The Government Official’s Dagger (Staatsbeamten-Dolch) was introduced in 1938 and was intended for senior German government officials as part of the prescribed formal uniform. It reflected the status of its wearer and his position within the German state administrative system, serving less as a practical weapon than as a symbol of rank and position within the hierarchy of the Third Reich.

The blade was manufactured by Alexander Coppel & Co., widely known under the Alcoso trademark, derived from the name Alexander Coppel Solingen. The company was founded in Solingen in 1821 and was one of the city’s oldest manufacturers of edged weapons. The firm produced a wide range of edged weapons, including bayonets, sabers, swords, and daggers, fulfilling both military and government contracts. Several variations of the company’s maker marks can be found on its products.

The crossguard takes the form of a stylized German national eagle, one of the distinctive features of this type of dagger. A closely related but separate type was the Diplomatic Corps Dagger (Diplomatendolch), intended for members of the German diplomatic service. Despite the overall similarity of the two models, the Government Official’s Dagger and Diplomatic Corps Dagger can be distinguished by the direction in which the eagle’s head faces on the crossguard.