German model m1914 bayonet

[kmad]

Hi all

Another imperial bayonet has been awoken

This one I think is a bit rare it is a m1914 knife bayonet

Blade length 295 mm

The only mark is BK in a circle and an imperial acceptance mark on the back of the blade

All my references are packed away so can anyone tell me if this is a rare beast or not

It is in ok condition but the blade is a bit scratched

Any information greatly appreciated

Thanks

Ken

[kmad]

One more showing fuller and profile

[shippingsteel]

Hi Ken, again a very nice German bayonet. The S14 are less commonly seen, and individual makers can be scarce.

I believe this one was made by Beka-Rekord, but I am not sure exactly how scarce they are in the scheme of things.

BK is an abbreviation for "Bump & Koenig GmbH, Fabrikation und Vertrieb von Grammophonen und Phonographen".

Cheers, S>S

[trajan]

Hi all

Another imperial bayonet has been awoken...

Well, watch out for a Kraken while you are at it - don't want to wake one of those!

Yes, this is a nice one! And SS is right on the Beka Record bit, except that the company's trading name was 'Beka-Rekord GmbH' - and Bump's first name was Heinrich, if you are interested in such details! The company was bought out by Lindstrom in 1910, though, and he also owned Odeon, who likewise produced a version of the S.14 bayonet. But Beka were good enough at the job to be given a contract to make S.84/98 blade blanks in 1916 - most of the other S.14 makers did not make anything after 1915.

I guess by "an imperial acceptance mark on the back of the blade" you mean the Abnahmenstempel, or 'fraktur' mark, the mark made by the Revisor to approve the bayonet for service use (and for payment by the government, according to an 1865 regulation!)? That will be a crown over a Gothic letter, and in this case a G, T, or U, is what is probably there. There shouldn't be a crown over a single Roman font letter and year date - if there is then, well, it will be almost if not actually unique!

As for rarity, well, S.14's are not that common, but Bekka versions are among the more common examples of these, and Beka are known to have received a contract to make between 100-150,000. Oh, FWIW, the only unit marked examples of Bekka-marked S.14's I am aware of were issued to the 13 (Westfallische) IR, 2nd Ersatz Battalion, and also to the 2.M.G.K.

Trajan

[kmad]

Hi

Thanks for the information,

Trajan you are correct it is an Abnahmenstempeonl, the blade with nothing else stamped or marked

Great to get the extra information, I am not sure where this one came from but procured in Ireland anyway.

I will print out the information and file away

The house move is going well on the packing front and I do not think any more bayonets are going to turn up, I have packed away an Austrian fachinemesser already without photos but I will get that done when I un pack

all that is left for your perusal is a few Erstaz bayonets which I will put up over the weekend, nothing special and in all honesty I just pick these up now and again as examples of what is available, I am not sure if they are copies or not, I assume these are copied

regards to all

Ken

[trajan]

Thanks for the information,

That's what the GWF is all about! Happy to help - and also happy to help with those Ersatz... I have a love/hate relationship with them, rather like (I suspect) SS with non-Anzac P.88's and hookies... That is to say, in my case, them Ersatz are 'orrible-looking little bu**ers, not quite the creme de la creme, and yet fascinating in their own way...

[Garron]

I've got a S14 made by BK, can't find a photo, I'll take one in the morning, can't remember when I picked it up but its probably going to be on my German uniform display mannequin.

Garron

[sawdoc34]

Real nice bayonet you have there Ken, S14s are one of my favourite german bayonets & seem quite hard to come by, must get some pics up of my wooden handled ersatz bayonets for you.

Nice find

Aleck