British / South African Lee Enfield 1907 Pattern Bayonet by Sanderson, 1915
Straight single-fullered knife blade, steel hilt with muzzle ring, wood slab grips secured by two screws, steel beaked pommel with locking button. Black leather scabbard with steel locket & circular frog stud and steel chape piece.
The ricasso is stamped on one side with a crown and ‘G.R.’ (Georgius Rex, i.e. King George V) over ‘1907’ (the pattern) ’12 ‘15’, indicating the manufacture date of December 1915, and the manufacturer’s mark ‘Sanderson’. On the other side it is stamped with a ‘broad arrow’ War Department stores mark, three crown inspection stamps with ‘E’ for Enfield and an ‘X’ indicating that it passed a manufacturer’s bending test.
The pommel is stamped with two identical marks of a letter ‘U’ enclosing a broad arrow, which is a South African government ownership mark. The exposed tang is stamped with ‘355’.
The leather section of the scabbard is stamped next to the seam with the maker’s mark ‘MANGROVITE I48’, indicating it was manufactured by Mangrovite Belting Ltd. in Australia in 1948, as well as a broad arrow over ‘B’ and finally the letter ‘W’, denoting a scabbard made with a waxed finish. The chape of the scabbard is stamped next to the staple with ‘MA’.
Manufactured in Britain, this bayonet evidently came into South African ownership and was then subsequently paired with an Australian-made scabbard, perhaps when its old one wore out. The fact that both the bayonet and scabbard have traces of the same khaki paint suggests they are not a more recent pairing.
The blade has one small nick near the tip, some old polishing marks and a few small spots of patination. The ricasso, hilt and pommel have a blued finish, with significant wear at raised edges like the locking button and muzzle ring, exposing bright steel. The wood grips have dents and on one side chipping around the rear screw & next to the pommel. The scabbard fittings also have a blued finish, with only a little wear to edges and prominences like the chape end and frog button. The scabbard leather has light rubbing, a few dents and scratches. Its stitching is all intact.
As mentioned above there are flecks of khaki paint remaining on all parts except the blade and scabbard leather, suggesting it was at one time painted appropriately for a desert environment (a larger deposit can be seen in the recess under the frog stud).
