Description
Product Description: This Gottfried Müller SA Dagger is a desirable, early production piece. The blade is clean, with excellent cross-graining remaining, as well as normal runner marks. The motto has great contrast and strong original darkening, and is crisply executed. The reverse ricasso has a nice etched maker mark for the firm of Gottfried Müller, an uncommon producer that is ranked 4 out of 10 on the McSarr rarity scale. The handle of this attractive dagger is lovely, with nice, early solid nickel silver guards that have a mild and pleasant patina. The lower guard is marked on the reverse with “Fr” for SA Gruppe Franken. The rosewood grip shows no cracks or chips. It has nice light wood tones and shows honest wear with scattered small marks. The early style grip eagle shows nice detail, and the enameled SA roundel is intact, with some verdigris. This Gottfried Müller SA Dagger is complete with its original scabbard. The scabbard body retains most of the correct early style brown anodizing and factory lacquering, and shows no dents. The nickel silver fittings on the scabbard match the handle fittings nicely. The scabbard is complete with all screws and the suspension ring. This is a nice untouched dagger, increasingly hard to find. The condition rates as excellent plus plus.
Historical Description: The “Sturmabteilung” (SA), formed in 1921, was the original paramilitary branch of the Nazi party. With the Nazi rise to power in 1933, a dress dagger was introduced for wear with the iconic “brown shirt” uniform. As the SA was a huge organization, with an eventual strength of close to three million men, there was a huge demand for these daggers, and they were produced by 123 different makers, from larger factories to small, cottage-industry workshops. The daggers featured a wood grip with an inset enameled SA emblem and the German national eagle and swastika emblem. The blade was etched with the motto of the SA, “Alles für Deutschland.” The early daggers were crafted with the utmost quality, in both workmanship and materials. Originally, the name and logo of each manufacturer was etched on the reverse of the blade. These early daggers featured hand-fitted nickel silver fittings, and scabbards that had an anodized coating. Prior to around 1935, the daggers were stamped with an SA group letter on the reverse of the crossguard. In 1936, the Reichszeugmeisterie der NSDAP (RZM) organization began to standardize the manufacture of the SA dagger. Commercial type manufacturer markings were to be eliminated and replaced with the RZM logo as well as an RZM code to indicate the manufacturer. Late production daggers marked with RZM logos usually are made with plated zinc fittings and have aluminum grip eagles. Instead of the early anodizing process, later scabbards were simply painted. During the transitional period around 1936, many daggers were manufactured bearing the RZM logo and maker code in combination with the earlier type maker names and logos. These transitional daggers can be found with early or late features, or a mix of both.
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