Scarce WW1 German Mauser ersatz Bayonet, all steel construction

Description

Spear-pointed knife blade with single fuller, 312mm (12¼ inches) in length, 432mm (17 inches) overall. Steel hilt and grip both painted green, the hilt of one-piece construction with split muzzle ring and backward-curving quillon. Spring clip still fully functioning.

The spine of the blade near the hilt is stamped with a crown inspection mark.

The ‘ersatz’ bayonets were simplified models produced near the beginning of WW1 to fit the Gewehr 88 rifle: production had to be ramped up rapidly to equip the expanding German army, and existing factories either could not cope with demand or preferred to manufacture rifles, leaving bayonets to be made in many cases by smaller firms or ones which did not previously produce weapons.

These hastily crafted bayonets had a hard life: many were used to destruction or sold into Turkish service. There are many types to collect: in the nomenclature of Carter’s definitive book on the subject, this would be an EB47 type.