Original German WWII Luftwaffe Officer Sword and Scabbard by E. & F. Hörster with Aluminum Fittings - Nickel-Plated Blade

Original Items: Only One Available. This is an excellent example of a German WWII Luftwaffe Officer's Sword from a famous maker with great aluminum fittings. It also comes with a very hard to find vertical hanger clip. This is a mid-war produced example as early war examples were silver-frosted nickel alloy, however as the war continued they moved to the "air-age" aluminum material.

The 29 1/2" blade is fully nickel plated, and is in excellent condition. It shows some runner wear on the flats of the blade, and also has some overall light scuffing, but there is no plating loss and the plating is still bright with little oxidation. The edges are correctly unsharpened, the tip is still unbent, and there are no dents on the edges that we can feel. Truly a great example of WWII production blade.

The reverse ricasso of this great sword is maker marked E. & F. HÖRSTER / SOLINGEN in an oval "lozenge" around the company's trademark downward pointing sword piercing interlocking HHS initials. E. & F. Hörster & Co Gmbh, is a well-known maker from Solingen, the famous "City of Blades" in Western Germany, which marketed many fine edged weapons. The firm lasted long after WWII, finally being declared insolvent in 1996. For more information please see GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS by J. Anthony Carter. We did not see any inspection stamp like we sometimes see on these.

The fittings of this sword are bright aluminum, and show light wear from use and cleaning. The pommel still has mostly crisp edges and the oak leaves on the sides are in excellent condition with intact gilding. There is however some denting and wear on the edges, which is common. The "broken sun cross" swas on the pommel and cross guard also retained all of their original gilding, and looks great. The cross guard arms are the downward sloping type being in three tiers and carved with lines to simulate feathering. These quillon arms still have good, crisp edges. The pommel nut is tight, but there is some wobble to the cross guard and grip, probably from the grip shrinking over the decades. The grip is a fine blue Moroccan leather covered carved wood base. This leather is in good condition throughout and still has its original graining in the surfaces, though the blue finish is worn towards brown in many areas. The grip is wrapped with double twisted strands of silver bullion wrapped wire, which are in excellent condition.

The leather-covered metal scabbard of this example is straight throughout, and is mostly non-magnetic, with only the spring steel scabbard runners making the top weakly magnetic. The leather covering is excellent, with only a few tiny areas of wear to the finish. The scabbard is equipped with upper and lower matching bright aluminum mounts. These mounts are in fine condition and are retained by headless, flush mount screws which are all in place. The original matching leather crescent hanger is also in place with no signs of rot, just a bit of finish wear. This crescent hanger is equipped with a closed matching aluminum box clip, which shows some deformation.

A beautiful Luftwaffe Officer's sword by a desirable maker that has passed the test of time with flying colors. Ready to display!

Specifications:

Blade Length: 29 1/2"
Blade Style: Double Edge w/ Partial Fuller
Overall length: 36 1/4“
Crossguard: 5"
Scabbard length: 32 3/4”