Odd "Germany Awake" Knife?

tav396 · Jan 25, 2017

Found this today along a creek in the middle of the woods along a creek. The rust broke the back spring but other than that... And a flat button Still an odd find for Pennsylvania

chrononauts · Jan 25, 2017

That is crazy! It must have been brought back by a G.I.

l2hunt · Jan 25, 2017

that is an incredible find, would love to know it's history! maybe possible these were made when the nazi regime started to become popular, many possibilities! HH

Wildcat1750 · Jan 25, 2017

Very cool relic from the WWII era and a bit chilling too. :icon_thumright:

A2coins · Jan 25, 2017

That is a sweeeeeeeet find looks in great shape to great display case item if it were mine I would get it restored Thanks for sharing it!!!!!

Clay Slayer · Jan 25, 2017

Cool piece, but fairly certain it's a copy probably made in Japan not too long ago...30-40 years. The give-away are the exposed pivot and handle rivets in what is probably a cast brass handle. Do the handles attract a magnet? The original 1930 era knives like this are VERY rare and had steel covers(handle material). The casting on this one is not bad though. Here is a picture of some authentic covers and notice the rivets (pins) are not visible. Most repros in really good condition seem to be going for about $30 - $60 bucks or so. Still very cool...

Argentium · Jan 25, 2017

Wow ! when I looked close up - I saw the seig heil - on the end there , creepy , but a great relic ! do the blades still open ?

deershed · Jan 25, 2017

One of the coolest knives I've seen dug. That will look great in the display case. Congrats!!

Xraywolf · Jan 25, 2017

For sure a post 1945 fantasy piece [ie, not a copy for it never existed in fact]. Most likely modern, most likely asian/east European made.

Not a bad find nonetheless.

UnderMiner · Jan 25, 2017

Crazy find! Very unique! Personally I think Germany's still sleeping. :coffee2:

trapperart · Jan 26, 2017

Nice find congrats

Westfront · Jan 26, 2017

Agree, fantasy piece for a couple reasons. Most obvious is the inscription. There was never a "Deutschland erwacht" it was always "Deutschland erwache".

Westfront · Jan 26, 2017

UnderMiner said:
Crazy find! Very unique! Personally I think Germany's still sleeping.

Not all but most of them. And they were teached that the last decades. Now it pays off for the politicans.

Xraywolf · Jan 26, 2017

Westfront said:
Agree, fantasy piece for a couple reasons. Most obvious is the inscription. There was never a "Deutschland erwacht" it was always "Deutschland erwache".

Good point.
I believe there was an early propaganda film titled "Deutschland erwacht", but the banners/tinnies/flags were "Deutschland erwache".

Would that be like "awake" awakes" "awakened" ect ?

The holy grail for German militaria collectors is the Deutschland Erwache standarte, very few are known to exist and even partial, degraded examples, the few times they hit the market, easily fetch $25K +, pristine vetted examples $250k and up.
A large part of their attraction to collectors is that each and every one of them was personally touched and consecrated by Hitler himself - Not most but all of them, it was a symbolic ritual and even during the period 1933/1945 these were rare and highly symbolic. Few in numbers to begin with, many [perhaps a majority] were destroyed after the war.

[Photo a reproduction, themselves worth $100's or even $1,000's]

There are also legit period "Deutschland erwache" pins/tinnies, because of their association with the standartes they are highly collectible as well. Fakers are well aware of this trend and have flooded the market long ago, probably 10,000 fakes for every legit "Deutschland erwache" item. So some items are fakes/reproductions [a post war copy of an item that actually once existed and was produced in Germany pre 1945], but most are fantasy items, dreamed up by whoever made them, and typically feature gaudy, over the top visual embellishments such as this pocket knife.

Best of my knowledge, and I do collect militaria including TR/Imperial German, there were never any "Deutschland erwache" edged weapons officially produced during the TR.
OP, you have a clunker.

Westfront · Jan 27, 2017

Xraywolf said:
Good point.
I believe there was an early propaganda film titled "Deutschland erwacht", but the banners/tinnies/flags were "Deutschland erwache".

Would that be like "awake" awakes" "awakened" ect ?

Not able to translate this way. Erwache/Erwacht is in translation awake or awakes, doesn't matter. You better go by the meaning. Deutschland erwache means: Germany Stand Up! So you can say "Germany arise" too i think.