on the examples shown above, and is square-on rather than diagonally oriented as Nazi swastika emblems always are. On the other hand, the blade markings wouldn't belong on anything except the genuine article. If you look, you can see the notch where the division of the eagle's legs ought to begin, but they just aren't there.

Perhaps it was damaged and then remade?

Hello all, I'm new here. I found this thread based on a Yahoo search on German memorabilia. My father was a Merchant Marine during the Second World War, these are items that he somehow acquired during his travels. Any info you can pass on as to their value, etc, would certainly be appreciated.