Restored SS Officers Degan by Herman Rath

German WWII > Edged Weapons > Swords > SS Swords

Always a pleasure to handle one of these degans! These were authorized for wear personally by Himmler and ownership required a certificate. Each one was, upon being awarded, duly noted in the SS Diensltersliste and became a part of the owner's service record along with his other awards and citations. So most of these are either unmarked or made by Krebs.T his example sports the Rath maker mark. They were an authorized SS distributor. The blade rates an Exc++. The 31" blade continues to maintaining its original matte finish, the tip and fit are both perfect and the maker mark looks awesome! There is some minor wear throughout, with a few scuffs but nice smooth surfaces. It continues to remain pit and rust free. The buffer pad is intact. The scabbard is dent free and painted in original thick black enamel. There is normal scratches and scrapes and bumps. The plated steel fittings are secured with dome-head screws. The grip is composed of 13 ribbed sections being separated with replacement wire wrap. The nickel SS runes button is correctly burnished to the backgrounds and set into place. The grip had some damage that was repaired. Note the button placement, it's just after the fifth rib this is exactly where it should be! The ferrule has nice hand enhancing. The pommel has the later stepped fitting built into it as we expect from the later steel type. Wittmann clearly describes this on pg 382 of his SS reference. Ok so given this degan is by an odd maker and has had restoration work I'm pricing it to move.