M7/30 Gräfrath Hitler Youth knife - My first old blade. Need your opinions & expert advice.

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Hi guys,

I'm a noob & just starting to collect old blades & firearms.

Please forgive me for not reading through the whole forum, but i would like your thoughts on my first HJ knife.

I know it might sound silly to some of you guys, but from what i can see solingen looks to be spelt wrong on the makers mark ( the 'E' looks like an 'F' ) is that a common thing?

To summarise, is this an original & if so, would anyone know what year it is? & any more general info no matter how simple would be appreciated.



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Hi Hando,

You have here an original transitional HJ knife from the maker G. Gräfrath (M7/30).
I've enclosed a picture, unfornately not the best quality, but as you can see it is the same writing.
as to what year it was made, just like mine no date is noted, but as a general rule you need to keep in mind that transitionals (name, and or logo of the manufacturer as well as the RZM marking, in this case M7/30 and sometimes the motto is all present on the blade) were only produced during a short laps of time (1936 - 1938).Not taking in account some of the exceptions.
So we can assume that it was made in this timeframe.

What I find interesting of this manufacturer is that at some point the name of the firm was not G. Gräfrath but rather G. Gräwiso.
I've included also a picture of this one. (Gräwiso) This one is dated at 1936 and transitionals were produced between 1936 and 1938, so it is my assumption that after 1936 the name of the manufacturer changed, from G.Gräwiso into G.Gräfrath.

So this would give you some good indication IMO about date of fabrication.

If anybody has any documentation about this, please share us your knowledge, since I owe both these knives I would be also interested in why and when this manufacturer changed his name.

Mike
:belgium

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I would date this knife at 1938, based on the zinc hilt. I haven't seen any knives with a zinc hilt with a date earlier than 1938.

Often these Grawiso/Grafrath knives are dated 1936, both with a motto, and without.

I'll see what info I have on the change in manufacturing name.

Regards

Russ
 
Gebruder Grafrath (Grafrath Brothers) was established in 1878.

I don't have any definite information on when the name changed.

But the name was changed from/to Grawiso, presumably because they were based in Solingen-Widdert.

The Company was taken over by Kuno Ritter in 1961, which still exists today.

Regards

Russ
 
Mike, have you ever encountered a Grawiso/Grafrath blade with a date other than 1936?

Regards

Russ
 
They all seem to have the same transitional 1936 markings, never seen any other Grafrath.

Cheers,
ger
 
Advertisements for HJ knives ranging from July 1933 to Feb 1934 have been added to the wiki here
Many thanks Wim :yo:
 
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