Original Item: One of a Kind. This is a very strange, unrecorded as far as we know, Saber bayonet that can best be described as based on the British P-1856 Two Band percussion Short Rifle often issued to Artillerymen. The Cross guard and pommel are however are not steel but are made of BRASS. The grip plates are wood and the bayonet is fitted with a long leaf spring to activate the bayonet catch.
The blade is YATAGHAN in design however is much more EXAGERATED. The point of a Yataghan Bayonet blade was to assist soldier using muzzle loading weapons to have the bayonet points off-set to facilitate loading with the bayonet in a fixed position and not lacerating the soldier’s hand holding the ramrod. In this case the muzzle loader would have no trouble whatsoever.
We in fact received TWO of these bayonets in this Collection, almost identical, even to having the brass cross guard bent back as opposed to being straight across as with the P-1856 bayonet. Neither of our bayonets of this type were with scabbards which we would imagine would have been leather with brass top and bottom mounts. Neither bayonet has any visible markings.
Basically UNIDENTIFIED, a very interesting Saber Bayonet from the 1850’s and 1860’s