{"product_id":"imperial-german-crown-pommel-dress-dagger-belt-hanger-gilt-scabbard-wire-grip","title":"Imperial German Crown Pommel Dress Dagger Belt Hanger Gilt Scabbard Wire Grip","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eA German dress dagger of miniature proportions, built to be worn at the belt, with a wire-wound grip, an Imperial crown pommel, and a gilt-brass scabbard carrying its chain hanger and belt hook. The piece measures approximately 9 inches (22.9 cm) overall. It is a dress side-arm rather than a fighting or regulation weapon, worn suspended from the belt as a mark of personal ornament, and it carries a genuine sharpened blade in the German imperial taste.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe construction is of good quality throughout. The blade is polished steel of flattened diamond section, double-edged and drawn to a spear point, sharp along both edges. The hilt begins in a gilt-brass ferrule engraved with a fine foliate band, above which the grip rises as a slim baluster bound in a close spiral of twisted wire. The pommel is the defining element: a cast gilt-brass \u003cem\u003eKaiserkrone\u003c\/em\u003e (Imperial crown) of the German arched form, with its banded and jeweled circlet, raised half-arches, and surmounting orb and cross, the emblem of the German Empire and its sovereign. The scabbard is gilt brass, slim and tapering, finished with a decorated locket band at the throat and a rounded knop at the tip. From the locket runs a linked chain to a flat, shaped hook plate; this hook is the piece that fixes how the dagger was carried, made to slip over the top of a belt or waistband so the dagger hangs against the body, with the chain serving as a retaining tether. The whole wears a matching gilt finish.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe crown that surmounts the hilt is the central emblem of the German Empire proclaimed in 1871, when the King of Prussia became German Emperor and the twenty-five states of the \u003cem\u003eKaiserreich\u003c\/em\u003e were bound into a single realm under the House of Hohenzollern. The arched crown with its orb and cross, although never realized as a single physical piece of regalia worn by the Kaiser, served throughout the Imperial period as the heraldic sign of the imperial dignity, appearing on state documents, coinage, standards, and the whole apparatus of official and patriotic imagery. Its presence marks the dagger as a product of that imperial visual culture. Belt-worn dress daggers of this reduced size belonged to the decorative and fashionable side of German life in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, worn as personal ornaments and patriotic accessories and made in gilt brass with emblematic fittings for wear and display rather than for the field. They descend from the same taste for the martial and the imperial that runs through the dress side-arms and household militaria of the period. A precise date and maker cannot be established from the piece, which bears no visible maker's mark and no regimental or state cypher beyond the imperial crown; the crown iconography and gilt construction are consistent with the Imperial period and the years surrounding it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eCondition is very good. The blade is sound and keeps its sharp edges, with scattered surface staining and age spotting to the steel but no significant pitting or damage. The wire-wound grip is intact and tight, and the gilt-brass fittings, crown pommel, engraved ferrule, scabbard locket, and knop, are complete and hold good detail, with mellowing and honest wear to the gilt consistent with age. The chain hanger is intact and connected, running to the shaped belt hook, which is present and sound. The dagger seats correctly in its scabbard, and there is no significant loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eAmong edged-weapon collectors, small belt-worn dress daggers occupy an appealing niche between side-arms, patriotic material, and personal accessories, valued for their craftsmanship and their emblematic fittings. An example crowned with the Imperial German crown and retaining its original chain hanger, belt hook, and gilt scabbard is a handsome and displayable survival, well suited to the collector of Imperial German edged weapons and patriotic objects, or to anyone drawn to the decorative face of the \u003cem\u003eKaiserreich\u003c\/em\u003e. It should be understood as a belt-worn dress dagger rather than a regulation or combat side-arm, and it carries the imperial crown as a general emblem of the Empire rather than a specific unit attribution; on those terms it is an attractive and characterful piece.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50148569481455,"sku":"07-171","price":179.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/9169\/5855\/files\/07-171_1.jpg?v=1783534484","url":"https:\/\/derrittmeister.com\/products\/imperial-german-crown-pommel-dress-dagger-belt-hanger-gilt-scabbard-wire-grip","provider":"Derrittmeister Militaria Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}