WKC Bayonet - Information Please

[AlecH]

Hello Everyone,
Today I bought this WKC bayonet, sheath and frog at the flea-market. It was for me, a leap in the dark, as I've no great knowledge of bayonets, but I knew if I hesitated, in five minutes another collector would be along and take it, so I bought it on the strength of recognizing the makers mark Weyersberg, Kirchbaum & C. - Solingen, good blade condition, matching bayonet & sheath numbers K 3096 and believing it fitted K98 rifle. I've no concerns about the genuineness of the piece, on getting it home, I started to wonder about the frog colour brown not black and its design with locking strap, not usual. Looking at the bayonet the holding slit is shorter 3cm long than normal 4cm, hand guard is longer than normal with a 15mm hole, last point, sheath number stamped on frog holding pin, normally it goes on the outside of the sheath mouth. Do members have any information on the points I've raised i.e. does it fit a K98 rifle, is the frog right, am I correct in thinking the K at the start of the number is for Karbine. Any information would be most welcome.
Best W

[Richie B]

Alec

I think that is an export bayonet - probably made for South America - Chile ?, by WKC who along with other German manufacturers exported a lot of weapons to that part of the world in the late 1800s/ early 1900s.

The number on the crossguard is a serial number for the bayonet which would be for a Mauser rifle similar to the Kar 98.

The frog looks East European to me.

Regards

Richie

[AndyB]

Yes Richie is right the piece looks like Chile M1895 piece, unfortunally no Chilean crest there on ricasso, so it could be smaller country contract, the frog is probably yugoslavian M1948. best regards,Andy

[AlecH]

Hello Ritchie, Andy,
Thanks for your posts and information. Since reading them I've looked through a number military sites, your both right, a bayonet for Mauser 1895. A lot of the sites had pictures of the bayonet and without fail everyone had the Krupp three ring & Chilean flag stamps, looking at mine the blade hasn't been tampered with, these stamps were never on the blade. As a explanation, I wonder, if this Mauser 1895 and bayonet were ever issued to the German Imperial Army ? Any further information. Again thanks for the information.
Regards
Alec

[AndyB]

It wasnt used by german army, as there should be some acceptance proofs, but there is more possibility the piece was a depot Chile piece without the crest stamp or possible a small country contract, problem is the high number by K range is this a 100000 pcs contract. So for me it looks like a Chilean contract wout crest.best regards,Andy
PS the condition speaks to a depot piece, same as by salers like Frankonia of Germany was added the avialable yugos frog to various bayonets.

[AndyB]

Could You look on tang near crossguard? Is there is a PLT or P2T marking ? on a similar piece on Gunboard, same K range and without the chilean crest is this stamp. best regards,Andy

[Walkwolf]

It wasnt used by german army, as there should be some acceptance proofs, but there is more possibility the piece was a depot Chile piece without the crest stamp or possible a small country contract, problem is the high number by K range is this a 100000 pcs contract. So for me it looks like a Chilean contract wout crest.best regards,Andy
PS the condition speaks to a depot piece, same as by salers like Frankonia of Germany was added the avialable yugos frog to various bayonets.

I agree with the statement here - these were not used by the German Army.
WKC made for export. It is however in excellent condition........

[AlecH]

Hi Andy, Steve,
I've looked the bayonet over a extra couple of times, found no further stamp marks. Last Saturday, I showed the bayonet at the local Military collectors club. A couple of members are knife collectors, they agree with what's been written here - not regulation German Army piece, more than likely a depot piece. Thanks for your information.
Regards
Alec