Description
EXTREMELY RARE Unissued Communist Hungarian Defens(c)e Ministry Presentation Dagger. No maker. Photographs of this EXTREMELY RARE dagger appear on pages 237 – 238 of Volume III and pages 140 – 141 of Volume IV of A Guide To Military Dress Daggers by Kurt Glemser. Gold plated hilt fittings show virtually no wear with 100% of the gilding remaining on the pommel cap with green gem insert, gilded grip with engraved and filigreed embellishment on the flat top and obverse/reverse and sides with plain presentation area on reverse center grip. The gold, oval, ½” thick crossguard features a hand stippled background with filigreed motif on sides with four pearls inset into the raised filigree motif on the upper crossguard. The underside of the crossguard features an engraved motif matching the design on the obverse grip. The straight, plated, un-adorned, center-ridged, stiletto pattern blade measuring 7″ in length grades Near MINT/MINT with only faint runner marks, but no shadowing, pitting or nicks to cutting edges. The blade is without buffer pad and no buffer pad appears in any of the photographs in the above references. The metal, Holbein style scabbard grades Near MINT/MINT with no damage to the emerald green cloisonné enamel or to gilded upper fitting/throat, raised stippled edge fittings and stippled decorations on the obverse/reverse shell. The edges of the upper scabbard fitting feature a raised filigree motif matching the upper crossguard. The upper edge of the scabbard throat features an engraved motif with two jeweler/gold content marks on the reverse upper fitting. The tip of the scabbard is complete with a green gem matching the pommel decoration. Superb EXTREMELY RARE unissued presentation example. Near MINT/MINT/Unissued (25518)