French 1842/59 yatagahn bayonet

[Jim P]

Here is my 1842/59 or 1842 modified bayonet. Made by Mutzig arsenal in 1860 and marked c on the crossguard for use with the 1842 carbine. One of the biggest of all the yatagahn style bayonets, with a very thick heavy blade and over 2 feet long, it is quite a hand full. Actually it is more sword than bayonet. What is interesting is the copper plated scabbard. I remember reading somewhere that the French experimented with copper plating the scabbard and then painting to keep them from rusting in harsh tropical climates, but have not been able to find the article since.

Jim

The bottom picture shows how they sized donn the blade for the 1866 chassepot/

[SteveR]

Nice bayonets.