Original Item: Only One Available. This is a lovely Metropolitan Police Unit Marked Long Dress "Walking Out" Bayonet by the rare firm Militärwarenhaus Hans Dürbeck of Vienna, Austria. A beautiful piece that comes complete with its original black leather scabbard and frog.

The handle of the bayonet is lovely solid nickel plated alloy, featuring a lovely decorated "Birds Head" pommel with a functional bayonet slot and an upswept cross guard decorated with oak leaves. The grip scales are made of beautiful stag horn with an aluminum police insignia firmly attached on one side. These are held with solid nickel alloy rivets and show no wiggle at all. We cannot see any cracks or other damage on the horn, just the usual wear from age. Both cross guard and eagle’s head are in very good condition, with most of the original nickel plating still intact, showing just a bit of wear and oxidation on the edges.

The bayonet has a lovely approximately 33 cm (12.75 inches) long nickel plated steel blade, which unlike many we see was forged with the standard profile, not the "cut-down" profile often seen. Blade is nice and bright, of excellent quality, and still has over 80% of the original nickel plating, with just a bit of oxidation and wear, showing missing plating and some past pitting near the tip from oxidation and cleaning. There is also the usual runner wear, visible by the ricasso, and the original leather blade buffer is still present and in very good shape.

The blade ricasso is marked by the retailer with:

MILITÄRWARENHAUS
DÜRBECK
WIEN IX

There is not much out there on this maker, except that the complete name is Militärwarenhaus (Military Warehouse) Hans Dürbeck, a military outfitter located in Vienna, Austria. This means that the bayonet was made after the annexation of Austria in 1939. Like most military outfitters they would contract out work, and the blades were often unmarked. On this example however the rear ricasso is maker marked with a "losenge" style trademark logo that reads F. W. HÖLLER / SOLINGEN, surrounding the trademark Höller "Thermometer" emblem. This is a well-known maker from Solingen, the famous "City of Blades" in Western Germany, which produced many fine edged weapons.

F.W. Höller, Waffenfabrik (Weapons Factory), located in Solingen, the legendary "City of Blades" in western Germany. During the WWII Period they manufactured many SA and NSKK daggers, both with their "thermometer" trademark and later with the RZM code M7/33. They also produced numerous 98K bayonets and other edged weapons. The firm was founded in 1866, and registered in Solingen in 1883. By 1900 ownership had passed to Emil Höller, and it continued manufacture after WWII, finally closing in 1974. For more information please see J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

The scabbard is made of fine black leather, fitted with nickel plated alloy with some steel components, and is in very good condition. The leather does show some age, but only minor wear and finish loss, with no bends or cracks we can see. It is held in the correct black leather dress frog without rivet reinforcements, which is in very good condition. There is some wear to the finish, but the stitching is fully intact and the leather supple, making this a great example.

This is a wonderful early war metropolitan police bayonet with scabbard! Ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 13"
Blade Style: Single Edged with Fuller
Overall length: 17 1/2”
Crossguard: 2 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 14 1/2”