Argentine 1891 and 1909 Bayonets

My newest bayonets from Argentina.

I have had an 1891 for years, it was one of the first I picked up when I started collecting What makes this one special is it still has its crest. Apparently, almost all, if not all imported to the US had the crests ground off. Canada on the other hand imported them a few years after the US did and theirs were not ground off. This was done by Argentina because some weapons they had surplused had turned up in wars with their crests and Argentina didn't like that much. I found this one from a Canadian seller on ebay. He shipped it promptly and it sat in US customs in NY for eleven days. It finally arrived on Saturday.

This is the third 1909 bayonet that I have. I'm not sure exactly what production run it is as the serial number does not match the data for this particular engraving. This is a domestically produced bayonet. The others I have are the German produced version and one of the rare civil guard bayonets which I posted photos of here a few years ago. I bought this one off ebay a few day after the 1891 and it arrived about a week prior to the 1891. These never had their crests ground off.

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

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../rvEe2SU-1.jpg

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It's been years but Browningautorifle is the one that tipped me off on the Canadian bayonets. Just took this long to find one.

Glad to have helped sort of...but now I've been watching and haven't seen any crests as of late... I check 'em all too... Nice catch, finally see these after we chatted so much.

First antiquing day after the lifting of the lockdown and I scored the brass handle 1891 with an intact crest. Unfortunately the scabbard does not match the bayonet but for $45 I still got a steel.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...3b&oe=5F03F482

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...a9&oe=5F045BA9

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...b8&oe=5F0402C5

Very nice, I have been reading the book on Argentine Mausers recently (don't actually own any unfortunately) and the procurement process for them (especially the 1891) was fascinating. The Argentines were apparently very hard brokers, and basically got the best deal out of any Mauser contract ever.

Nice catch...I still can't find any and look at every single one.

The guy has a Finnish bayonet there for $35.00. I had bought one off him about a year or so ago for 50 and thought that a good deal. Pulled it out of the scabbard and the blade was 30% black from rust. Heavy pitting. Still thought about it but figured it was too rough. Might still get it next time if it's still there Pitting was so deep though I don't know if polishing it would do any good.

Nice to see the crests. I picked up a brass hilted one 45 years ago. No crest. It took me 20 before I found out what it went too. I now have a rifle that is close to it in thier serial numbers

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Pitting was so deep though I don't know if polishing it would do any good.

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You could try electrolysis, to remove corrosion but not pitting.

I recently brought an WW1 German Ersatz bayonet back to life that had been buried in the ground for years, even getting the catch to work, with a week of electrolysis.

If a bayonet has pitting, it's unfortunate, but as I can't remove pitting, I just accept it.

I went back yesterday but it was gone. Probably for the best. I was getting ready to do some serious polishing on it. I did however get two more munitions from the guy, a modern type anti tank dart and a 1942 dated M43 81mm mortar. So all is good.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

a 1942 dated M43 81mm mortar.

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When I first was on an 81mm mortar, that was what we were shooting. We sure must have bought a serious whack of them from the US suppliers...think ours were more like 1945 dated though.