2 of the scarcer 1907 bayonets by Vickers and Mole

[Dave66]

Just now, RGJDEE said:

After looking at the dates good chance it’s the original scabbard ?

I think you are right there richard, certainly scarce to find this original pairing.

 

Dave.

[trajan]

Certainly a very nice and worthy addition to your collection! I was surprised, though, to see the grips were stamped on a 1917 issue bayonet - I had thought that they stopped doing that quite early on!

[MikeyH]

A really nice example, also has the diagonal blueing to the ricasso.

 

Mike,

[Dave66]

5 hours ago, trajan said:

Certainly a very nice and worthy addition to your collection! I was surprised, though, to see the grips were stamped on a 1917 issue bayonet - I had thought that they stopped doing that quite early on!

As my collecting has been financially restricted, they have either got to be silly cheap or on the must have list and good condition so really couldn't pass it up. With regard the grip stamping, I spent a while researching other Vickers 1907's for similarities and quite a few still have traces of these stamps...may be the fact that these were late production and more have survived in good condition?

 

10 minutes ago, MikeyH said:

A really nice example, also has the diagonal blueing to the ricasso.

 

Mike,

I hadn't previously noted that, until I started to delve into the other threads on here, it was another confirmation it hadn't been messed with so to speak and been refinished.

 

Dave.

[MikeyH]

A friend is thinning out his collection, so was today able to acquire an

unmolested P1907 Mole.  It bears the date of September 1917, and

one re-issue stamp for 1924.  The scabbard is I suspect of WW2

manufacture, this carries a 'W' stamp to the leather on the rear of the

scabbard, also a number '13'.  Does anyone know what this might

signify?  He has had this pairing for around 40 years.

 

Mike.

[Dave66]

4 minutes ago, MikeyH said:

A friend is thinning out his collection, so was today able to acquire an

unmolested P1907 Mole.  It bears the date of September 1917, and

one re-issue stamp for 1924.  The scabbard is I suspect of WW2

manufacture, this carries a 'W' stamp to the leather on the rear of the

scabbard, also a number '13'.  Does anyone know what this might

signify?  He has had this pairing for around 40 years.

 

Mike.

The W indicates a waxed finish, introduced post ww1 (mid 20's I think but happy to be corrected).

 

Dave.

[MikeyH]

Dave,

Yes, having done a Google search, have come to the same conclusion.

Thanks,

 

Mike.

[JMB1943]

On 19/03/2019 at 06:16, MikeyH said:

A really nice example, also has the diagonal blueing to the ricasso.

 

Mike,

 

Mike,

 

This strange (to me) diagonal blueing caused me to look out my 1 18 Vickers.

This has virtually horizontal blueing which starts at the end of the fuller.

My remembrance of the Instructions for manufacture is that the P. ‘07 requires blueing of the tang from the pommel to about 0.5 or 0.75 inches beyond the cross-guard.

To do this requires the bayonet to be stood upside down in the blueing solution, and the diagonal blueing line suggests that the tank was not level, or more likely, that the bayonet was inserted at quite an angle.

The 10,000 contract for Vickers was trivial for them, and I imagine that as long as the bayonet passed inspection they were not too concerned with the niceties——witness the “oversized “ clearance hole.

 

Regards,

JMB

 

 

[MikeyH]

1 hour ago, JMB1943 said:

 

Mike,

 

This strange (to me) diagonal blueing caused me to look out my 1 18 Vickers.

This has virtually horizontal blueing which starts at the end of the fuller.

My remembrance of the Instructions for manufacture is that the P. ‘07 requires blueing of the tang from the pommel to about 0.5 or 0.75 inches beyond the cross-guard.

To do this requires the bayonet to be stood upside down in the blueing solution, and the diagonal blueing line suggests that the tank was not level, or more likely, that the bayonet was inserted at quite an angle.

The 10,000 contract for Vickers was trivial for them, and I imagine that as long as the bayonet passed inspection they were not too concerned with the niceties——witness the “oversized “ clearance hole.

 

Regards,

JMB

 

 

 

JMB,

 

Have only had the chance to examine at first hand three Vickers P1907's, including my own (Feb 18) they all have the odd

diagonal bluing line.  I would imagine any surviving examples that have been re-finished at a later date will have

the conventional 'parallel' line.

The clearance hole is not that much bigger at 4.60mm, as opposed to the normal 4.30mm, the

chamfered edges to the hole make it appear larger.

 

Regards,

Mike.