World War II era German diving knife, I think.

bfrangenberg

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I picked this knife up when I was in England about eight or nine years ago. The guy I got it from didn’t really know much about it. I worked in the commercial diving industry for many moons so he gave me the knife. The only mark on the blade or the scabbard is that eagle (I think) stamped on the one side of the blade. The handle is wooden and the scabbard looks to be like it’s made of brass, but I checked it with a magnet and it’s slightly magnetic so it could be plated steel. I have a standard US Navy dive knife in my collection and this one is real similar, other than it’s a dagger and it’s got a blood groove in it. The Blade screws into the scabbard. I really don’t know anything about it. My guess is it might’ve been for maybe combat swimmers because of the style of the blade, what do you guys think?
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I think it is a "hard hat diver's knife" as opposed to a "swimmer's knife". As you say, it has that configuration.
 
I think it is a "hard hat diver's knife" as opposed to a "swimmer's knife". As you say, it has that configuration.
A hardhat divers knife would be more of a blunt tip and less for stabbing and more for prying and cutting and sawing. There’s no saw blade on the back of this blade.
 

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I'm not an expert, but consider the following examples of Kriegsmarine dive knives from the third reich:







It looks like there was some variation in the styles of dive knives from the time, but key features are heavy brass handles and brass scabbards, waffenamt stamps on the scabbard, and a long, broad blade of polished steel with a rounded or chisel-like blade. Apparently many of them were made by J.A. Henckels, but markings are inconsistent and some were made by other manufacturers. None of those features are really present in your example, although the scabbard might be highly tarnished brass with some internal steel component that makes it slightly magnetic, but I couldn't say. Evidently the above models are rare because they were often cannibalized at one time or another for the valuable brass components.

Your knife looks like a blade was taken from a German bayonet and modified to be used as, or at least appear to be, a dive knife. It seems to me like an odd combination of components and materials to be useful for a dive knife. I found several examples like yours but haven't seen much information about them. Note that most of the links below are from old auctions which state that the knives are unauthenticated and sold as-is, so do with that what you will.




None of this is to say that yours is not a genuine dive knife from the third reich. I understand that the German war machine used any/all manufacturers and materials at their disposal during the war years and became much less concerned with quality control near the end. It is very well possible that the Kriegsmarine adopted one model/design of dive knife, subcontracted it out to whichever bidder was lowest at the time, then decided later on to "just roll with it" when some whacky knives were cobbled together from available parts when other materials became scarce.

Regardless, it's a very cool piece that, if genuine, appears to be in excellent condition.
 
I have no data, just me thinking out loud. It honestly looks to me like a repurposed Enfield

I'm not an expert, but consider the following examples of Kriegsmarine dive knives from the third reich:







It looks like there was some variation in the styles of dive knives from the time, but key features are heavy brass handles and brass scabbards, waffenamt stamps on the scabbard, and a long, broad blade of polished steel with a rounded or chisel-like blade. Apparently many of them were made by J.A. Henckels, but markings are inconsistent and some were made by other manufacturers. None of those features are really present in your example, although the scabbard might be highly tarnished brass with some internal steel component that makes it slightly magnetic, but I couldn't say. Evidently the above models are rare because they were often cannibalized at one time or another for the valuable brass components.

Your knife looks like a blade was taken from a German bayonet and modified to be used as, or at least appear to be, a dive knife. It seems to me like an odd combination of components and materials to be useful for a dive knife. I found several examples like yours but haven't seen much information about them. Note that most of the links below are from old auctions which state that the knives are unauthenticated and sold as-is, so do with that what you will.




None of this is to say that yours is not a genuine dive knife from the third reich. I understand that the German war machine used any/all manufacturers and materials at their disposal during the war years and became much less concerned with quality control near the end. It is very well possible that the Kriegsmarine adopted one model/design of dive knife, subcontracted it out to whichever bidder was lowest at the time, then decided later on to "just roll with it" when some whacky knives were cobbled together from available parts when other materials became scarce.

Regardless, it's a very cool piece that, if genuine, appears to be in excellent condition.
The knives in those other auctions look very similar, but the markings were different. As you said towards the end of the war, they did a lot of unconventional stuff. Thank you so much for your time and your reply. The top of this scabbard unscrews too, fyi.
 
I just went and looked at some pictures of that bayonet and it really does look the same.

The faint eagle stamp on the ricasso of your blade looks a little off to me. I've been looking at images of German bayonets from the period and I'm just not seeing an eagle stamp like that on the ricasso on the examples I find. Again, there are lots of variation and who knows what could have been pumped out during the later years. It just sticks out a little bit.
 
It's a fake. Here's a link to someone asking about an identical example (including the off-kilter tang stamp, which is a dead giveaway despite the half-witted attempt to feign a "hurried production" authenticity) in a European militaria forum:



Counterfeit and fantasy Nazi relics have been moneymakers for shysters for many decades. Yours looks to be yet another variation on an old theme.


-Steve
 
It's a fake. Here's a link to someone asking about an identical example (including the off-kilter tang stamp, which is a dead giveaway despite the half-witted attempt to feign a "hurried production" authenticity) in a European militaria forum:



Counterfeit and fantasy Nazi relics have been moneymakers for shysters for many decades. Yours looks to be yet another variation on an old theme.


-Steve
This forum never ceases to amaze!
 
My battle rhythm is so pure that I wore a jazz groove into my blade.
 
I do not know anything ab out German knivesw or even about hard hat diving gear.

With that said:

The stamp on the ricasso does look like something military and German of that era. However, I have a concern about authenticity because it is shallow and crooked. That was the first thing I noticed in the first overall long shot picture.

German manufacturing was not slipshod. My experience with collectable WW-II era cameras has shown me that there is a strong incentive for fakery of anything in the line of German military gear. A spurious stamp is easy enough to apply to a knife.

Do some deep research before declaring this to be a German Navey diver's knife.
 
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