Strange markings on P1907 bayonet

[sawdoc34]

Hello chaps,

have been offered a P1907 bayonet but it has some very strange markings on the ricasso, has anyone got an idea of what they are?

They have me stumped

Cheers,

Aleck

[auchonvillerssomme]

It looks like the monogram of the Duke of Edinburgh

[jscott]

Aleck - very interesting, are there any other markings on the bayonet that could help put the monogram in context?

[sawdoc34]

Only got 2 pics from him so far, this is the other but cant figure the connection with South African Air Force, will post more pics when I get them

[Khaki]

As it's an overstamp, it will be from a country that adopted the smle, I would try Siam or Burma etc for the monogram.

khaki

[Thunderbox]

The crown happens to be the correct style for an English Earl's crown (five "balls" on spikes, with low cross shapes inbetween, oval and rectangular lozenges below).

You's have to identify the monogram. I think they are two letter "S", in heraldic script.

My guess would be a school OTC.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Only got 2 pics from him so far, this is the other but cant figure the connection with South African Air Force, will post more pics when I get them

S.A.A.F. is a known mark for the South African Air Force, photo attached of another bayonet pommel marked as such.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

have been offered a P1907 bayonet but it has some very strange markings on the ricasso, has anyone got an idea of what they are?

Aleck

Aleck,

The South African Air Force was not formed until 1st February, 1920, so the pommel mark is not earlier than that formation date.

Regards,

LF

[Khaki]

The crown happens to be the correct style for an English Earl's crown (five "balls" on spikes, with low cross shapes inbetween, oval and rectangular lozenges below).

You's have to identify the monogram. I think they are two letter "S", in heraldic script.

My guess would be a school OTC.

I wouldn't have thought that a Earls crown would have been replaced the Monarch's crown on a blade, a bit presumptuous ?,

khaki

[sawdoc34]

LF,

I think I may have phrased it wrong mate, I meant that I couldnt figure the connection with the ricasso markings to to SAAF markings on the pommel

Thanks for all the input chaps but still not figured the monogram out, either ultra rare or some ****** did them for a laff to stump poor sods like me

Cheers,

Aleck

[auchonvillerssomme]

It is definitely an Earls crown.

[Greg]

Its definitely an Earl's coronet with its mixture of pearls and strawberry leaves. If it is assumed that it did go to an OTC, then presumably it went after its SAAF Service, which may mean an OTC in South Africa. Two earls, the Earls of Athlone and Clarendon served as Governors General in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s. Clarendon did have a school in Natal named after him but it was a Girls School. I had a quick google through South African private schools but couldn't find other schools with a connection but they might have disappeared or rebadged over the years. Whatever its origins it was an expensive alteration. They must have had a special punch made up to do the job on maybe a couple of hundred bayonets.

Greg