GERMAN PRUSSIAN IOD 1889 - VERY UNCOMMON VARIANT!!!

This is a rare find - an Infanterie Offizier Degen Modele 1889 with a factory black-enameled hilt. Made by the famous Weyersberg-Kirschbaum Companie in Solingen some time between 1915 and 1918. After 1915, due to the metal shortage the IOD1889 sword hilts began to be produced out of gilded steel instead of the gilded brass. I have only seen 2 or 3 other blackened-steel hilts on these swords over the years. Black enamel on the hilts, as well as black paint on the scabbards assured the low-glare in battlefield conditions, especially when the enemy snipers made it their business to pick off the officers in the trenches.

79 cm-long and 2.25 cm-wide blade is not chromed, as is often seen, but instead is of superior quality polished steel, and very well-tempered. This is, after all, a field-officer's fighting sword, and not a parade weapon. Both the hilt and the scabbard are in very good shape, with some enamel wear around the edges of the hilt, and some paint loss on the scabbard. The blade is in fine shape, with several shallow impact nicks on the cutting edge. An excellent and uncommon World War 1 battle sword of a Prussian infantry officer.