Portuguese M1886 Kropatschek Bayonet by Steyr

Yataghan curved single-fullered blade, hilt with lobe and quillon, brown wood grips, plain steel scabbard with frog hook.

The spine of the blade is engraved with the maker’s mark and manufacture date ‘Steyr 1886’.  The ricasso of the blade has a clover-shaped Portuguese inspection mark. The hilt is faintly stamped ‘…75’, the throat of the scabbard is marked ‘A927’. The frog stud of the scabbard is marked ‘WG’, a Steyr factory mark.

The M1886 Kropatschek rifle proved to be reliable and had a long service life - while it was replaced by the 1904 Mauser in the Portuguese army it was used by colonial units in WW1, issued to the Portuguese Legion during the Spanish Civil War, and was still in use by colonial police as late as the 1960s. Its bayonet was one of the last to make use of the ‘yataghan’ downward-curving blade.

The blade is very clean and bright, the hilt and pommel have some speckled patina. The wood grips have only very minor dents and one very small chip. The scabbard retains most of its original bluing, but this has worn at the throat end, possibly rubbing from contact with a frog, and there is some speckled pitting overall. Some minor dents to the scabbard around the chape end.