Erich Honecker Presentation Dagger

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This dagger was presented to Erich Honecker by the Poliburo at the hunting lodge in Doelln (Krug) which belonged to the Central Committee of the SED. The blue leather case is six inches wide, 15.75 inches long and 1.75 inches deep. The dagger itself is 14 inches long and is made using 24k gold. The grip wire is five meters of pure silver. The dagger is decorated with 12 rubies. The blade decorations bears the initials "EH" (Erich Honecker). The crossguard is marked "H" (Joachim Heym) and "R W" (Reinhard Wilke). Joachim Heym is the engraver and Reinhard Wilke the manufacturer of the dagger. Honecker led East Germany from 1971 to 1989. Furthermore, he was in charge of building the Berlin Wall in 1961. He died in exile in Chile at the age of 81 on May 29, 1994. Accompanying the dagger is research on Honecker as well as on the hunting lodge to include a letter of authenticity from the auction house that sold the dagger for the German state. Additionally, there are a number of photos of the hunting lodge. This dagger is featured in BLANKWAFFEN DER NVA (Edged Weapons of the National People's Army) by Wolfgang Barth. The history of these East German gold daggers is related in my Volume IV. Only about twenty were presented to such people as Leonid Brezhnev, Marshal Zhukov, King Carl Gustav of Sweden, etc. A truly historical item. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Honecker