Absolut
Senior Member
Friends made me aware of a local guy that was pulling the roof from the house of his grandfather for rebuild, telling me he found WWII items. Called, went there and found out it was three blades. I took them home and first made a few pictures as they are, in fully uncleaned condition. These are the first pictures attached. I identified them as two K98k bayonets of which one is complete with scabbard and frog, additionally a SA dagger.
When checking the K98k bayonets one has manufacturers markings as well as a serial number on it. But of course in need for a good cleaning (which I still need to do). This is the bayonet without anything additional. By just roughly cleaning the area of the manufacturer markings it appears that this blade is WKC marked on one side, plus a serial number on the other side.
The dagger is clearly a SA dagger. The surface has suffered from being stored without a scabbard, but at least untouched. I'll try to clean it as good as possible without damaging the original polish and think the first difference from originally found to wiping it down with oil soaked clothing is visible in the pictures attached.
Then I finally got to look at the complete bayonet. This one appeared to be in nearly mint condition. The blade itself is stone mint and was in grease when I pulled it from the scabbard (and still comes out with partial grease every time I place it inside the scabbard and pull it out again) - some of the grease dried to the blade and is visible in the pictures, I didn't yet gave it a perfect cleaning so note that the blade might appear worse than it really is. Anyway, there is just surface rust on the scabbard as well as the handle of the bayonet. I very roughly cleaned the handle of this bayonet to see if I can find any markings on it, because there simply appeared to be none. Nothing under it. So after a bit scratching my head and asking friends I was recommended to remove the grips. Under the grips I could finally find stamped matching numbers on both grips, as well as twice on the inside of the bayonet: all are marked 81. Additionally the inside has a WaA acceptance (253? Tough to read it).
So far I also couldn't find any markings on the scabbard. But I've not removed it from the frog as the leather is very stiff and I'm afraid I would damage it trying to remove it. Not sure if there is a way to make the leather soft again, or if I should just leave it this way. But I don't have much doubt they belong together since they were stored since WWII this way and seem to match condition.
Please let me know what I don't know on these blades. Especially if the complete bayonet is an early K98k bayonet. What period does it date from, who is the manufacturer, was it issued to Heer or any other unit, also what you guess the approx. value of it would be (no, not looking to sell - but I have no clue on bayonets, so would be happy to learn).
When checking the K98k bayonets one has manufacturers markings as well as a serial number on it. But of course in need for a good cleaning (which I still need to do). This is the bayonet without anything additional. By just roughly cleaning the area of the manufacturer markings it appears that this blade is WKC marked on one side, plus a serial number on the other side.
The dagger is clearly a SA dagger. The surface has suffered from being stored without a scabbard, but at least untouched. I'll try to clean it as good as possible without damaging the original polish and think the first difference from originally found to wiping it down with oil soaked clothing is visible in the pictures attached.
Then I finally got to look at the complete bayonet. This one appeared to be in nearly mint condition. The blade itself is stone mint and was in grease when I pulled it from the scabbard (and still comes out with partial grease every time I place it inside the scabbard and pull it out again) - some of the grease dried to the blade and is visible in the pictures, I didn't yet gave it a perfect cleaning so note that the blade might appear worse than it really is. Anyway, there is just surface rust on the scabbard as well as the handle of the bayonet. I very roughly cleaned the handle of this bayonet to see if I can find any markings on it, because there simply appeared to be none. Nothing under it. So after a bit scratching my head and asking friends I was recommended to remove the grips. Under the grips I could finally find stamped matching numbers on both grips, as well as twice on the inside of the bayonet: all are marked 81. Additionally the inside has a WaA acceptance (253? Tough to read it).
So far I also couldn't find any markings on the scabbard. But I've not removed it from the frog as the leather is very stiff and I'm afraid I would damage it trying to remove it. Not sure if there is a way to make the leather soft again, or if I should just leave it this way. But I don't have much doubt they belong together since they were stored since WWII this way and seem to match condition.
Please let me know what I don't know on these blades. Especially if the complete bayonet is an early K98k bayonet. What period does it date from, who is the manufacturer, was it issued to Heer or any other unit, also what you guess the approx. value of it would be (no, not looking to sell - but I have no clue on bayonets, so would be happy to learn).
