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fze 44

John Lawson

John Lawson

Senior Member
I came across an fze 44 bayonet today at an upcoming auction. Mismatched scabbard which is junk, but the bayo itself is decent.
Is fze WKC ? Worth pursuing with mismatched scabbard?
Also a matching S/174 in good/v. good condition, dated 1937.
 
fze is F.W. Höller. I personally pass on mismatched bayonets with very, very few exceptions ('45 dates, phosphate sgx, etc.) The '37 sounds like a much better buy assuming it isn't sharpened.
 
John Lawson said:
...so you know some nimrod will take it to twice what it's worth anyhow:facepalm:
Click to expand...

That`s a true fact! It`s amazing what some of them will pay for a mismatched bayonet. FYI, go to k98.free.fr , a good source of info (makers, codes and years) with pictures of bayonets. grimlin13
 
Yes the S/174 37 sounds good, it would be nice to see it. The 44fze is not extra piece, because found a correct scabbard is impossible in reality.
 
A couple of years back I did a little study of the matching Bayonets being offered on e-bay. I listed the year,maker,serial number and if the handle had bakelite or wood. Out of 175 bayonets, there was only one 44 fze, serial # 8193 with bakelite. The guy at k98.free.fr has 7 posted, 5 of which are his. I don`t think he considers them rare, he wants 43 fze. There was not one 43 fze in the 175. I haven`t paid any attention to what`s being offered out there for awhile. If a matching 44 or 43 fze were to be offered for sale, I`d buy it, at a good price that is.:thumbsup:
 
Fze 44

According to the chart in the back of the Kriegsmodell book it's 3 percent of production for 1944. That is why I originally inquired about bidding on it with a mismatched scabbard.
 
My observations on Höller show that while fze/44 is much less production (by serial ranges) surviving examples are more common than fze/43, even though by serial range fze/43 is far more common (numbers made). Of course fze/42 is a pretty scarce bayonet, both in numbers made and that have survived.

Höller is a good maker to own if you can find them nice original and with a matching scabbard.
 
The late war production is more matching as the earlier production, when You mean a 3% of 1944 production is 44fze, so You are right when the serial numbers are correct, the 40000 pcs are enough to me so it should be some matching pieces avialable on market.
 
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