German & Austrian WWI Ersatz Bayonet Lot: Three Bayonets including one Post-War Belgian Bayonet

German & Austrian WWI Ersatz Bayonet Lot: Three Bayonets including one Post-War Belgian Bayonet

Includes one Austrian ersatz twist blade bayonet: 36cm (14-1/8") overall, all steel construction with twist blade, squared profile muzzle ring, and spring steel attachment which has broken on one side.  Dark patina.  Has accountability numbers stamped behind the muzzle ring.

Second bayonet is a German Ersatz bayonet for the Gew. 98 rifle, identified in Anthony Carter's exhaustive reference as example #32.  44.5cm (17-1/2") overall with fullered blade differentiating it from #33.  Stamped "98" on the pommel to readily identify the rifle that it was intended to fit.  Blade is in very nice shape with only a few minor age spots; hilt has darker patina.  Has an Imperial crown proof on the spine.  Includes blued steel scabbard.  From Carter: "These two bayonets, one fullered, the other unfullered, were designed solely for the Gewehr 98 and are stamped "98" on their pommels to indicate their purpose.  The steel hilts were solid cast and a slot was cut to take the blade tang which was then secured by two rivets.  Few fullered examples were made."

The third example appears in Carter's reference as #83, 48cm (17-3/4") overall, with fullered blade and a sheet steel hilt made in two halvs, riveted to the tang and pommel.  Gray steel patina throughout with minor age spots.  Mr. Carter classifies this one among Belgian export bayonets, and explains "During the postwar period, when the center of small arms production moved from Germany to Belgium and the newly-formed Czechoslovakia, the Belgians produced many weapons for their growing export trade.  Among these were a group of bayonets which, with their pressed steel hilts and obsolete blades, have often been (erroneously) classified as German ersatz."   No markings; includes German style blackened steel scabbard. 

$150 - $250