84/98 bayonet

[paul a]

Hello everyone ,Here is a second pattern 84/98 bayonet which is slightly unusual it is made by J MEHLICH AG BERLIN,the unusual part is the 1915 dated 71/84 type blade .The pic with 2 bayonets is for a comparison between a regular 84/98 and the mehlich one,Thanks Paul.

[Anderson]

An old thread worth a revisit. This is an interesting bayonet in the history of the S 84/98 development. The early S 84/98 were conversions from the S 71/84, basically putting a new hilt onto a S 71/84 blade. That was the 1st type or "aA" version which began in about 1905. Then in 1915 there was a revision and 2nd type "nA" version was introduced. This involved further changes to the hilt design,a flash guard and the blade shape changed and the fuller now had oval ends, except among the S 84/94 made by Johann Mehlich, a Berlin maker, better know for making chains. Mehlich only made the S 84/98 in 1915 and their version retains the square top fuller, possibly production capability meant they were unable to produce the type 2 blade. It's also possible they obtained obsolete blade making machines for their production. The fuller is slightly deeper near the guard than in a S71/84 blade, so it's likely was all made by Mehlich.