Here we have a picture of a German hunting sword offered for sale with attributions to the Imperial German Garde du Corps, an elite cavalry unit. This is a custom made piece for a retiring officer and while it has the Imperial Guard star, it is not a copy of a sidearm used by any German cavalry unit. Here also are two pictures from the WKC period edged weapons catalog of 1910 that show the only two types of swords…
The Notorious Atwood Birdshead Fantasy Dagger by Harry von Johnston, PhD Many legends and rumors existing among the edged weapon collectors community that enable crooked dealers to earn large sums of money from the trusting and gullible.. In this case I define a sucker is a collector who prefers to give credence to dealer`s assertions rather than spending money on informative books. This failing concerns both enthusiasts searching for cheap originals and the nouveau riche who can easily spend thousands…
by Harry von Johnston, PhD Now that I am retired from the CIA, I have some free time on my hands so when Mr. Royster asked me to write an article on publications and organizations created for the sole purpose of selling fake daggers and other edged weapons, I accepted it with pleasure. Thanks to my gallery of advanced collectors, I have been able to secure access to new sources of information which are generally unavailable for the majority…
Fake and Fantasy German Edged Weapons for Fun and Profit The faking of German swords and daggers began in the early 1960’s when an enterprising American, Lt. Col James Atwood, once of the United States Army and later of the Central Intelligence Agency, then resident in Germany, went to the German city of Solingen and bought up as many bits and pieces of Third Reich German daggers and swords as he could find. The great majority of these surplus pieces…
The Rommel Honor Dagger Many collectors seem to be drawn to technical works that are published solely to sell fakes. These gaudy books contain endless “variant” pieces, “prototypes,” “late-war production” items and many other entertaining holy relics that happen to be in the possession of either the author or one of his partners in crime.
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