I have a Grafrath transitional that just came to me - It has both marks which look ok but should it have nickle plated fitings with the eagle being the older silver type - ?? - There is a small space between the grip edges near the crossguard and the crossguard itself - Hard to show in a picture -

Grip picture

Looks good, and yes, that is correct for many early transitional types. They must have had thousands of the nickel silver eagles to use up before they made aluminum eagles. Nice dagger! John

That is one scarce transitional mark.

Thanks for the input - I think the grip may have been changed as the edges looks too fresh near the crossguard and top - It's scarce so I would like to keep it but don't want parts pieces either - I'll take a day and try to figure it out - I appreciate the help on it -

This one has plated fittings as well.nats

http://www.stan-the-man.tk/

The grip is the typical transitional shape and color. These grips tend to be a little harder than early daggers, so you may not see the indents where it meets the crossguard as much as you would on an early dagger. Plus the fit may not be as good. If you decide to take it down, see how well the parts all drops back together, that sometimes will tell you if it's a parts dagger.

John

Here are some pictures of the grip off the dagger - The edges look like they have been recently touched up to make a fit -

another shot-

The ends of the grip look original factory to me. But if you're not happy with the dagger, I'd be interested in it.

Thanks John - I picked this up with the Henkels I was telling you about and paid a lot for them - I am just looking for some opinions before I decide to keep them - Always nice to know what others think about this stuff because someday they will be scrutinized by the next buyer - I'll email you some pics of the Henkels -

I vote to keep it. Looks like a nice honest dagger.

That's a keeper.

The nickle silver eagles can be found sometimes even on late pieces, so there is NO PROBLEM with such eagle on a "transi".