Item Description
Original Item. On the face of it these are EAST INDIA COMPANY Brown Bess Socket bayonets used between 1771 and 1803 complete with locking spring. However, we presume they were actually made in Nepal after 1816 after Nepal fell under the sphere of British influence.
Acquired in our Kathmandu purchase of 2003 we only received a small quantity of these that have considerable Hindi/Negari script on both blade and socket.
Most interestingly there is a simulated HEIC type of "Rampant Lion" engraved on the socket which was the official new EIC Logo adopted in 1808, before that it they used the EIC Heart. Please reference Small Arms of the East India Company 1600-1856 Volume 2 by David Harding, pages 57/58.
Nepal received mountains of aid from British India and tried to duplicate the manufacture of the EIC weapon models. Nepal has been a faithful ally to the British for 200 years and sent 12,000 troops to assist the EIC with the great Sepoy Rebellion aka Indian Mutiny of 1856-59. Each of these 12,000 infantrymen carried a Brown Bess and many a bayonet just like this. When they returned two years later they were gifted 1,000 of the EIC Company Percussion Muskets and accumulated many more Percussion muskets from Sepoy Rebels who subsequently fled to Nepal. Their flintlock muskets were then withdrawn from service and placed in Military storage at the old Palace of Lagan Silikanna
Nevertheless an original Brown Bess Socket Bayonet made to the EIC Specifications of 1771.
Well marked, very few available.
- This product is available for international shipping.
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