The Knives of Others

HerrScheisse

My latest addition, a 1964 parade dagger for an officer in the "landstreitkräfte". The blade has matching number to the box.

As an added bonus, the lanyard and belt were included with this set

I would like to get the entire parade kit - as soon as I figure out my DDR size equivalent...

MedalFuhrer

Very nice stabber! Looks to be of lovely quality unlike alot of the DDR Commie stuff which can be quite tacky. Excellent condition too.

HerrScheisse

It is indeed excellent quality but the colours are all out of whack. Green box and a glue hued handle and the belt looks like tinsel.

Socialism and colour coordination clearly do not go together.

If anyone could explain me how the lanyard is worn, I would appreciate it!

MedalFuhrer

It is indeed a lovely set! The belt and lanyard may be Christmas silver colour but they also look to be of a lovely quality. The Commies were never famous for their taste or decor!

P.s. Very good thread title!

Little Alex

Now, now, I think you're all being a bit hard on the DDR stuff...

The belt is made of spun aluminium so I guess that's where the colour comes from. The lanyards weren't actually reintroduced until the mid 1970s (1976, I think)... the older ones are made of aluminium and the later ones of DDR nylon (called Dederon - DeDeRon). If you hold it up to your lips - I'm serious :pac: - you'll be able to tell if it is an older one by seeing if it feels cold against your lips.

Anyway, lovely stuff, HerrScheisse! Did you get them on eGun?

Oh yeah, and when you have your tunic you'll soon figure out how the lanyard attaches... you loop it through the right-hand shoulder board.

A couple of things to bear in mind...

The "dark collar" DDR tunics were already phased out by the time the lanyard was introduced, so you unfortunately cannot put them together.

Parade tunics had cuff bars (two single Litzen on each cuff) up until 1982. After this parade jackets and service jackets were the one.

If you have any other questions, go ahead... what I've said above I'm 100% about (however, there are always photos which prove the opposite of what the regulations say!!!), but if I'm not sure about something I'll tell you to ask at wehrmachtawards!

HerrScheisse

Some great information there Little Alex - thanks a lot!

I just <after checking nobody was looking> put the lanyard up to my lips and ice cold and metallic feeling - like strands of wire :eek:

I actually had not noticed that the lanyard might have been metallic! It feels fine in the hand so you would not notice - but you are right - the lip test worked :pac:

I got this as a direct private sale so not off eGun. But I have been watching them on there and recently lost out but now I finally got one of my own :pac:

danpatjoe

HerrScheisse wrote: »

....I just <after checking nobody was looking> put the lanyard up to my lips and ice cold and metallic feeling....

LOL!
Yes, people might think you were very odd if they thought you were kissing the lanyard!
I'm always very much aware of myself when I'm giving medal ribbons the old 'sniff test'.

Militaria collectors... we're all an odd breed really!

MedalFuhrer

Herr Scheisse, I actually have a similar dagger to yours. But it came without the date certificate that I see in the top of your box. But I was told that it was early 1970s. The handle is a near translucent ivory colour whereas yours is more of a yellow colour. As I said, they are of a lovely quality.
I never heard of metal cloth before! Great information Little Alex! I held the dagger straps to my lips and indeed the silver material is cold! What a strange sensation! So the silver material on top of the green material is aluminium- must have been an expensive and difficult manufacturing process.

HerrScheisse

Are you drinking whiskey out of a mug :eek:

Mint looking dagger! I can see from the reflection that you were naked while making the photograph ;-)

HerrScheisse

I have just tasted the parade belt and also the hanger for the dagger and all are stitched with metal thread. What a weird discovery! yet the thread is so fine that it feels like normal thread in the hand.

MedalFuhrer

HerrScheisse wrote: »

Are you drinking whiskey out of a mug :eek:

Mint looking dagger! I can see from the reflection that you were naked while making the photograph ;-)

Not quite, I still had a wrist watch on!
And it's a DDR Ruhla wristwatch.

