DIPLOMAT AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL DAGGER

Thee are two types of these daggers:

Government Official and Diplomats

1. Government Official dagger, authorized for selected governmental officials of the foreign ministry.

Year adopted; 1938 for the Diplomatic dagger, 1939 for the Government Official.

The sole distinguishing feature between this dagger and the Diplomatic dagger is the direction of the eagle's head on the crossguard!

On the Government Officials dagger, the eagle's head on the crossguard, faces right (left if you hold the dagger before you), the same direction as the pommel eagle.

The metal fittings were finished in a silver plate or gold plate, depending upon the wearers rank.

The stylized eagle head pommel and hilt backplate are cast in a single piece.

The grips are simulated mother of pearl over a wood base.

Each of the hilt parts, including the wood base and crossguard are internally stamped with a production number!

The design of the eagle, faces to its right for this dagger.

The blade and scabbard are the same as from the Army dagger with one minor modification, the scabbard bands consist of two bands imbricating oak leaves!

The lenght of the dagger is 38.5 cm or 15.2"

This dagger has no blade motto.

The accouterments for this dagger exists of:

Hanger, double strap, detachable fabric hangers, constructed of silver facing sewn to black velvet backs.

The hanger buckles are retangular and resemble the 1937 Luftwaffe dagger pattern buckles in design.

Gold wash hangers fittings are utilized with the gold finished dagger.

Portepee, a 42 cm or 16.5" silver or gold portepee with a smaller than normal accorn.

Pictures courtesy of Johnson Reference Books