Imperial Germany ‘Seitengewehr’ M1898/05 Butcher Bayonet . 20629. Bayonets

The Bayonet M1898/05 (Seitengewehr literally meaning 'Sidearm'), should succeed the M1898 long bayonet. It had a much stronger design but was still very long. In the beginning of the Great War it came with high ears and without flash guard. The M1898 ‘New Pattern’ was missing the ‘ears’ and is characterised by the addition of a thin sheet of steel as muzzle fire protection on top of the grip. The original German First World War butcher blade bayonet was used with the Mauser Gewehr 98 (GEW 98) the standard issue service rifle of Imperial Germany. This example is the later type with muzzle guard trimmed fitted with flashguard. The ricasso is marked ‘durkopp werke a.g’ (The Dürkopp works were involved in armaments production for the rearmament of the Wehrmacht early on. In the mid-1930s, the workforce at Dürkoppwerke grew again to over 2000 people. They produced, among other things , sidearms , needle bearings and roller bearings for tanks , machine guns , grenades , anti-aircraft guns , light artillery , anti-tank guns , on-board carriages for aircraft and detonators . Through the upswing from 1933, due to the production of armaments, the company made a profit again from 1934. In 1933 a branch was set up in Künsebeck near Halle (Westf) , with weapons production and over 2000 jobs) the blade is 37 cm (50 cm overall) see page 123 item 267 of The Bayonet Book by White & Watts. The metal scabbard is housed in a leather frog stamped ‘J Bomberg 1871’. The leather is aged but intact, as is the stitch work. The price for these nice examples includes UK delivery. 20629.