Does anyone have any idea why the etching seems to get deeper as you look along to the right?

There's no doubt in my mind that the dagger is 100% real... due to the etching, the placement of the maker mark and the fact that you can see that the blade is slightly thinner where Rohm's name was removed/polished off.

Something else that I find a little strange though, is that it looks like somebody has ground the tang marking off... which seems a little odd?

What are your thoughts and opinions... is this normal/okay? Is there any explanations for this?

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Anyone?

May be the tang was marked "1936"?

quote:

Originally posted by sokol:
May be the tang was marked "1936"?

An idea yes but I doubt it. That marking is usually found closer to the blade and doesn't display the other attributes shown on those marked blades/tangs.

So far, the only thing I can think of is that the inscription was going to be completely polished off but was reconsidered during the process...

Any other ideas?

The blade has been heavily cleaned.
There was probably some corrosion half way down the blade and the previous owner worked with some abrasive cleaner (like Brasso) to get the corrosion out.
They simply did not polish the blade evenly but rather concentrated on the corroded area. Now you have an uneven (in depth) etch.
I have seen this before, especially when someone tries to clean a small area of greying from an etched (such as naval) blade.
It could be caused by somthing else I suppose, but I feel fairly confident that this is the cause.
Just my opinon ofcourse.
Good hunting,
Johnny

If the lower crossguard is extremely tight on the dagger, the fitting process-guys may have had to remove the tang-marks.
Just my 0.02$...

Cheers,

Both comments make sense... cheers!

Actually Johnny... there doesn't appear to be any signs of previous heavy cleaning to rid any corrosion. The blade is still in excellent condition all the way down.

However, looking at the motto side, the same thing is happening there too.

Maybe the acid etch wasn't applied properly... but on both sides... and on a Rohm?