GERMANY

Bavarian 1855 border guards bayonet, many texts identify this as an unknown item, but accepted identification now is the border guards.

Very pronounced beaked pommel

Alex Coppel makers mark

Bavarian Werder bayonet with modified hilt, in brass mounted leather scabbard

Rear of pommel shows the grinding used to allow it to mount on a different rifle to original Werder rifle

Close up of grinding, a two step grind is also available

Makers mark of W&ST  in an arc of Solingen

Unit marks on cross guard

Leather of scabbard is marked as well, but not legible

1860 with broken blade, most of these were later converted to the 71/98 by fitting a S98 style hilt to the pipeback blade. Grooved "front" to grip

Plain back to the hilt.

Cross guard serial E ?? 198

Blade ahs been bent and broken before the pipe back

S71 bayonet in brass mounted leather scabbard

Matching unit marks on blade and scabbard, blade has 1872 spine acceptance stamp

Commercial S71, without fullers and with steel ersatz style scabbard

Knights Head makers mark

S71

S71 in the less common steel ersatz scabbard. Maker is Gerbr Simson in Suhl, whilst it is unit marked to 33.R.3.16 (scored out), acceptance was in 73. The gilt on the hilts is all that remains of the original finish, the brass grips were originally gilt finished, most blades found have had all of the gilt cleaned off and the brass base polished

71/98 a rehilted 1861 to fit the 1898 rifle

1898 style hilt fitted to the 1861 blade

Luneschloss makers mark on ricasso

Original 1861 date mark

S98 with original leather scabbard

S98 with chromed scabbard, pommel and blade 

S98 shortened to 12" with shortened late pattern steel scabbard, these are referenced in Carters book on the G98 but are usually marked as Naval issue this one is not

Shortening of blade and scabbard is done to much higher standard than on the Turkish 10" shortened blades

Siamese 1888 used by German units in WWI

Condition of blade, provenance of the blade and this W spine mark are what makes the assumption that this is a German used one possible. Siamese blades do not have the W spine marking

Hilt and double edged blade

98/05  see the page dedicated to this model

Gottscho bayonet, one of the Ersatz WWI bayonets made in limited numbers and not a very successful design

One piece grips

Inspection mark

Often described as a light bulb mark (with admitted unknown reasons) the Gottscho mark is now seen  more reasonably as a ladle used in the steel making process's

See the dedicated page for ersatz bayonets

84/98 mS early version without flash guard, Herder made example has no acceptance marks on spine or pommel, Erfurt made ones have a W over 15 spine mark and pommel acceptance marks. Very few of these were made.

S242G 84/98

An Austrian 1895 accepted in German service with the WaA on the pommel, the style of stamp would indicate that this is pre WWII

Dress bayonet

Felt insert in the pommel slot

WKC makers mark

Grip pattern has imbedded itself in the original patent leather frog

Dress version of 71/84 bayonet

symmetrical cross guard has no residual muzzle ring

the pommel has no provision for mounting to a rifle

Fuller is signed but i cannot make out the signature

WKC makers mark

wear on locket of scabbard shows that the bayonet has been well worn

Single Etched dress knife -  PIONEER pattern, similar to the 84/98 in style

Etching on blade is commemoration of the owners time in service, the wear on the blade and scabbard shows this blade was carried and not just a draw item

Clearly visible frog wear on scabbard

Puma maker is rarer maker for these types of blades

Fireman Bayonet, similar to the KS dress bayonets but with the distinctive s shaped crossguard. This is the less common pioneer bladed version. These do not have any method of mounting on a rilfe.

Probably a converted 98/05 with shortened parallel ground blade and new pommel and grips. The pommel slot is only 20mm not the normal 40mm but slot is typical Mauser T/O type. Metal has all been plated, and the only marking is a C with a small x on the tail - I've seen this mark before but not sure where. I have put this in Germany at the moment but is probably Yugoslavian any help with ID would be appreciated.

