I think this would be great time to study these,this seller has 3 Hunting/Forestry hirschfängers for sale on Ebay, all are bad as far as they are not of WWII vintage. Please note that the seller does state that his relative did buy stuff from the 1950/60's as well, this I believe is the time frame for these three.I'm sure Houston will chip in here with his thoughts, though most of the details you would need to identify these as wrong is in his Collectors Guide, This is an opportunity though to look first hand at what is written in the guide.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=009&...TRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/German-WWII-Cutlass-Dagger-Forest...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/German-WWII-Hunting-Assoc-Dagger-...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Gary

Gary I may have posted this in the past someplace as the following is in my letter file. I guess there are all kinds of stories out there but the following may fit to help someone in their own doubts about collecting in general.

POST WAR-REPRODUCTIONS AND COMMERATIVES

I guess it is all about what you like and what you want to collect. Will you ever get your money back if you go to bail out later? You go up and down the isles of the gun and collectors shows and everything seems to be modern stamped out junky looking. This is
because the old word craftsmanship got lost in time after the war ended. Collector values are what the traffic will bare and what the times are if you decide to give up what you have been collecting for any number of reasons. Most collectors seem to change their habits for putting a collection together after time has gone by. I use to collect Winchester rifles and had the time of my life but after awhile I noticed that I was buggering up the stocks taking them in and out of the trunk of my car going to the shows. Then I got on Lugers. Boy they were something you could pack three times as many in the trunk and they were easy to display and I was on my way again. But…Along came the new gun laws that you could not carry them across the state line and I had to write a letter to the ATF every time I went to a show to get permission to carry them from Florida to Georgia or Alabama or Las Vegas. I figured some day they were going to come to a show and chain the doors close and say all visitors and all dealers over here and confiscated everything. I sold my collection and they have multiplied so many times over in price it is hard to believe. I think if you collect anything and are in it for the long run you will always get plus dollars from your collection. Now for the POST WAR HIRSCHFANGERS. And also the parts daggers. Lets call it what it is. Anything you bought ten years ago you will get a profit on today. Most of these pieces are over 50 years old. They are nice looking a heck of a lot cheaper than the pre war pieces and have a lot of pizzazz of their own. Make your own market with what you can afford and enjoying collecting something. Sotheby’s almost went bankrupt a few years back and with the present increase in employment they are getting the highest prices they ever had this year..Call it what it is, you are a trader or a collector or both…….but lets do something.
Sincerely,
HUBERTUS

Photograph #2

Photograph #3 Last one.
Good looking blades on these devils. I wish I had some of the pre-war blades that looked this fancy.
Sincerely,
Hubertus

Well the auction is over on the three pieces that Gary has listed above and if you collect Post War pieces this should be an eye opener. These were bought by three different bidders it seems. Makes you wonder what the ones I have shown in the photographs are going to be worth some day. They are all Post War and it would seem according to Houston’s Collectors Guide the ones that Gary listed all have etched makers marks so now we have Post War pieces bring in a higher dollar than some of the same type Pre War Models……Almost sounds like double talk…I was surprised no one seemed to have any comments on Gary’s Post of the three Hirschfangers that were sold. Dealing with ebay makes you wonder all kind of things. Is it the way the person wrote up the ad? The pictures were not the great quality you see on some ads. Maybe that’s the trick. Where did the buyer’s come from that ran the prices up for these pieces? I noticed they all seemed to have the English pound mark included along with the USD price. Were they on the English Ebay listing and also on the US listing? Something makes these high dollars tick on different items on the auctions. Any type of solid answers would be interesting I am sure. Oh well the thought that a new collector might start out with some inexpensive Pre War pieces just went down the tube………
Sincerely,
HUBERTUS

The price was noted in pounds probably because Gary was browsing the catagorey via ebay.UK, and saved the links from there.

Lance is correct, these pieces are in the states and now reside in a new collection, I don't blame the seller, in his description he mentions some were collected in the 50/60's. I have tried to warn bidders before and just got hassle from it, so no good there.

Gary

It's a shame. Some never do their homework and know nothing about what they are buying. If you do a simple search on the internet for Forestry or Hunting dagger you will find my forum in short order. You can then find out what you need to know in a matter of minutes. The information is there and it never has been any easier. P. T. Barnum said it all--- except now days it is every second.

Hi Guys,
This is my first reply on GDC as I am mostly on Wehrmach Awards, but I thought this was a good time to chime in.

I actualy know this Seller and I have pesonally bought most of His Late Fathers collection from him. I met him about 2 years ago on Ebay when he started listing Helmets and they kept getting booted off. I noticed that he lived in the same county as me and so I contacted him. I must say that I almost passed out when I saw the collection he inherited and quickly relieved him of most of it.

Mixed in with the good stuff, was about 2% bad stuff, including these Daggers and a few others.
I took these 3 up to Tom Wittmann for evaluation as they were suspect. The 2 that brought the big bucks were post war (attwood pieces) and the one the brought $885 was all original pieces that were put together to make something else. Tom actualy said that the fittings were to die for on that one.
Funny how the Post war made Daggers ended up bringing all the money. When you hold them in your hand, they are pretty obvious coppies.

Anyway, the seller is not a collector in the least and figures that if he takes clear pictures and tells the buyer to ask all questions up front that it's the Buyers responsibility to know what they are buying.
He said that all 3 Blades went to different countries in europe.

Scott