Help in identifying this dagger

Hello all,
This being my maiden post, I was directed here through my research about this dagger my great uncle found while he served in France.

So the story goes: My grandfather's brother (my great uncle) was on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. He drove the boats that unloaded soldiers onto the beach. After the fighting was done, he want back to the beach and he found this German Nazi Dagger. He took it home, and he has always told us it was an officer's dagger due to the ivory handle (cant confirm if its real ivory or not) and the decorative features.

I was just hoping someone knew a little about things like this, or if any of you know where I can go to get more information. We have always wondered about this, and its a really cool family heirloom.

I really dont know the validity of the story, or anything about it. Sorry if I broke any rules of the forums, and I really appreciate any information you have for me.

Without further ado, heres some pictures I just snapped a few minutes ago:





do any of these markings help?

 

its a wehrmacht officers dagger

 

According to this link http://www.wardaggers.com/D103.htm it is an Alcoso German Army Officer's Dagger.

 

hmm. that one has a yellow handle, as does a lot of the ones I have seen online, but I havent come across one with a white handle. does the color of the handle signify something different, or did they just make ones with different color handles for no real reason?

 

One must bear in mind that officers were allowed to "customize" their personal weapons, and that dagger might be an example of such. Ivory instead of the original material (whatever it was).

GS Patton had his personal .45 1911ACP outfitted with Ivory handles before he went to Europe in WW1, that became a trademark of many of his personal (but not all) pistols. He had them on his Single Action Army (Colt), his .357 S&W, his .45 auto, and I think on his Colt Woodsman .22 caliber pistol. But not on his hammerless snub-nose pocket .38, I'm not sure of what was on his .380 autoloader.

One of the most cunning acts of sabotage was when Danish gunsmiths would offer to "customize" Nazi officers pistols, they would do elaborate engraving and inlaying, coupled with gorgeous grips personalized with initials and such. Unknown to the Nazi officers, the pistol's actions were also subtely altered/weakened so that when fired over a short period of time the weapon would explode in the hand of the Nazi.

Not all things carried by officers were strictly "government issue", and that has to be kept in mind when dealing with artifacts of any period.

 

Sometimes it depends on when it was made. Higher grade materials were used prewar while cheaper materials were used during the war which may end up in fading or faster wear and tear.

 

Although certainly no expert on the properties of Ivory (nor much anything else ), I would submit that the handles of these dagger(s) have yellowed with the passage of time....

 

it,s a luftwaffe dagger can,t get the picture on the site right now but I,ll try later

 

It is an Army officers dagger with hangers and knot. The "ivory" colored grip is not unusual. I had one of these several years ago until I traded it for something else. They had two colors for the grips-that ivory color as well as a brownish color. The handles were not made of ivory-but of a bakelite material.

The scabbard was made of Nickle-Silver. Im certainly not a blade expert by any stretch of the imagination but-yours is a nice example. With hanger and know-your ensemble is probably valed at around $650 to about $800-depending on which dealers site you look at to compare prices with.

The one I had was an Alcaso-which is a vey desired one.

 

are you sure about that c.evans