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German Government and Diplomatic Officials carried extremely elegant daggers having silvered mounts with artificial mother-of-pearl grip plates. The pommel top is constructed in the shape of an eagle bird head shown from the side, positioned looking to the left. The crossguard portrays an open-winged eagle which clutches a wreathed swastika. On the Government Official's dagger, the bird looks to the left, the same direction as the top pommel. On the Diplomatic version, the bird looks to the right, opposite from the pommel top. The silvered scabbards are equipped with carrying bands which portray overlapping oak leaves with an acorn mix.
GODO #29890 GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL - Alcoso
This Government Official dagger has outstanding silver plate throughout the outside. The eagle head, which looks to the viewer’s left, is crisp throughout his beak, brow and the cantilever section at the back of his head. The spanner shows that it has been out on a number of occasions but the holes are still basically rounded. The pommel head is part of the backstrap piece on these government officials and the area that borders the lower head and backstrap is hand engraved with a border line which follows the shape of the edges. The front side plate is a brass based example as it is magnetic and therefore it has still retained all of its silvering. Many of the Alcoso pieces have steel base which did not accept the plating as well. The ferrule is the standard type having the hand cut twin decorative rings which go around the circumference. The crossguard is a fine example featuring a well defined eagle. In many Alcosos the definition to the bird’s head and breast area is often lost in the casting. On this example it has been nicely factory hand enhanced and the eye, beak and top portion of the head are easily discernible. There are also good definitive lines above the breast area. The feathering to the wings is excellent and they flow outward to upward teardrop shaped tips. The bird’s talons grasp a small style oak leaf wreath which has a mobile swastika raised out within. There are also some hand accents to this wreath. Not a bad looking crossguard here which also has all of its silvering. The grip plates are the usual mother of pearl look a like made from celluloid. They have attractive swirls in their surfaces and both plates have been perfectly cut and fit exactly into the acceptance areas of the back plate and front plate. A beautiful job here and these grip plates are turning a pleasing gold color. I took a look inside of this dagger and all of the parts are numbered, “14”. This includes the tang, the backstrap, the front side plate, the crossguard and also the blade tang. The scabbard of this example is a fine one. It has 100% silvering and is straight throughout. The pebbled panels are still crisp and the oak leaf and acorn bands are 100% with all detail to the veins and acorns. These bands are traveling toward the eyelets which are a triple serrated type. The Alcoso eyelets are readily identifiable by the small sleeves which are built into the hole which accepts the carrying rings. The thinner style throat is retained by two flatter type screws which are the small bore style used by this firm. The blade of this example is as nice as they come. This blade is completely bright and has outstanding polished surface which retains 100% of its original crossgraining. The tip is completely needlelike. This mint blade is etched on the reverse ricasso with the trademark used from 1937 through 1939. It consists of a perpendicular placed set of scales having the firm’s initials, “ACS” interspersed. Above the scales in an arch shape is the block lettered name of the firm, “Alcoso”. Below the trademark is the city of “Solingen” in block letters. This fine blade has been buffered by an in place small style brown leather washer. A very nice Alcoso government official here. These daggers are getting difficult to find and this one should please most collectors with its condition.
GODO #29066 GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL – Alcoso
This dagger is a classic Alcoso piece, having a fine patination and does not appear to have ever been cleaned. I bought this piece a couple of years ago and it came secured in an army style scabbard instead of the proper government official example. I recently found a scabbard for this piece and have been able to match the two together. I will get to the scabbard further down in the description. The hilt of this example is still quite crisp having very sharp lines to the cantilever area at the back of the eagle’s head. This bird has a great look to its brow and eye beneath as well as to the detail lines that descend downward from the head. The beak is also still mostly crisp having no “pecking” on the end area which we frequently see. The backstrap flows nicely having a good hand engraved decorative lines that go down to about the center point. The spanner on top is one of the best you will see, the two holes having no sign of being taken apart. We did take this piece down though and determined that all the parts were a matching number, “13”. The side plate is a good example being of brass base instead of the usual steel base. This is the reason the plating is still intact on this side plate as the later examples were a steel base. The ferrule is also an outstanding example having full silvering and complete with the two hand cut decorative lines. The crossguard is a fine example having good upward thrust to the ends of both wings. The detail to the eagle is also better than is normally seen. This bird faces the same direction as the pommel bird, having fine detail to its eye, beak, breast, talons, open wing feathering and even pretty good detail to the smaller style wreath. Usually these Alcoso wreaths do not have much detail, but this one looks pretty good. Lurching out of the black background of the center wreath is a mobile nicely shaped swastika. Sometimes the swastikas on these Alcosos also can get blended into the background. Not the case with this example. The celluloid grip plates are that typical greenish yellow color we see with this maker. They are nicely hand cut and fit, obviously done by a real expert. The grip plates have the simulated mother-of-pearl look to the swirls in their surfaces. The reverse grip plate for some reason has a crack at about the center of it and the crack is about the size and shape of the top of a thumbnail. It is not anything that is going to get worse or jeopardize the integrity of the hilt. A fine hilt here! As mentioned, above the scabbard is mated with this example as the dagger came in an army scabbard. This scabbard, luckily, has the same matching patina and the silvering is in perfect condition throughout. This scabbard is nice and straight and has fairly good pebbled surfaces although they do show some wear in few places. The bands are the style which feature overlapping oak leaves with acorn mix. It is interesting to note that the lower band has the oak leaves going upward toward the eyelet. The upper band has the eyelets going opposite. The reason for this is fairly simple - the band was installed upside down. The result of this is that the band slightly wiggles a little bit as the bands were proportioned from large to smaller size with the top and bottom opening. When installed upside down the opposite effect happens. At any rate, this may be the reason why this scabbard possibly was a “leftover” at the factory at the end of the war. I do not know, but I’m just glad that it somehow found its way here as it was a shame to see this dagger languish without a proper scabbard. The eyelets on this particular example have the triple line sectioning but they do not have the normal serrations that we frequently see. This scabbard is not an Alcoso but most likely comes from a lesser known brand being perhaps Puma or one of the other smaller producers. The throat is retained by two headless flush-mount side screws. The blade of this example is a real beauty. This blade has all of its original factory graining, has a needlelike tip and other than the usual in and out markings it is in crisp mint condition. The reverse of the blade is etched with the trademark used from 1937 through 1939. This mark consists of the scales logo with the firm’s initials interspersed, “ACS”. Above the scales, in block letters, in an arch shape, is the firm’s name, “Alcoso” and below in block letters is the location, “Solingen”. The leather washer is in place. A good example here which is married with a scabbard from another brand but nonetheless original. The dagger is priced accordingly.
