Danish 1889 bayonet / theater fighting knife

[mikee]

that is my new find in local gun show this weekend it is 1889 danish bayonet with out any s/n # .just one marking for danish proof marks.and its been converted in to fighting knife probably ww1 / ww2 ,look like this knife been in some action in the past. i just like to get some information/or any idea way there is no s/n # on the knife.

[37Webbing]

Hi Mikee,

That's a very nice M/89 bayonet you got yourself there.
The proof mark is indeed a Danish one, but I have no idea why there is no serial numbers.

It looks to me, that the muzzle ring has been filled out with a softer metal?

The bayonet is the first of two models used with the Krag-Jørgensen riffle, Model 1889 in Danish service (from 1889-1943 (1950))
The short knife bayonet as it was called in Denmark was used until 1915, when a longer narrower bayonet was introduced. (Kårebajonet M/1915).
The story goes, that the army heard the Germans were wearing their tornisters on their stomachs to prevent shorter bayonets to wound them.
I personally don't believe that kind of "hearsay", but it is a funny story non the less. I do however believe they found out, that the shorter knife bayonet had a tendency to stick between the ribs in the ribcage, and a longer, narrower, triangular blade would be better suited for the job.

Many of the short M/89 bayonets were converted to "NCO-knifes" - where the riffle groove in the handle was filled out with a softer metal.

The M/1915 looked like this:



The US used the Krag-Jørgensen riffle for a short while, before the Springfield was adopted.
Springfield made more than 500.000 Krag riffles in .30 between 1894-1904.
But I don't know what kind of bayonet that came with the riffles used in the US.