Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice original German WWII Heer long-pattern 98k dress bayonet manufactured by Robert Klaas of Solingen, complete with its original scabbard and brown leather frog. These privately purchased dress bayonets were worn by enlisted men and NCOs for parade and walking-out dress and were manufactured in both short and long blade configurations. This example is the desirable long version, with a blade measuring approximately 9 ¾ inches, or roughly 25 cm.

This nice example is in good condition, and has a very nice nickel plated blade. It has a nice alloy hilt, with much of the Nickel Plating intact, though there is some minor peppering of oxidation, as shown. The mortise button and blade release are fully functional, though the felt insert is missing. The grip plates are both lovely checkered black bakelite, and both are in great condition. They are retained by aluminum rivets which have dressed heads on the obverse.

The blade on this example is nickel-plated, as were all dress bayonets. It does have slight wear to the plating and oxidation peppering, with some runner wear and light scratching. It has not been sharpened, and still retains its blunt factory edge. The original leather blade buffer is in place, and is in very nice condition.

The reverse ricasso is maker-marked with a "round" style trademark logo that reads ROBERT KLAAS / SOLINGEN, surrounding the trademark Klaas "Kissing Storks" trademark emblem. This is a well-known maker from Solingen, the famous Klingenstadt "City of Blades" in Western Germany, which produced many fine edged weapons. The company was originally founded by Friedrich Robert Klaas, who married the daughter of knife maker Peter Daniel Pauls. After his father-in-law passed away, all was left to Klaas and his wife, so he merged his scissor business with the knife business, and registered with Solingen authorities in 1869. The company passed to his sons, and then his son-in-law. It survived WWI, WWII, and still exists today, per J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS.

The scabbard is straight throughout and still has over 65% of the original black paint with some heavy loss in the center with oxidation staining. The body is held by the included brown leather frog, which is in fair condition with some crazing in the leather.

The combination of the long dress configuration, original unsharpened blade, surviving leather buffer, Robert Klaas maker mark, functional mounting hardware, black Bakelite grips, original scabbard, and period frog makes this a strong representative example of a privately purchased Heer dress bayonet from WWII.

Specifications:
Blade Length: 9 3/4"
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 14 5/8“
Crossguard: 2 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 10 1/2"