RARE Luftwaffe Survival Machete. AWS Scales,w/script Alcoso horizontal TM. For information and photographs of this rare Luftwaffe edged weapon see pages 103-105 of Collecting the Edged Weapons of The Third Reich, Volume III. Blued hilt fittings to include pommel, spine and re-curved crossguard show wearage to bluing. Dark brown, grooved wooden grip plates show/age, but no cracks and are retained by two metal screws. Broad, flat, slightly curved, single edged, matt finished steel blade measuring 15 ¾" in length grades VG+/EX showing uniform wear/age, has been sharpened and shows evidence of wear, but no nicks to cutting edge. Blade is without buffer pad and none is shown in the photographs in the above reference. Broad, flat, unadorned steel scabbard shows wear and pitting to the anodized factory finish with one tiny pinhead size depression to lower lower spine edge of the shell. Information in the 11 February 1942 edition of "Die Woche" , cited in the above reference, states that the machete was "a survival hatchet carried aboard the He 111 (Heinkel 111 Bombers) serving on the Eastern Front". RARE Luftwaffe edged weapon. VG+/EX (25334) $1,495.