Lot 4785

Description

Double-edged stabbing blade with chiselled leaves at the root. Cross-guard of eight carat gold with very finely chiselled/chased decor and seven set rubies on either side, master marks "R.W." (= Reinhard Wilke) and "Heym" (= Joachim Heym). Grip ring and pommel also made of eight carat gold, decorated en suite. Stag horn handle with a boar's head on the obverse. Length 33.5 cm. In white presentation case (damaged) with surrounding gold decoration. Cf. Glemser "A guide to military dress daggers", volume IV., chapter "East German presentations daggers". The present dagger is depicted on page 132.
These exquisite daggers were ordered by the protocol department of the Central Committee as gifts for high ranking persons. They were made by the gun maker Reinhard Wilke, the engraver was Joachim Heym. From the 1970s until the end of the GDR in 1989 only twenty daggers were given as presents. Among the recipients were the Soviet state and party leader Leonid Brezhnev, Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus, King Karl Gustav of Sweden, the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Erich Honecker, and Erich Mielke.Condition: I - II Questions about the lot?