My Holy Grail of Bayonets - Swiss Bicyclists Bayonet

It arrived today, two weeks late from Poland. I was sweating bullets on this one. Made a private offer to an ebay seller and with some negotiation, got the deal done. Wanted to announce it a while back but tracking had it sitting in the Polish Post office for three weeks. Seller was on top of things which was nice. Finally moved and arrived in country and here to the house in three days.

Is serial numbered and has the Swiss cross on both the scabbard and the bayonet. Scabbard is missing the small attachment ring that connects to the squared off attachment point. Not a huge drawback for me.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../QjKmIXw-1.jpg

Very nice bayonet...good catch...

Great. Another I did not know I "needed". Very nice. I am still hunting a officer's dagger easy enough to find just pricey.

The price on this one made my officers dagger look like a bargain bin purchase, but then I didn't pay what the daggers are going for now either. Sometimes you just have to let go of the cash and take the plunge. This is I believe the rarest of the "modern" Swiss bayonets, It is made from much older socket bayonets used on Vetterli and earlier rifles. Not sure why a bicyclist would need a special bayonet but it may simply have been a cost cutting measure recycling the older stuff for soldiers less likely to actually need them in a battle.

Personally I think those bayonets just look sharp, I always have liked the look of a nice cruciform with hilt bayonet (like the Lebel 1886 for example). Great example!

The reason this version was adopted was to save on weight. In the Swiss Army, bicyclists were front line troops (just as they were in all European armies who had bicycle troops) and were expected to move rapidly from place to place scouting and heading into combat. They were expected to use their bayonets.

Must say that one is very appealing. Looks Mid evil & dangerous.

Glad you finally got it an it turns out to be a great find