British Lee Enfield 1907 Pattern Bayonet, Chromed with Unusual Reverse Seam Scabbard

Straight single-fullered knife blade, steel hilt with muzzle ring, wood slab grips secured by two screws, steel beaked pommel with oil hole and locking button. Black leather No. 1 Mk 2 scabbard with reversed seam, steel locket & teardrop frog stud and steel chape piece. White leather parade frog.

The ricasso is stamped on one side with a crown over G.R., 1907 (the pattern), a very faint manufacture date stamp which I believe reads 12 ‘16, which would indicate December 1916, and the maker’s mark ‘Wilkinson Pall Mall’. On the other side it is stamped with a ‘broad arrow’ War Department stores mark, four crown inspection marks with ‘E’ from Enfield, the reissue date ‘18 and an ‘X’ indicating that it passed a manufacturer’s bending test. The leather section of the scabbard is stamped with a diamond-shaped manufacturer’s mark. The reverse of the frog is stencilled with the serial number ‘593’ and inked with the name ‘Connolly’ and some indistinct numbers, probably a soldier’s name.

The stand-out feature on this bayonet is its unusually constructed scabbard, which has its seam running down the front panel on the same side as the frog stud, the reverse of the usual arrangement. ‘Double-stitched’ scabbards with seams on both the front and back sides were produced in Australia in the 1920s, which allowed smaller pieces of leather to be used in their construction, but why one would be produced anywhere with this single reversed seam is unclear.

All metal parts of the blade and scabbard have been chrome plated. This plating has worn in places, particularly the pommel and along the edge of the blade. Some small nicks to the blade’s edge, particularly towards the point. The wood grips are undamaged with only a few tiny dents. Some light rubbing to the scabbard leather on its flat face (the inside as worn). No dents to the scabbard fittings.