M33 SS Dagger by Klaas – D1201

This is an extremely nice Model M33 dagger which was distributed by the Robert Klaas edged weapon company. This firm in my opinion had the best quality early SS daggers of all edged weapon companies. While Klaas was not technically a manufacture per se’, but one which purchased edged weapon components, finished them to a degree, assembled and then sold them. 

Of all the early SS dagger manufactures, Klaas had the most elegant and appealing handles on their M33 daggers. And the grip on this SS is no exception. Common for this company, the contour shape of this hourglass grip spells Klaas all the way. Oh, it has a couple pressure mark on the reverse imparted by the scabbard vertical hanger, and a slight hair line at the lower obverse. Though by and large it is one of the nicest preserved grips that you will encounter on any early SS dagger. And that goes for the eagle and SS runes insignia too. Both remain in excellent condition, while displaying typical characteristics known and favored by the Klaas firm. The hardware on this hilt is something collectors are also familiar with, that being that it is internal caster marked St. Thus, displaying components used by this company almost exclusively. We typically don’t take down daggers and this one sat in our collection for years but this one we did recently as it had never been apart by us before. It’s interesting to note that the top crossguard has been period knurled down and recessed with precision machining. Oh, please don’t go flopping around on the floor over such a minor alteration. It’s not that big of a deal when rationally thinking through it. With this firm purchasing all of their components and then assembling them, the blade tang to this dagger probably came in to the company a speck short, and had already been threaded. To compensate for that the worker machine knurled the area of the crossguard down a fraction rather than throw the blade away. Additionally, the reason this is obvious is that the end of the tang has not been altered in the least. Just one look at this hilt exhibits how beautifully this complete assembly perfectly fits together and you would never know unless you did take it apart.

An excellent scabbard accompanies this Klaas SS dagger. The shell remains nice and straight, void of any bends, creases, splits, or major dings. The period blue oxide finish has held up amazingly well on this shell, to include 90% of the protective surface lacquer. Something rarely encountered on these introductory political daggers of any type. Both upper and lower nickel silver fittings are in excellent condition, and taken on the same beautiful hue of the hilt hardware components. And as a nice bonus, the top of this scabbard is shown an early SS vertical hanger / D ring. Frozen in time, I’m not about to disturb it to show the SS stamp down the center reinforcing strap. 

And to complete this extremely nice Klass SS dagger is the mint blade which is shown in the photos. It just doesn’t get any better!

A sweet early M33 SS dagger, and all textbook Klaas components in its entirety.  $7500.00