German Bayonet Butcher WW1

[MihneaMih]

Hello. I am new to this forum and to this world of bayonets and i need some help from you. I've recently bought a german butcher bayonet WW1 F. Koeller & Co. Chligs Solingen.I want to ask you 5 things:
1)The seller told me that he cleaned the wooden grips from the handle and the screws with a rotative brush and that's why they look so clean and i want to know from you if the screws and the wooden grips are the original one(Anyway i think they are because they still look old)
2)I want to know if it is rare
3)I want to know if it was used for killing people in war
4)I want to know the approximatively price of it(It doesn't have scabbard..)
5)Your final opinion of this piece

[MikeyH]

Welcome to the Forum.

You have a model S98-05, the most common of the German bayonets, by a maker who is less rarely encountered.

Both the grips and securing screws, are non original.  In collectors terms, this example is in semi-relic condition.  Every soldier

would have been issued with a bayonet, many never saw use in a combat situation.

Value is exactly what someone thinks that it is worth.

 

Mike.

Edited 10 January , 2019 by MikeyH

[trajan]

56 minutes ago, MihneaMih said:

Hello. I am new to this forum and to this world of bayonets and i need some help from you. I've recently bought a german butcher bayonet WW1 F. Koeller & Co. Chligs Solingen.I want to ask you 5 things:
1)The seller told me that he cleaned the wooden grips from the handle and the screws with a rotative brush and that's why they look so clean and i want to know from you if the screws and the wooden grips are the original one(Anyway i think they are because they still look old)
2)I want to know if it is rare
3)I want to know if it was used for killing people in war
4)I want to know the approximatively price of it(It doesn't have scabbard..)
5)Your final opinion of this piece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi and welcome to the GWForum!

 

There are many things wrong with this one and so I hope you did not pay too much!

 

It is indeed a rarer maker F.Koeller & Cie, of Ohligs, near Solingen, they made these 98/05's in 1917 and 1918. But as MikeyH has explained, neither the grips - the wooden bits on the handle or hilt - or their securing screws, are original. And it is indeed in a "semi-relic condition". This was indeed the most common german bayonet in WW1 - over a million were made - and so it may well have been taken to the front-line area by a German soldier, but it is impossible to say if it saw combat use. As for value, well, what you paid for it is the value that you thought correct! 

[MihneaMih]

is ok like 80$ ?

[derekb]

Without meaning to be disrespectful, whilst I wouldn’t buy a bayonet in that sort of condition, here in the UK I don’t think it would sell for the equivalent of $80.

[trajan]

30 minutes ago, derekb said:

Without meaning to be disrespectful, whilst I wouldn’t buy a bayonet in that sort of condition, here in the UK I don’t think it would sell for the equivalent of $80.

 

I agree. I have bought ones in a similar condition and have even paid more to fill gaps in my collection - but I am a dedicated collector.... I also know that I will never shift the poor ones for anything near the price I paid for them, but any kind of German 98/05 is rare where I live!

 

Mihneami, there are some very good and reliable sales sites in the USA if you really want a good WW1 bayonet at a good price.

[zuluwar2006]

2 hours ago, MihneaMih said:

is ok like 80$ ?

Hello and welcome. 

For start up is OK. 

But you have first to read and study books for german bayonets and especially the book of Carter for 98)05 bayonets. 

This way you will learn to focus on some spots in any 98)05 bayonet. 

With time you will get and the experience. 

I bought my first bayonet 26 years before and I still have it to remember. 

Is no worthing anything as it ts in more semi relic condition than yours. 

But since then with years and many books I got the necessary experience. 

So, do not give up. 

Keep your first bayonet. 

Study books for german bayonets. 

And I am sure you will always remember this first bayonet with nostalgic memories, after some years. 

Regards, 

D. 

[zuluwar2006]

This is the book. 

Regatds

D. 

[peregrinvs]

If you wanted to partially restore it:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-Kit-for-the-bayonet-Butcher-1898-1905-Wooden-grips-bolts-and-Flash-Guard/263865158000?hash=item3d6f96c970:g:3rkAAOSwxalbagch

[MihneaMih]

Thank you all for all responses!

[trajan]

7 hours ago, zuluwar2006 said:

... I bought my first bayonet 26 years before and I still have it to remember. ... Is no worthing anything as it ts in more semi relic condition than yours. ... But since then with years and many books I got the necessary experience. ... So, do not give up. ... Keep your first bayonet. ... Study books for german bayonets. ...And I am sure you will always remember this first bayonet with nostalgic memories, after some years. ... 

 

Zuluwar2006 is quite right on that - if you choose to colllect bayonets of course! Here is the one that got me started on bayonets again after a 40 or so year gap - found in the desert at Palmyra in Syria 2009, and I joined GWF two years later to find out more about it, as later the same year I got two more of these W/fabrik 98/05's with scabbards in pristine condition in Damascus. I have over 40 or so 98/05's now alongside other German bayonets and still have this one...

 

 

[MihneaMih]

Ty for encourage anyway but i hope my piece isn't too bad

[MihneaMih]

Also i discovered now a mark W/17 and on the pommel a mark "B" with a crown

[MikeyH]

48 minutes ago, MihneaMih said:

Also i discovered now a mark W/17 and on the pommel a mark "B" with a crown

 

Have replied to your pm.

 

Mike.