Boer war bayonet / ww1 trench knife

[VAMPIRE V12]

Hey guys


Picked this up today was wondering if anyone could shead some light on it. Apparently it's been converted sometime around either the boer war or first world was as a trench knife. Can anyone decipher the markings on the bayonet? Any help would be much appreciated


Cheers vampy

[Jim P]

Pattern 1888 MKII, most of the markings are inspectors marks, with a bend test "X", crown over V.R. for Queen Victoria (monarch at the time of production) and the manufacture date of January of 1900. Here is the site I use to decypher English markings:

Markings on British and Commonwealth Bayonets

Jim

[VAMPIRE V12]

Hey!

Cheers for the reply, i used the site but couldn't work out this last mark. Any thoughts?


Cheers!

[Alex W]

I think it'll be an inspectors mark from the royal small arms factory enfield, where the bayonet was made.

Alex

[Jim P]

I think it'll be an inspectors mark from the royal small arms factory enfield, where the bayonet was made.

Alex

Agree with Alex's answer.

Jim

[VAMPIRE V12]

Aahh thank you guys

[m3bobby]

Yes, that is a stage mark or inspectors mark. As the bayonet was made an inspector would check the bayonet at a number of critical stages and each inspector would make his mark in the appropriate place. Some times the same inspector would leave his mark on various parts/places which indicates he covered a number of different stage checks.