1936 Olympic Dagger: Packaging Analysis

Forums New posts
L

LudwigvK

Joined
Dec 27, 2015
Messages
29
Thanks Received
53
Location
...a long way from Germany
Hermann Zapf was born in Nuremberg in 1918. In 1934 at the age of 15 he began training as an apprentice photo retoucher. In 1938 he left for Frankfurt and designed his first printed Fraktur typeface.

In 1939 Zapf was conscripted. Illness restricted him to office duties whereby he hand scribed certificates in Germanic Fraktur, later working as a cartographer.

In 1948 Zapf created one of his most famous typefaces, Palatino.

You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
In 1988 Bill Gates announced Microsoft Office. Taking advantage of the lack of copyright protection of typefaces in the United States, Palatino was cloned; retitled 'Book Antiqua'.

Almost indistinguishable from Zapf's Palatino, it has been distributed with Microsoft software since 1995.

You don't have permission to view attachments.
You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
This is a photo of the paper packet frequently found accompanying the 1936 Olympic Dagger.

You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
And this is a close up of the 1936 Olympic Dagger paper packet with Microsoft's Book Antiqua font superimposed in red.

You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
Recapping:

1936 - Berlin Olympics

1948 - Palatino font by Hermann Zapf

1995 - Book Antiqua distributed by Microsoft

You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
Brilliant! Cuts to the chase - evidence presented - 1936 Olympic dagger bags destroyed.

What will the sellers say now I wonder? :)



PS I assume that Wittman was picked absolutely at random to represent those who sell the knives as period and that there is no implication that he had the bags produced or that he is aware that they are post-war creations? I mean, if he did have them produced that would be him destroyed too of course.
 
Choosing Wittmann was a bit cheeky perhaps. He is one of several who have peddled these as real at some point. I have no idea who produced the bags. There seems to be other knives which also have similar packets with the same post war font.

You don't have permission to view attachments.
 

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
Well done ! Interested to see what the believers say. Will it be along the lines of .. well that doesn't mean the knives aren't period . Haha !
 
Great stuff :amen:
The hobby needs more people like you! And less people like, "I`ve lost your $100 000 daggers in the post"-Wittmann!
 
jimmy72 said:
Well done ! Interested to see what the believers say. Will it be along the lines of .. well that doesn't mean the knives aren't period . Haha !
Click to expand...
On this forum somewhere, we have a Wittmann sales pitch, where he showed a bag marked "For the Hitler Youth And German Youth" and went on to tell everyone that that bag was period proof that there was a German Youth small knife, and that was it`s bag. So I doubt people like Wittmann, Inkballs and the rest of the SOS-MAX-herd will give a flying monkeys. The bag could say MADE IN BANGALORE, they would still find a reason why it was "definitely a genuine vet motel buy from late 1945."
 
Last edited:

Attachments

    You don't have permission to view attachments.
Jo Rivett said:
On this forum somewhere, we have a Wittmann sales pitch, where he showed a bag marked "For the Hitler Youth And German Youth" and went on to tell everyone that that bag was period proof that there was a German Youth small knife, and that was it`s bag. So I doubt people like Wittmann, Inkballs and the rest of the SOS-MAX-herd will give a flying monkeys. The bag could say MADE IN BANGALORE, they would still find a reason why it was "definitely a genuine vet motel buy from late 1945."
Click to expand...

:) Saved for posterity in this thread (start reading at post #79) or cut straight to TWittmann's madness here.
 
LudwigvK said:
Thanks for the link to that knife (post #15). The fonts on that package are different and will need to be scrutinised. Very interesting....
Click to expand...

It's a standard bag for the HJ/DJ Fahrtenmesser though so likely to be real. TWittmann's conclusion is definitely wrong though. The fake bags in post #16 above might be worth checking out though. As you'll know, there was no special knife for the Marine-HJ so checking that font out might lead to the same conclusion that you came to with the Olympic bag.
 
Jo Rivett said:
The SA-Dolch bag is done with Impact, and that too, came 20 years after the war.
Click to expand...

Well spotted! I see this font was also distributed by Microsoft. Perhaps a PC was used with whatever free fonts came with it. I wouldn't be surprised if those paper packets are photocopied.

I have been trying to figure out the font on the etched blade but the quality of etching is so inconsistent it makes it difficult to be cetain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top