Original German WWII Heer Long 98k Dress Bayonet marked HERTRA-QUALITÄT with Scabbard & Frog Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. The K-98 dress bayonet was a dress version of the combat style, and was worn by enlisted and NCO personnel for dress and parade occasions. The bayonets were finished with a high-quality nickel plating, with stag or bakelite grip plates and black painted scabbard. The choice of blade length was left to the purchaser, either the nickel-plated short (20cm) or long (25cm) version. There was usually a red or green colored felt insert in the rifle slot and the bayonet was suspended from a black or brown leather frog. Some had a functional bayonet latch, while it was ornamental on some. Often they would also have a sword knot, or troddle, and the color would indicate the branch or rank.

This great Heer (army) example is in excellent condition, and has a nickel plated blade, as all dress bayonets do. It has has a lovely alloy hilt, with the Nickel Plating almost fully intact, with some wear on the crossguard from the frog. The mortise button and blade release are fully functional, though the felt insert is missing. The grip plates are both lovely checkered black bakelite, and both are in great condition. They are retained by solid nickel alloy rivets which have dressed heads on the obverse.

The blade on this example is nickel-plated, as were all dress bayonets, and is in excellent closed to unissued condition. There is just a bit of light runner wear, and this really is a top quality and condition blade. It has not been sharpened, and still retains its blunt factory edge, with no real oxidation we can see.

The reverse ricasso is stamped with name of the bayonet distributor:

HERTRA-QUALITÄT

There is unfortunately not much known about this distributor, except that they are very seldom seen. This is the first example we have seen with this marking. As with many distributors they may have purchased either blade blanks or finished bayonets which they then finished and/or customized. The blades would sometimes have maker marks, but more often were completely blank, except for sometimes a marking on the tang. The original leather blade buffer is still present and in excellent condition.

The scabbard is straight throughout and has really great original black enamel paint. This paint is still in excellent condition with just a couple of scratches, and almost no crazing and checking from age. Attached to the scabbard is a great brown leather dress frog, which is in very good condition, showing only light wear.

An great example of an German Long 98k dress bayonet by a rare distributor, complete with scabbard and frog. Ready to display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 9 3/4″
Blade Style: Single Edge w/ Fuller
Overall length: 14 5/8“
Crossguard: 2 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 10 1/2″