Sometime around 10 years ago I was asked by Graf's to assist with getting some 500 Bayonets into the US, pricing them and spread the word. That was the first of two shipments, 500 each brought in two months apart.

Those bayonets had been stored in Bern since their manufacture in the 30's and 40's. None were assigned serial numbers, and all of them were mint. There were both walnut and beech handles, with the majority being walnut.

Bayonets received a serial number when a k31 was issued to a soldier. If that issue bayonet was damaged or lost, a new bayonet was numbered to that rifle and the soldier had his replacement. No bayonets were ever serialized ahead of issue, so..................
You see the ads by various importers, "K31icon with Original Issue Bayonet!" Really. Since issue and reissued bayonets were not entered in memoriam in any log books in Bern or anywhere else .......... how, exactly would that importer know if it was an "original issue"? There's no practical way of knowing that at all unless the original soldier were still alive and could attest to that fact. Sad to say that I've seen a few that were sold under that premise that were sparkling new bayonets with a 30's vintage k31 and serialed to that specific rifle.

I look upon those ads with a jaundiced eye.