S14 made by BK, this variation has the fullers wrongly positioned on the blade, so that the fuller almost touches the crossguard, this has caused problems with stamping on the makers marks so that it is only partially visible.

FP made S14

S14 made by Bayard, these always come in the Ersatz style scabbard as the blade thickness is such as to prevent the use of the S14 pattern scabbard

Makers mark

S14 Bavarian issued

Original scabbard painted with light grey paint (fieldgrau)

Screwed grips

Odeon made blade, not marked with the more normal Samson Werk. The small "90" is Bavarian serial number

1914 pattern bayonets, upper version has heavily ground blade removing fullers and markings, normal steel scabbard has been adjusted to still retain blade.

Comparison of blade thickness of altered and unaltered 1914. There is no apparent reason for this conversion, one suggestion is that it was thinned to be used a boning knife as it gives it the characteristics of that type of butchers blade

Mick O'Shea in Australia reports owning a similarly converted blade, so it is not a one off conversion.

S1914 marked as made by SD. Anthony Carter only records a single example of this makers mark on the S1914, it is also seen with the Gottscho ladle marking.

Demag Crank Handle Ersatz (genuine)

Makers mark

DEMAG marking

Re issued French 1866 Chassepot 

Chassepot modified scabbard 

Fighting knife converted from Austrian 1895 bayonet, including cut down scabbard 

Close up of M1898 with sawback removed and chroming, showing sawback removal. Sawbacks were removed form German blades after 1917

kS98 model

Script F mark on cross guard is unit designation for Fernsprech (Telegraph) units (thanks Allan Herbison for th ecorrection)

KS98 with wood grips and scabbard markings of African issued example. The wooden gripped examples are not common, but considerably more so than the very rare rubber gripped ones.

KS 98 dress with frog and knot (trodel)

Trodel is green over silver bullion not sure of unit this designates

Makers mark nearly obliterated

Frog has central rivet in rear face and trodel has blue grey leather straps

BK made sawback S14 bayonet

Re mains of original green scabbard paint still visible where it was protected by the frog

S71 sawback

markings show it was assigned to a reserve ersatz unit

original acceptance mark is 1874 so is fairly early in the production period of the bayonet

S98 in the less common of the ersatz metal scabbards used for this to replace the original leather ones

Polish M28 Mobilisation bayonet used by German Kreigsmarine unit

RADOM manufactured with low serial number of "20"

Only German marking on Blade is the WaA on the blade spine

Significance of grip marks and whether German or Polish is unknown

1940 date on Kregsmarine frog

Painted mark on frog is similar to unit marks found on the front of German vehicles of the time (ID please?)

Fighting knife made from a cut down czechVZ24, came in early pre 1940 production 84/98 scabbard with 1940 marked frog

 comparison of fighter with full length un modified bayonet

Interestingly the scabbard is only marked with a serial number on the back face for the throat

1940 dated frog

Dress KS98, these came in various styles with and without etchings, they are a collecting filed all of their own but not one that I am overly interested in

Dress

M7 styled commercial 

Commercial Short there are a large number of variations on this style of blade, with and without wire cutters and sawback. They were made to fit onto nearly all rifles available in the 70's and 80's including the AK47

Commercial bayonet, long version with saw back and wire cutter attachments

KCB style dagger without rifle fittings for use as a fighting knife

Early pattern G3 bayonet with grooved wooden grips and Danish  M8 style scabbard with the wood grain finish.

Commonly known as the Rheinmettal G3 these were made by Eickhorn and a similar bayonet with a different pommel was made for the M16 rifle

thanks to Bill porter for the extra info

Totally unmarked I believe this is either a German G3 bayonet or one of their fro export. THe bayonet is completely unmarked

Eickhorn made prototype KCB bayonet for the SIG series of rifles, with the distinctive pommel catch

Close up of hilt of modified AKM