G. Gräfrath is a quite common but very typical HJ maker in my opinion:
- All of the blades I have seen by this maker bear the same markings: "G. Gräfrath" on the blade and "RZM M7-30-1936" on the ricasso... always 1936 even on the late, zinc based ones (like the one I show here)
- The blade has also a typical (quite slim) shape even when it is unsharpened.
- The same blade was also used by the maker "Gräwiso" also marked "RZM M7-30 1936"

The only explanation I can think of is that they must have had a huge stock of these "1936" marked blades... so they still used them in 1938 and later.

Do you have a knife by this maker, show us please!
Do you have other experiences, talk about it!

Best greetings,

Herman

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The same maker and blade marking but with motto and steel based hilt:

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Another late one with the same blade but no motto.

Best greetings,

Herman

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Quite intriguing Herman! Makes you wonder why they were stamped 1936, and they don't have a motto. Perhaps they were just too lazy to change the stamp over the years! If they had a large stock of these blades, you would think they would have had a motto etched as well, unless they were only etched as they received orders perhaps?

Nice, interesting examples.

Regards
Russell

Hi, I do not have one of these HJ's but I do like the markings on you'rs, Ian.

Here is the "Grawiso" version of this dagger: same RZM mark M7/30 and again 1936, this one has a light motto.

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Herman, do you think that there might have been mottos on the Gräfraths originally, which may have been removed from cleaning and wear over time? Any signs? The motto on the Gräwiso has almost been eliminated in places from wear and cleaning, perhaps they were only lightly etched originally? Do you have, or have you seen any other 1936 dated knives with a motto and a zinc hilt - just wondering when zinc might have first been introduced on these knives, maybe earlier than we think in some cases? These are very interesting pieces!

Regards
Russell

Hello Russell, the motto's were certainly not cleaned off.

As far as I experienced blades with these markings by "G. Grafrath" and "Grawiso":
- All the steel ones had a motto
- All the zinc based ones had no motto.

Here is another one, zinc based, never had a motto because is still has good cross-graining, but again dated 1936, like all the other ones...

Best greetings,

Herman

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Thanks Herman - you've got a nice collection of these makers!

Apart from these makers, what is the earliest dated knife you have, or have seen with a zinc hilt - just wondering when these started being used in manufacture?

Regards
Russell

Very interesting thread.
I have an early Grawiso HJ knife with motto but no date or RZM probably because my one is the riccasso LESS model. I think from memory it has the smaller diamond insignia in the grip.

Nice grouping! While I have not done a side by side comparison. My sense of the markings at a glance, is that while they could have have had a large supply of partially finished blades with ricasso markings, it could also be that they did not want to invest in a new die (or multiple dies) with updated yearly dates. Having seen on the military side of the collecting equation. Instances where the old dated die stamps were either used as is or modified by grinding off part of the date. Either for the same reason, or because they were having a problem obtaining new stamps. FP

Interesting analyses and point of view, Fred!

Best greetings,

Herman