1903 Bayonet Mark

[dllagost]

Hi All,

I have more about this bayonet on my Pattern 1903 discussion on this forum but since I just found this mark on the bayonet recently, I wanted to post it here to see if anyone has any idea or has ever seen this mark before. More photos on the bayonet are on my other discussion. I do not see anything about this mark in Skennerton's Broad Arrow... book. I would appreciate any information or ideas about these two marks.

[shippingsteel]

I believe the photo on the right provides a bit more evidence about the history of this bayonet - showing both the original marking and the new marking from the rework.

As I've been saying I think this is an example of some much later period foreign rework, which now appears to be looking like it was done in India. These marks do help.

The blade of the bayonet shows partially scrubbed British ownership and inspection markings which indicate the blade itself was originally manufactured at RSAF Enfield.

And while the overall bayonet has been fully reworked with what looks like new grips, screws and pommel - the remaining one piece blade and tang should be the original.

So in this photo we can see in the blue box, a Roman style letter E with serifs, as was used at Enfield. This letter is commonly seen in all the Enfield inspection markings.

Then in the red circle we have a newer and much heavier stamped marking, which appears to be in the Nagari script with horizontal line at top, often used in writing Hindi.

I don't know enough about this writing and its variations to be able to identify which letter/s it represents, but just recognise the basic format of this script which is common.

Cheers, S>S

[dllagost]

Hi shipping as always you have been very helpful. I can see how this baynot has definitely had some later re-work. When I took of the grips they did seem to be in rather great shape, far better then what I would expect to see on a 100 year old bayonet. Thanks once again.

[shippingsteel]

Out of interest I have been trying to research what this Nagari symbol or letter may in fact indicate in the context of this bayonet. This is as far as I have got.

So I believe this marking may be a stylised, modernised or (anglicised.?) not sure ... either way I think it could be a slightly modified abbreviation of Śastrōṁ

Now I think this Hindi word translates into Arms in English, and it is written in Nagari as शस्त्रों which when abbreviated into the Sa portion simply gives श

I understand that it is not a perfect match for the marking shown stamped on the bayonet, however as a perhaps stylised symbol I think it could be on the mark.

I do know that India had a Small Arms Factory which obviously would have been involved in this kind of repair work and modification, maybe another possibility.

Cheers, S>S

[dllagost]

I wonder if the crown/I/M could be the inspection stamp for that Indian Small Arms Factory since I haven't been able to find info on that inspection mark as of yet. Also I did find some of other stylized shape of that Nagari symbol as you indicate that looks a bit close to that symbol. I have a co-worker at my office that is Indian, I think I might run that symbol by him to see if he is familiar with that stylized symbol. I really think that you are on the mark about the Śa symbol. If he supports your conjecture on this, it'll be a great step forward in getting to know more about this bayonet. ShippingSteel thank you so much for the info and effort you are putting into looking at this puzzle.