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. The bayonets were finished with a high-quality nickel plating, with stag or bakelite grip plates and black painted scabbard. The choice of blade length was left to the purchaser, being nickel-plated short or long 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.

This very nice example is in good condition, and has a very nice custom etched blade. It has has a nice alloy hilt, with most of the Nickel Plating intact, though there is overall speckling and oxidation, as shown. The mortise button and blade release are fully functional, complete with the green felt insert. 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, with minimal oxidation.

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

The panel itself has lovely scroll designs, with a Wehrmacht Heer eagle in the middle. flanked by oak leaves with acorns. In the bottom of the panel is a lovely German black letter type face inscription:

This translates to "For a reminder of my service." This is a common phrase to see on personalized items such as this. The reverse of the blade is not etched, but is in fact inscribed with a name W. Spangenberg. We have no information regarding this soldier, but we have very rarely seen a named dress bayonet.

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 "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, oer J. Anthony Carter's fine work GERMAN SWORD AND KNIFE MAKERS. The leather blade buffer is unfortunately missing.

The scabbard is quite nice and still has over 90% of the original black paint. It does however have a "door close" type dent about 3/4" from the bottom, though this does not interfere with inserting the bayonet. The body is held by the included brown leather frog, which is in good used condition, though the finish has some cracking and flaking. The leather is soft, though the original stitching is coming apart somewhat where the original securing strap was removed.

An great example of an Etched German 98k dress bayonet by a well-known maker, complete with scabbard and frog, ready to display!