Description
SOLD
KARL BURGSMULLER, BERLIN – CHARLOTTENBURG 5. TM. Early nickel silver crossguards are internally marked with the “Horsehoe Star S” marking of the Hörster firm and shown on page 27 of WAFFENLEITE Presenting NPEA DAGGERS of the THIRD REICH by Ron Weinand. The obverse upper crossguard is engraved “N.P.E.A. Naumburg.Ostern 1937” indicating that the original owner graduated from the school at Easter 1937. The reverse lower crossguard is stamped with the accountability mark, “N157”. The reddish brown, fine grained wooden grip shows virtually no surface wear with two minute hairline cracks and one tiny chip to the upper obverse adjacent to the crossguard and a tiny hairline crack/chip to the lower reverse adjacent to the crossguard. The grip is devoid of any insignia, as is proper for the student pattern NPEA dagger. The polished blade grades EX++ showing light surface wear/runner marks, but no speckling or nicks to the cutting edges. The crisp deeply etched motto, “Mehr sein als scheinen.” displays the correct background frosting with contrasting open space to the left of each letter, and is complete with a brown flet buffer pad. The blade tang is marked with a stylized “H” as used by the Hörster firm on Burgsmüller marked blades. The steel scabbard shows uniform wear/age with none of the original olive drab enamel remaining and shows surface speckling to both obverse and reverse with several faint depressions near the reverse lower scabbard ball. The scabbard frog stud features two incised, horizontal lines as found on Burgsmüller daggers. The brown leather double-stitched fold over bayonet style frog grades EX+/EX++ showing light age/wear but no rips or tears and no damage to the stitching, and is stamped with the number “12” on the reverse. The frog is so tightly attached to the scabbard that it cannot be removed to inspect for additional scabbard markings. Nice Burgsmüller example of a RARE dagger. EX/EX+ (28953) Consignment SOLD