Original Item: Only One Available. The K-98 dress bayonet was a dress version of the combat style, and was worn by enlisted and NCO personnel for dress and parade occasions. This also included civic organizations such as Police and Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) units. The bayonets were finished with a high-quality nickel plating, with often custom grip plates and black enamel painted scabbards. The choice of blade length was left to the purchaser, being nickel-plated short (20cm) or long (25cm) version. There was usually a red or green colored felt insert in the rifle slot and the bayonet was suspended from a black or brown leather frog. Some had a functional bayonet latch, while it was ornamental on some, and others such as this example had no latch at all.

This Fireman's Bayonet is in very good condition throughout, and is the 9 3/4-inch blade "long" version with a very rare to find sawback style blade. We have only ever had a few sawbacks previously out of all the fireman's bayonets we have had previously, and only one was a short bladed version. It comes complete with its original black enameled scabbard, black leather dress frog. The nickel plating on the alloy hilt is bright throughout and remains about 80% intact, with showing light wear and oxidation throughout, but no major flaking exposing the alloy base metal. It has the typical "S" shape crossguard used on the Fireman issue bayonet. The grip plates are the checkered black Bakelite type, in excellent condition and retained by solid nickel alloy rivets with dressed obverse heads, which show some light oxidation.

The blade is a very good example, and the nickel plating is about 90%, showing some bubbling of the plating along the edges of the sawback and also on the edge of the fuller where the runner hits. There is also some scratching near the point. As is correct it has not had any sharpening, and there is just a bit of roughness to the edge. The sawback spine is still quite sharp, with no signs of use, so it should be handled with care. The original leather blade buffer is still present against the crossguard.

The ricasso of the blade is stamped with the trademark "Letter 'L' and a Sword" logo of rare maker Johann Leupold:-

(Logo)
JOHANN LEUPOLD
BAYREUTH

Founded in 1873, Johann Leupold AG, Bayerische Messerfabrik (Bavarian Knife Factory), the company specialized in hunting, table, and pocket knives. They made thousands of trench knives (Dalchmesser) for Bavaria during WWI, however these were not marked by the company. It is believed that in the late 1930s the company merged with Johanniswerk Stahlwarenfabrik GmbH to become Süddeutsche Messerfabrik (South German Knife Factory), which began trading in 1939. Leupold is known to have made early SA / NSKK daggers, as well as fire department bayonets with the "sword-and-'L'" above their name and location. For more information please see GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS by J. Anthony Carter, pages 377-378.

The scabbard is quite nice and still has about 75% of the original black enamel paint on both sides, showing scrapes, scratches, and chips, particularly near the bottom. There is a lovely pattern of crazing and checking in the lacquer, only achievable after years. There are no dents we can feel, and the scabbard is straight, held in a very nice black patent leather frog. As with a lot of patent leather items from the WWII period, the original finish has cracked and degraded, looking almost like it has melted, and the imprint of the grips can be seen. The stitching is also almost completely rotted out, with the scabbard held together by the rivets alone.

A lovely example of a rare "sawback" fireman's dress bayonet by a desirable maker. Complete with scabbard and frog, this bayonet is ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 9 3/4"
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 14 5/8“
Crossguard: 2 7/8”
Scabbard Length: 10 3/4"