Original Item: Only One Available. These bayonets met their end as a result of dealers having overflowing stocks of a single item. In order to sell them, they had to get creative. This is a classic example of a dealer having way too many items in stock and trying to figure out a way to make them go away. Such was Francis Bannerman's & Co's. dilemma back in the day. While we do not know if this is from Bannerman, the same applies. The decor was made from 3 Pattern 1853 Enfield Socket Bayonet. Now we are honestly unsure as to what the decoration was used for but it does have an odd beauty about it.

The bayonets were painted a dark gold color with only one of the bayonets still having visible British proof marks.

Comes ready for further research and display.

The Enfield 1853 rifle-musket was also used by both the North and the South in the American Civil War, and was the second most widely used infantry weapon in the war, surpassed only by the Springfield Model 1861 Rifled Musket. The Confederates imported more Enfields during the course of the war than any other small arm, buying from private contractors and gun runners and smuggling them into Southern ports through blockade running. It has been estimated that over 900,000 P53 Enfields were imported into America and saw service in every major engagement from the Battle of Shiloh (April 1862) and the Siege of Vicksburg (May 1863), to the final battles of 1865. The gun was highly sought after in the Confederate ranks. According to a survey taken by British officials during the early stages of war on the arms of the Western Confederate Forces, nearly 70% were armed with smoothbore arms, such as the Model 1842 Springfield. Later in the war the same survey was taken, they found that more than 75% had acquired a rifle, mainly the Pattern 1853 Enfield.

The P53 Enfields capabilities were largely lost by the lack of marksmanship training by both the Union and Confederacy. Most soldiers were not trained to estimate ranges or to properly adjust their sights to account for the "rainbow-like" trajectory of the large calibre conical projectile. Unlike their British counterparts who attended extensive musketry training, new Civil War soldiers seldom fired a single cartridge until their first engagement. After the end of the war, hundreds of formerly Confederate Enfield 1853 muskets were sold from the American arms market to the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as some prominent Japanese domains including Aizu and Satsuma. These units were later used in the Boshin War, and some remaining in Satsuma were also used by rebelling former samurai in the Satsuma Rebellion about a decade later.