Posted 14 years ago
Ludo
(1 item)
Hello all, I recently found some neat items in my Grandfathers old war chest, maybe someone who knows a bit more about the above photo's could help me out in identifying these items, obviously the German Knife is from ww2, but other than that I have no idea what type of blade it is or if it was special in any way, as far as the main item, the letter opener kit, it looks to me like it could be a 18th or 19th century USPS carriers tool, but that is purely speculation on my part, I have no idea as I could not find anything on the web that even resembles this piece, I do imagine it's quite rare, the screws seem to be hand made and the wood has very intricate carvings about the whole piece, please call me or text me at 240-454-2544 if you have any idea what this could be, thanks much friends, Bill Gregory.
Once again, I'm no expert, I'll most likely be wrong about this but, as far as I can tell that would be called a "German Youth Knife" or "Nazi Youth Knife" given to the young people of Nazi Germany who were just starting out in their military service. There are many reproductions that are being made, yours being authentic is very cool in my opinion. If you ever decide to sell it, I'm pretty sure that you will not have any problems finding a buyer.
Grendelking is correct, what you have is a HJ (Hitler Jugund) knife. It is an early one because of the inscribed motto "Blut und Ehre, meaning blood and honor. Are there any other markings on the blade such as an RZM mark, or manufacturers name? This knife comes with a black scabbard.