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K98 Bayonet: Markings Research

JStiks

Member
Hope anyone can help, my son has a German K98 and a not matching Scabbard. I haven’t found a resource for the markings that included explanation. The attached photo show marking.

Knife on one side marked cof 43, the other 9634 aa. The second letter a looks like it was stamped over another. At base butt end s4519 (twice), and under wood handle 6536.

The scabbard is marked 3386 d, the other side s/176G.

I see some info but not enough explaining the details.

Appreciate any guidance. Thanks!
 

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  • K98 Side 9634 aa.jpg
    K98 Side 9634 aa.jpg
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Bayonet is Carl Eickhorn made in 1943. Scabbard is early Paul Weyersberg maybe 1935? Both of Soligen, Germany a center of edged metal item production.
 
To add to what heavy_mech provided. The cof43 indicates the maker/date - three letter code of cof was assigned to Eickhorn, 43 for 1943. The 9634aa is the serial number. These bayonets were serialized sequentially at the beginning of each year. The first bayonet was serial number 1 and continued to 9999. After this piece was completed the number reset to 1 with a under the number. This series would have continued 1a to 9999a with the next piece numbered 1b. This continued through the letters and in some cases (like your son's) the production numbers were high enough to go into double letters; aa, bb, cc, etc. The scabbard is much earlier and used a different coding system for the maker/date. The S/176 was assigned to Paul Weyersberg. The G indicates the year of manufacture as 1935. The s4519 stamps on the pommel that you mentioned are WaA acceptance markings. Actually stickwing eagles over WaA519 which was the primary OKW inspection official for the Solingen area.
 

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