HerrScheisse

Arrgghhh my eyes! My eyes!

The colours! Its like being back in the 70's!

MedalFuhrer

HerrScheisse wrote: »

Arrgghhh my eyes! My eyes!

The colours! Its like being back in the 70's!

That is Commie classy taste for you! You just got to love it!

Little Alex

MedalFuhrer wrote: »

That is Commie classy taste for you! You just got to love it!

The watch is a matter of taste, alright! :pac: Didn't Arnie and John Belushi exchange watches at the end of Red Heat?... a cheap East German watch...

I myself don't actually yet have a parade dagger and I'm getting jealous!

Little Alex

MedalFuhrer wrote: »

Very nice stabber! Looks to be of lovely quality unlike alot of the DDR Commie stuff which can be quite tacky. Excellent condition too.

This got me thinking, MedalFuhrer. Why do people think that DDR stuff is of low quality?

One thing I will say is that in 1986/87 there were several changes which resulted in low quality effects, but I would contend that before that pretty much everything was of top notch quality. One example that springs to mind is the "Qualifizierungsspange". Up until 1986 this was a substantial, heavy piece of cast metal. From 1986 there were many, many more variants of this award but they were cheap, thin stamped metal as opposed to weighty, cast metal with hand-drawn detailing.

Without wanting to get into it in too much detail, in the late 1980s the DDR was bankrupt beyond any possible saviour, like Ireland from 2008 onwards, and I guess for the lack of money that the quality suffered.

I'll post some examples of what I mean when I get around to taking some photos.

HerrScheisse

Hi Alex,

Please do post some examples of what you mean. I do not think MedalFuhrer meant badly made, rather "tacky" as in odd colours that hurt the senses. Like a trinket you would win from carnies at the funfair. But who knows what he really meant as it looks like he was in the depths of a Teachers binge from a cup with dancing pigs :eek:

Join us...DDR belts are tasty...join us....

Little Alex

HerrScheisse wrote: »

it looks like he was in the depths of a Teachers binge from a cup with dancing pigs :eek:

That made me laugh! The dancing pigs. Jaysus! :pac: Where would one get such a mug? I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out as I was looking at the Stasiland book.

HerrScheisse wrote: »

Join us...DDR belts are tasty...join us....

HerrScheisse wrote: »

I have a belt already, but not a dagger. I now feel underpriveleged and need to get one soon!



These are the cuff bars I was talking about. They come in different colours, depending on the Waffenfarbe (branch of service).

MedalFuhrer

Little Alex wrote: »

This got me thinking, MedalFuhrer. Why do people think that DDR stuff is of low quality?

One thing I will say is that in 1986/87 there were several changes which resulted in low quality effects, but I would contend that before that pretty much everything was of top notch quality. One example that springs to mind is the "Qualifizierungsspange". Up until 1986 this was a substantial, heavy piece of cast metal. From 1986 there were many, many more variants of this award but they were cheap, thin stamped metal as opposed to weighty, cast metal with hand-drawn detailing.

Without wanting to get into it in too much detail, in the late 1980s the DDR was bankrupt beyond any possible saviour, like Ireland from 2008 onwards, and I guess for the lack of money that the quality suffered.

I'll post some examples of what I mean when I get around to taking some photos.

I don't just mean DDR stuff. I mean Commie stuff in general is quite tacky. Even the WW2 medals are pretty tacky compared to the other countries at the time. (Excluding the Honours, etc. as they are top notch with top notch enamel work). I mean tacky shiny Gold or Silver that wears off after rubbing it twice, or tacky colour schemes. Like if they were permantly stuck in the bad part of the 1970s.
But don't get me wrong, I am not insulting it as I love it! Hence me wanting to get more of it. So please post more of your collection and also any hints and tips. And leave my drinking mug alone. If you drink enough the pigs start moving!