Government Official Daggers

As part of their formal dress certain high ranking German government officials carried fully functional yet highly detailed and stylish daggers. Now commonly referred to as the “government official’s dagger” or simply “government daggers”, these are fairly desirable to WW2 German collectors. Quite striking in design, these daggers were decorated with a number of eye-catching features. Chief among these features are simulated mother-of-pearl grip plates and silvered mounts and scabbards which effectively lent these government official’s daggers an air of tasteful elegance. A rather reclusive variant to the silvered version is the gilded version. Commonly referred to as the “Gold Government Dagger” (or “Eastern People’s Government Dagger”), this version was the same in nearly every detail, with the exception of the gold colored finish (“gilded” finish). In both versions the scabbards incorporated carrying bands which were decorated with an exquisitely detailed oak leaves and acorns design. The government official’s dagger also features a highly stylized crossguard decorated with an open-winged eagle clutching a wreathed swastika. Additionally a government official dagger integrates an eagle’s head into the dagger’s pommel, facing in the same direction as the crossguard eagle’s head. A similar dagger was made available to German diplomats with the difference being that on the diplomat daggers the eagle heads on the pommel and the crossguard are facing in opposing directions.