Any ideas what this 98k frog is?

[Doppelgänger]

Frog is supposedly unmarked and looks a little bit strange, any ideas on what it is, country of origin? Austrian?

Thx in advance!!! ;-)

[relicz]

The front has Bulgarian cut to it, but I'm not sure.

[Larry C]

Good to see you Kieth...is it possible to get a few color photos? That would help greatly. Much detail can be lost in black and white photos and with your camera experience you know what Im talking about.

[Doppelgänger]

Hi Larry ;-)

I actually turned those to B&W on account of how awful the colors were in the original pics, those aren't my pics... but in the middle pics you can really see the frog quite well, it's got those extra lines near the edges, a strange cut to it, and it looks shorter than usual. I thought maybe Austrian, Relicz may be on the right track with Bulgarian, and they were issued plenty of German stuff during the war.

[Sleepwalker]

the frog looks like selfmade in bulgarian / greek style

[timothy]

Not pointed Spanish is it? I'd lean more to bulgaria too sleepwalker. timothy

[Doppelgänger]

I can't find a pic of a "pointed Spanish" frog, but I still haven't found a frog like this one, close maybe, but not exactly the same. I have it now, so here are some better pics;

The odd thing is it came with a '43 DDL bayonet, and the frog appears to be dated 1943 on the back though hard to even read, much less photograph.

Another odd thing is a hole that had thread in it at the tip of the point.

I was leaning towards some variation of an Austro-Hungarian Mannlicher frog for the pattern, and at first I thought the numbers on the 1913, but I can barely make out the cross of a 4 to make it 1943.

[Sleepwalker]

it doesnt matter... this is not a spanish desing.

loook here: BAyonet Collection Presentation than "frogs" and then "Spain"

IMO bulgaria. WK II produktion.

same link under "Bulgaria"

Regards

[Doppelgänger]

Second page of that site never works for me, so I can't see Spanish frogs, but I still see most similarities with Austro German frogs.

[Frogprince]

I don't collect Bulgarian leather gear, but I have to agree with Sleepwalker that it does resemble the Bulgarian frog in the link he posted. With one of the problems that some of the supposed late war/ersatz frogs (etc.) from especially the S/E part of Europe that are local copies of German frogs being this: The German frogs were designed to be used with the shovel carriers. Which does not mean that you won't see one being used by itself minus the shovel. With the bottom line here being that the frog is too short no matter how it's marked. FP