Haenel Suhl SA Dagger for review “nothing has been cleaned, polished, nor touched”
I really admired the Haenel SA dagger that changed hands from Ger to another member on the forum a little while back, and I have admired Haenel Waffenfabrik for a long time anyway, maker of the FXO E/37 P. 08 Luger mags for the "Black Widow" Lugers, makers of the dreaded Schmeisser MP38 and MP40, among others..
Part of the ad description;
Both upper and lower crossguard are as smooth as the day that this dagger was assembled, as nothing has been cleaned, polished, nor touched.
And that’s all I needed to hear, and I trusted the seller to describe the item accurately and tell the truth. This dealer has many very high end daggers, and has been doing this for a long time.
I got the dagger in the mail, and this is what I’m looking at. Please click on the hi res pics to get a good look at the work that’s been done to this thing.
First thing you see is the dubious fit of lower crossguard to scabbard throat, beat marks under under the throat of the scabbard on the right, obvious scratching and polishing of the lower crossguard. Rough sanding or heavy steel wooling horizontal marks on the upper scabbard fitting.
Incredibly bad fit from the rear, wow and scratch marks all over the upper scabbard fitting, looks like in an effort to remove corrosion
Mangled and beat over screws.
Scabbard throat beat into place (looks twice as bad in person as it does in this pic), who in the hell worked on this thing, an orangutan on crack?
Crazy scratching to the bottom of the lower crossguard, both sides, undoubtedly part of this same "craftsman’s" work…
I am outraged, this is unbelievable, and the seller has the nerve to try to blame Haenel for this
As much as we all would expect perfection in every single item that was manufactured by the Germans during the 3rd Reich, at times collectors are sometimes disappointed to discover something other than that. Even some of the most important and prized edged weapons produced during the period, fall short in quality of what we would expect.
Otherwise it is a nice dagger, and it kills me to see it ruined like this, at least the collectability is shot down way down… It will never be an "untampered original". Also visible, in contradiction to "nothing has been cleaned, polished, nor touched", the pommel nut has been turned, recently, just with reading glasses you can see a bright spot on every flat of the nut, it’s been taken apart, and that should be obvious to an advanced seller.
Also in the ad in the section on the blade, "The blade is a killer! Full length, drawn to a needle point".
Actually, the tip has been rammed into something and is ever so slightly folded over, but this is a big deal. People really need to look at what it is they’re selling instead of making crazy exaggerated claims, it can only lead to heartache for the buyer, headache for the seller.
Also, this being a Suhl dagger, much was made of how gorgeous the handle is, "With light and dark grain running throughout and a tiger stripe effect as well". Well, in fact there is little, almost no tiger stripe, it has a little figure in one spot, the other side of the grips is completely devoid of any visible figure or "striping", and there are some strange blobs of finish someone dripped on it and didn’t wipe off in time, I doubt this was in the Haenel Suhl workshop…
And as a proper explanations to why WHY does this dagger so not match the description?
We can see that you are a very discriminant collector, who demands the very best in the items that you purchase for your collection. We’re sorry we fell short on those expectations. Please return the dagger, as we will be more than happy to issue a refund, without any explanation.
This is nuts, and everybody goes on about buying from dealers, and all the big time collectors do it, this is from Lakeside Trader’s SA dagger tutorial;
The most common mistake I see is a newbie buying his first dagger from an auction site or at a gun show trying to save a few bucks. I don’t know how many times I have seen new collectors throw in the towel after getting taken on their first purchase! Newbies often buy from auction sites, most experienced collectors buy from dealers that alone should say something!
Also, as an EXTREME WARNING to other collectors!!!
By the time I got the dagger, the ad had been taken down, all traces of the original ad copy gone from the website so you have no way of crosschecking what was said vs what you’re holding in your hand.
At this point I’m extremely fortunate to have saved the ad, but let this be a lesson, CUT N’ PASTE THE AD INTO A WORD FILE just in case there is a problem and the seller has deleted the ad by the time you have the item in your hand.
This was the response to why the ad was no longer on the site for the buyer to re-read the ad once receiving the item to make sure the item matches the description;
We try to update our site immediately when items are sold, and the reason that the dagger was deleted in a promptly manor. That is why the listing was removed.
Sometimes buyers don’t read so well (I’ve been selling on eBay since 2002, 2264 100% positive), and the ad copy needs to still be up for both parties involved. Can you imagine if eBay deleted the sold items from the site as soon as they are sold?
So at this point, instead of enjoying what was probably going to be "the last SA dagger I’d ever buy", I have to deal with the hassle of a return, and finding another one… Maybe I’m just not meant to have a decent SA dagger and I should give up on this and just stick to what I know, or just stop for a while, spend money on other more needed things…
This is really taking the wind out of my sails for collecting "higher end" stuff and buying anything other than the odd trinket and a few books here and there.
I need to add at this point, I repair equipment, weld, fabricate and do general work on a farm, I work quite hard for the money I make, so I don’t take purchases lightly. That’s a lot of hours of labor going into something like this for me. Most of my pieces cost less than this dagger, in fact, this is the one most expensive non firearm item I have ever bought.
Some opinions from fellow collectors appreciated.
Thx guys.
PS Don’t need to ask who the seller it, and if you know there’s no need to mention it here. This thread is here as a PSA for everyone here who buys militaria, from any seller, regardless of caliber.
PPS In case you didn’t read all the way through before commenting, the seller is in no way refusing to refund.
