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The National Political Educational Institute (Nationalpolitische Erziehungsanstalt) was an SS-run organization established for the purpose of training future leaders for the Reich. A number of NPEA schools were set-up throughout Germany and many of its occupied countries, with most leaders and instructors coming from the SS. There were three forms of Political daggers associated with the NPEA. The Student version, the Staff Leader and the Chained Leader. The Student version (produced by Karl Burgsmüller and WMW) had no insignia in the SA style wood grip. The crossguards were solid nickel on early versions and aluminum on later types. The scabbards were an all- steel version painted olive drab. There were no mounts on the scabbard. The blades were etched with the motto of the NPEA, Mehr Sein als Scheinen (Be more than you appear). The Staff Leader versions were produced by Eickhorn, and were identical to the Student, except there was a National eagle design in the grip. The Chained Leader (produced by Burgsmüller, Eickhorn and WMW) was worn by instructors and leaders of the NPEA. The dagger itself had the National eagle in the grip but was otherwise the same as the Student version. The scabbard was olive drab, having three nickel plated mounts. The upper and center scabbard mounts carry a chain hanger.
NPEA-001-26871
- NPEA STAFF LEADER DAGGER - CARL EICKHORN
This NPEA Staff
Leader dagger has the traditional Eickhorn textbook criteria.
It is the same as the example shown in the new Weinand NPEA book
on Pages 16 and 17 and is also nearly identical to the example
shown in the Johnson Volume VI NPEA chapter on Page 126. This
dagger has the standard nickel plated cross guards and tang nut.
These cross guards are of a pot-metal base. The plating is still
quite good throughout, showing only minor age. There is just the
slightest bit of lifting and freckling. The tang nut shows no
signs of being loosened. The grip is the standard Eickhorn type
which has an aluminum eagle in the center area. The grip itself
is a fine looking, greenish color wood having good, close graining.
This grip is of medium to sharp contour construction and other
than normal usage signs, it is in perfect condition. The grip
eagle shows some minor wear to the head and breast areas, but
there are still details to the breast feathers and good detail
remaining to the open wing feathers, wreath and raised swastika.
(We believe in the collecting community that Staff Leader daggers
by Eickhorn were really the same as Student daggers, but this
was the variety chosen to be produced by Eickhorn. To date, this
author has never seen an Eickhorn example which is not equipped
with a grip eagle. The scabbard of this piece is straight throughout.
This bayonet-like scabbard has an upper throat area which the
fatter type used by this firm. It is retained by a center-placed
screw in the obverse. The lug of this scabbard is also the typical
Eickhorn type, being free of line design and the same as Page
126. The scabbard paint of this example is the olive drab type.
It shows some wear throughout, but still has quite a bit of the
paint remaining and is not in bad condition. This paint rates
at about 75% - 80%. The scabbard is equipped with a vertical style
hanger which appears to me to be a K-98 variety. It is in good
condition though, and nicely fits this scabbard without a lot
of bulbousness at the obverse area around the lug. This frog is
also a brown color instead of black. It has the four aluminum
rivet construction and there are no markings on the reverse of
this frog. There is a good chance that this frog has always been
worn with this dagger, as it appears to be a great match. The
blade of this piece is still mostly bright but, unfortunately,
there is a little bit of smudge which runs throughout most of
the surfaces. It is possible to still see some graining, if you
look closely. The blade is still a good shape however, and rates
in at least excellent condition. The obverse has the etched NPEA
motto using the gothic style S letters that this firm
employed. The darkening in the backgrounds of the letters is still
at about 90%. The reverse of the blade is etched with the over-the-shoulder
style squirrel. This squirrel was used post-1941. Below the squirrel
is the three-line maker marking Original/Eickhorn/Solingen.
There is a leather washer on this piece which appears original
to it. (Normally, the Eickhorn pieces do not have a washer, but
this one appears to have always been there). This is a very difficult
NPEA variation to acquire. It is not in mint condition, but it
is not in poor condition either. It is collectible and should
look nice with some other NPEAs displayed in a cabinet. Hard to
find variation here. Excellent. $3,395.00(#032008)
NPEA-002-26318C
Early NPEA Students Dagger with School Markings by Karl
Burgsmüller Charlottenberg
This is a beautiful
NPEA Students Dagger, if you can use this term to describe
these pieces. Probably, most new collectors would argue this point,
as NPEAs have not been known for their good looks, especially
since the Student type does not even have a swastika anywhere
in its design. This piece has the classic early nickel crossguards.
The lower example has that straight across look, that
we are all familiar with on NPEA daggers. The guards have fine
smooth surfaces, good crisp edges, and precise accent grooves.
The grip is also an impressive piece of wood. It is a brown color,
having medium ridge construction. It shows little usage, and is
in choice perfect condition. It has a grain which appears to run
at almost a 45 degree angle across the obverse grip, and on the
reverse, the grain tends to swirl a little bit, giving it almost
a burl affect. An extremely attractive grip here. This grip fits
the crossguards like a rubber glove. The reverse lower crossguard
is stamped with the school initial, as well as the accountability
number. It is stamped, W 012. If you have a copy of
the new Weinand NPEA book, you can see a very similar piece on
page 71, in color. It is interesting to note that the W
positioning on this crossguard is identical to that on the book
piece. Also the 0 is in the same position. It is obvious
that the same janitor or maintenance man, that was assigned to
stamping the daggers from the Wahlstatt School, did the job for
both of these daggers. The NPEA School at Wahlstatt was not large,
opening on April 8th, 1934. According to Weinand, all daggers,
which come from Wahlstatt, are stamped in this same manner, with
only the accountability number digits changing. The scabbard of
this piece is also a beauty. It is nice and straight, and has
impressive olive-drab paint. The paint is simply wonderful, and
is easily in 100% condition. It is too good to believe that it
can be original, but whomever painted this piece was a real Master,
and I must say, it adds much to the good looks of this dagger.
The scabbard, of course, is the standard Burgsmüller type,
having the smaller lug with dual line decoration. This lug is
the same is as shown in Weinand, on page 22. The lower ball is
also magnetic, as it should be. (Many times the reproduction scabbards
can be easily detected, as the lower ball was made of brass and,
therefore, not magnetic). This scabbard is equipped with an outstanding,
ultra-rare original, NPEA brown leather frog. This frog is in
near mint condition, and has a very rich color ox-blood tone to
its leather surfaces. It is quality constructed using four rivets,
which are also brown colored to match the leather. It is rare
to find these original hangers, let alone one in this kind of
a condition. The blade of this piece, as we would hope, is still
in good condition. It is nice and bright throughout. I do not
see a lot of crossgraining in the surfaces, but there is still
some remaining, if you look closely. (I am sure that these young
teenage students tended to wipe their blades off a lot, as I know
I would if I was one of them!). The blade has some in-and-out
marks, and just the slightest couple of very minor smudges. The
NPEA motto is nice and dark, appearing to have near 100% of its
original backgrounds. This blade easily grades in near mint condition.
The reverse ricasso has the firms name lettered in an arch
shape, Karl Burgsmüller. The name is positioned
over the city and the section, Berlin Charlottenberg
5. The blade shoulders nicely fit the lower crossguard contour,
but there is also a fine original tan felt blade buffer in place.
This is an outstanding NPEA dagger, that any collector would be
proud to have in his collection. Near Mint (26318-C) $3,795.00(#040408)