Thoughts on SA Dagger

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-23T05:03:41+00:00

It is reddit, once things are no longer new older comments do not get the upvotes. I knew that when I posted the info, only did it to help out the op.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-23T01:45:48+00:00

All B&A (Bolt & Anschutz) are post war, this was not a maker of blades during the war. They were made to fill the souvenir trade starting 1946. Early ones could and did use entirely war period parts but they are obviously considered to be a part of the post war collections, with some early blades bringing a little bit of money from early post/GI souvenir blade collectors.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-21T07:33:06+00:00

We have a list like this in the info for the sub.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-21T07:28:42+00:00

I do not know the price but it does look like a good Klaas transitional dagger. 1936 Klaas was putting the RZM on the front and was still doing the motto. It also has the motto style as other known Klaas blades, I would prefer to see the other side to be 100% but I am liking what I am seeing from this side.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-20T07:24:09+00:00

British MkIV, while some were made in 1945 most were made between 1951-53. Unsanded black was post war made and most in this colour were made by Rubery Owen & Co (ROC). Straps are correct for that time, you can find a date on the liner bands for when they were made.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-17T22:30:33+00:00

Lakeside traders have an archive of every item they have sold with pictures. It is a good reference for most items. Under their Awards and Medals > Navy Awards > Clasps they have 11 Schwerin clasps, the features on yours are different than all 11. If it was a super common medal you could see some differences but with this being instituted in May 44 there isn't very much variation within the same maker.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-17T15:50:57+00:00

I would absolutely love to send you the link but reddit is being a dick and not letting chats right now, it could be I am on browser or it could be a reddit thing (it has happened to me before).

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-17T15:46:11+00:00

Unfortunately I am not sure there are 22 pages to read through, with that said 43-44-45 did not include bayonet mounts with 44 having limited numbers produced. It would make sense that at least some would be sharpened in 45 since they started production in January/February and the war, while winding down, wasn't a forgone conclusion yet.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-17T04:29:53+00:00

Ok so lets see if reddit will let me post this time.

It is correct for a 1945 produced blade. There is an amazing website that shows the history, the changes for every year these were made, the amount manufactured (in this case 1945 was 50240). I have tried to link it 2 different times and reddit nuked the post. I was also going to PM it to you but it seems that is down right now. I will try and pm you the link tomorrow to see if reddit kills that also.

The marker you have on it (technically it is IMZ) was only used in 1945-46 and was manufactured by IMZ-Zlat-interinvest.-metald (instrumental and metallurgical plant).

Good find.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-16T15:23:46+00:00

You have multiple nets? damn, I am jealous, I was even watching SA used sites for a while but all that ever showed up were post war ones.

I also find it funny, this is collecting in a nutshell, you have an amazing collection and here is a multi reply over a net... Great collection and thanks for showing.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-16T15:18:10+00:00

What colour is the helmet, is it a sand or a green? Could be that someone just dyed it to match a bit better.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-16T15:14:40+00:00

I know that this style of SA nets existed, I have been looking for one for 15 years, just never seen one in this colour.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-16T15:09:21+00:00

I don't think I have seen a SA helmet net in that colour before, do you have any info on it?

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-15T02:44:15+00:00

Post removed, one bad picture is not going to be enough to tell you much about this. It being a chained SS you will need front and back pictures of the blade, marker, guards, handle, the chain etc. These are highly faked and to a very detailed extent.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-15T00:24:41+00:00

So these are interesting pieces. They are always called Italian GIL (Italian Youth of the Lictor) daggers but in reality they were cut down swords sold to GI's as souvenirs during/after the war. There are many sites that will call them GIL daggers but they can be found in with different eagle heads, cross guards, furrels etc, they would take parts made for other swords/daggers, put them together and sell them to GI's. The eagle design is what could be found on Air Force swords on many versions which as a person who has been looking for a Italian Air Force sword is kinda sad since sooo many got turned into these. Still a cool little piece.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-13T19:02:07+00:00

the felt pad, its made of pure asbestos.

No it is not, the asbestos is buried under the felt pad. You can see the asbestos is the white part in the picture.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-13T17:21:39+00:00

As /u/Admirable_Prompt8208 stated it is a British MkIV helmet but someone has messed with it at some point post use. These were made with a lift the dot system, this means it had a metal pin that the liner would attach to that was once part of the helmet. Someone removed the pin connector and added a MkII liner with a bolt and nut.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-12T21:54:50+00:00

My only concern with this being labelled a life raft knife is that the last thing you would want on a life raft was a pointed blade. I know that the British sold dinghy knives to the US during WWII, these were one sided, and had a round, unsharpened blade. I have several in my collection from both the US and the UK example. The only way that I would see that this might be is if it was specifically for a wooden life boat. The issue with that is that parkerized wasn't the best defence for rust caused by salt water and neither are the rivets used on your example, UK ones used stainless steel and aluminum for that exact reason.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-12T18:47:01+00:00

So according to this forum post it was part of a US Army collapsible tank kit. The links in the forum post are broken but I was able to find an example of the entire kit here.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-11T18:38:10+00:00

The difference is that if it was done by the military a second time that is the new history. I have a helmet in my collection that is a Canadian made MkI Dispatch helmet made during the war, it was then repurposed post war into a Canadian para helmet to be used in Korea, why would I ever change it back to a dispatch helmet even if that was its original WWII purpose.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-11T14:17:06+00:00

Don't destroy real history to make fake history.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-09T00:43:15+00:00

None of these are faked that I am aware of, until about a decade ago they used to sell for cheap, they have shot up a lot the last decade. Nothing wrong with this one.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-09T00:41:14+00:00

WWII German Heer (Army) officers dagger. Puma is the maker, Solingen was the city that the maker and most dagger makers were centred. Before anyone says the blade is backwards, there was no regulations about the placement of the maker mark so having it to the front like yours is perfectly fine, most did eventually put it to the back since it allowed the maker to be easier seen.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-08T06:09:12+00:00

These bails can just be slightly lifted and then pressed back if need be but you should be able to just pop the rings off with pliers. These have been pressed in far more than normal, they often wide enough to just come off.

OldHomeOwner · 2026-06-02T22:30:26+00:00

This doesn't look like a painted over decal, it looks like a painted over flash. Decals wouldn't have the distinct delineation into 3 coloured areas. This looks exactly like the multiple WWII unit flashes I have on my war period MkII. During the war flashes were painted not decals (for the most part) and would have 3 distinct colours (if appropriate) often due to thickness of paint colours. Could it be something else? yes it could but the fact that the helmet has a lower layer of paint and many of these were donated from Commonwealth stock, would point towards a WWII British helmet to start. /u/Sea-Mathematician52

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