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Turkish 1903 Sword Bayonet
Attachment 98478Attachment 98477Attachment 98473Attachment 98476Attachment 98472Attachment 98474Attachment 98475Attachment 98471
WW1 Turkish 1903 sword bayonet captured by my Grandfather in Egypt, 1916. He was in the British Army, City of London Yeomanry, the Rough Riders (cavalry). Won the MC saving a wounded NCO under fire. He later did bomb disposal and then joined the RFC, quite a character, I wish I'd known him better.
The scabbard is in two pieces (seems to have been joined by wire at some point, holes having been made in the scabbard) and has been like this since I was first shown it about 50 years ago. It looks like it got folded up, why I've no idea. It's got his name 'Bill' scratched on the scabbard.
The Turkish ricasso mark indicates German makers name.
The script below is presumably a date. This is marked ١٣٢٢= 1322, or 1904, why 1904 I wonder? Or is this an error I've made in the Arab/Gregorian date conversion?
The frog is stamped on the back; top - possibly a makers name, 'Berlin No.39' and then something below this, possibly '19XX', maybe a date?
It would presumably have been for a Turkish (or German?) Mauser rifle? I don't have one, so can't tell.
Only ever seen one other, in the Imperial War Museum in London.
Posted this just for info, but if anyone can tell me more, most appreciated.
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Thank You to Charlie303 For This Useful Post:
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01-24-2019 10:33 AM
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These bayonets are extremely rare today and usually in really bad condition when found. Turkey re-used everything and bayonets were reworked from start to finally wind up on Garands. So nearly all of these were shortened to the standard Turk length after WWI. So not only do you have a nice piece from the family story point of view, it's rare from the collector standpoint as well. I've seen poor examples without scabbards bring $300 on ebay. This one isn't perfect but it's the nicest one I think I've seen. As for the scabbard, still very collectible, even fewer or these have survived than the bayonets. I wouldn't fret too much over the damage.
Last edited by Aragorn243; 01-26-2019 at 08:24 AM.
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Thank You to Aragorn243 For This Useful Post: