Original German WWII Hamburg Metropolitan Police Long Dress Bayonet by Alexander Coppel with Scabbard – Matching Unit Marks Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a fantastic Matching Unit Marked Hasmburg Metropolitan Police Long Dress “Walking Out” Bayonet by Alexander Coppel of Solingen. It comes complete with its original nickel fitted black leather scabbard.

The handle of the bayonet is lovely nickel plated brass alloy, featuring a lovely decorated “Birds Head” pommel without a bayonet slot, and an upswept cross guard decorated with oak leaves. The grip scales are made of beautiful stag horn with a plated alloy police insignia firmly attached on one side. These are held with solid aluminum rivets and show no wiggle at all. Both cross guard and eagle’s head are in very good condition, with most of the original nickel plating still intact, showing wear and light oxidation where the plating has worn away on the ends of the pommel and guard.

As with most police bayonets, there is a unit marking on the reverse guard of the bayonet:

S. H. 554

This indicates issue to the Metropolitan Schutzpolizei (Protection Police) of the Hamburg district, Officer 554. The same unit marking is stamped onto the back of the scabbard, though it is partly worn away.

The bayonet has a lovely approximately 33 cm (12.75 inches) long nickel plated steel blade, which was forged “cut-down” style, with the fuller running to the tip. Blade is nice and bright, of excellent quality, and still has over 95% of the original nickel plating, with just a bit of wear through and oxidation speckling. There is also a bit of wear to the tip.

The blade ricasso is maker marked ALEXANDER COPPEL / SOLINGEN in arcs surrounding the firms trademark scales logo, with the firm’s initials ACS interspersed. The same trademark scale logo, only larger, is present on the other side of the blade. This type of trademark was used on Police and other dress bayonets during the Weimar republic and up into the beginning of the NSDAP era, up until around 1940, per J. Anthony Carter’s work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.

Alexander Coppel & Co. KG, Stahlwarenfabrik, was located in Solingen, the legendary German “City of Blades.” The company was a major manufacturer of edged weapons and tools from the end of the 19th century up until the WWII period. Unfortunately, as NSDAP-control increased, brothers Carl Gustav and Dr. Alexander Coppel, the Jewish owners of the firm, were forced out. In 1936 the firm had been “Aryanized”, and started using the name ALCOSO to hide the Jewish family name. By the end of 1936 the brothers were ejected from their Solingen offices, and by 1940 the brand trademark initials ACS were changed to AWS to reflect the change in ownership and name: Alexander Coppel Solingen to Alcoso-Werk Solingen. Carl Gustav Coppel committed suicide in Solingen in 1941, and Dr. Alexander Coppel was arrested in 1942 and sent to Theresienstadt Prison camp, where he died August 5th 1942.

The scabbard is made of fine black leather, fitted with heavily nickel plated brass alloy, and is in very good service used condition. The leather does show age and finish loss, and is now quite stiff. The reverse looks like it was re-stitched at one point, but it still has a great look. The fittings show some verdigris, indicating that there was probably a frog on the throat at some point.

This is a wonderful unit marked early war Hamburg metropolitan police bayonet by ALCOSO with some great research potential! Complete with scabbard, this bayonet is ready to research and display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 13″
Blade Style: Single Edged with Fuller
Overall length: 17 1/2”
Crossguard: 2 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 14 1/2”