Argentine CFS 1909 Bayonet

[Aragorn243]

I picked up an Argentine 1909 bayonet this morning at a yard sale. Argentine manufacture which is what caught my eye. Guy had an extremely high price on it which also caught my eye but not in a good way. Matching scabbard, serial B 015352 with a frog. Told me a story about this being a rare one that escaped being ground down with the Peron overthrow. Never heard the story before. I'm not one to buy the story and he suggested I make him an offer. I offered $200 less than what he was asking which put this into the realm of an Argentine manufacture 1909 bayonet figuring he'd just say no but he accepted.

Now I can find very little out about this. Apparently the CFS stands for: Consejo Federal de Seguridad which translates to Federal Council of Safety. 1700 bayonets were manufactured for this "group". When Peron was overthrown, many, possibly 500, if not more of these were supposedly ground down and remarked GN which is their border patrol. The CFS having been dissolved. I've also read that the GN bayonets which were created from the CFS bayonets are not included in the 500 crestless GN bayonets manufactgured.

I've ran all sorts of searches about Peron, the CFS, etc and just can't find anything substantial, although I was able to confirm that they were supposedly reworked to GN so the story at least was confirmed GN marked bayonets are supposed to be rare but the CFS bayonets are supposed to be even more rare but I have no way to verify this. Hoping I didn't shoot myself in the foot buying this. I figure at $150 I was OK, even for a run of the mill 1909 with matching scabbard and frog. The serial number also falls into the range listed in a book by Colin Webster. I don't have the book, this is just what I was able to gather from other discussions.

Information

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[Flying10uk]

Are you able to post a few pictures of it, please?

[Aragorn243]

Looks like this:



Not questioning what it is. Need to know about the CFS.

[old-smithy]

that is the rarest of the 1909 makers and a good find if you are collecting Argentinean bayonets. I only heard of them a few years ago o n an Argentinean forum site, but have never seen the mark as even the collectors in Argentina did not have one

[Aragorn243]

I haven't had a chance to clean it at all so still grease covered. Tip is not broken, grease is grey, blends in with the wood.

So I didn't get burned, good to know. Frog turned out to be a Swedish variation I wasn't familiar with so I took it off. Will put it on my Swedish Carbine bayonet. Scabbard has an earlier serial on it also.

[browningautorifle]

still grease covered

I've come across several of these but not quite this variation, they were all in good shape some in the grease. This one's a good deal...I'd still have a hard time paying that much...but you have it so good deal.

[old-smithy]

Sorry I meant User mark not makers mark, the other side shows the maker but the CFS marking is a unit mark that is very rare, just cant remember what it stands for

doid a google and

"CFS bayonets that were reissued to the Gendarmeria National after the dissolution of the Consejo Federal de Seguridad at or about 1955, when the Peron presidency was overthrown by a coup-d'etat. The original CFS markings were removed and new serials and GN markings were applied. These are not part of the original 500 GN run. Regards" from Need info 1909 argentine bayonet
also Bayonetas antiguas y modernas acompañadas de sus imágenes: MAUSER "Modelo Argentino 1909" bayonet (4th version, FMAP-DGFM)

[marysdad]

Congrats on a great score! I have one of the crestless GN bayonets.

[porterkids]

I think I have two of the CFS bayonets. They are extremely hard to come by. As stated above, many of them were converted to GN bayonets.

Contrary to what Carl stated above, there is one Argentine manufactured 1909 that is rarer than the CFS. I'm not home to check my references, but either the P.M. or P.M.N. marked bayonets, they only made 150 of them. It is the one Argentine 1909 I am missing from my collection.

[old-smithy]

Thanks for the correction Bill, I had it in my head that CFS was due to conversations some years ago. Since I only really go for models and not makers for most bayonets I had missed this.