Imperial Double Etched Presented Dress Bayonet with Unusual Dedication **Archives**

This lovely piece is sporting a transitional maker’s mark of both the Kings head and the Knights head trademarks. Later, the Knights head trademark would carry on throughout WWII. This model has the rare one piece grip which retains almost 100% of its original finish and has beautiful nickel fittings. Bayonet is complete with the original red felt blade buffer, which is nice since most of them are lost to time. 

The scabbard leather is still supple but does show the usual nicks and dings that have happened over the last 100+ years. The bayonet measures 26 1/2 " which is an awkward length for wear indoors, as sitting down and trying to get out the door without having the door close on your "Tail" quite often resulted in "Door Dings" like the ones seen on the lower scabbard fitting. 
The Frog for the bayonet is also supple and all of the stitching is tight and intact. The 19 1/4" blade is still in good condition with a little graying and peppering, but would probably clean up very nicely should the new owner choose to do so. The point is still needle like. The etches on both sides of the blade are very crisp and detailed featuring the trappings of war crossed cannons, sabers, drums, and flags as well as the traditional motifs of oak leaves and flowers. There is no slot to attach this piece to a rifle as it was intended for dress occasions only. 

This piece has a very interesting dedication hand engraved into the blade. It is a gift from the "Junglingsverein" (Youth group?) of "Gnadenkirche" (Grace Church?) to the soldier. Apparently, he was well liked by the children, perhaps a Sunday school teacher or youth minister. In any case, the hand engraving is beautifully done! With this much information at hand it would be a likely candidate for a research project and might offer an interesting challenge to see how far you can go with it.

Overall, this a beautiful piece on its own, but the added presentation from the children of his church must have been very special to him indeed.