Danish M1889 Krag-Jorgensen Bayonet, Early Model by Alex Coppel
Single-fullered spear point blade, forged together with the entire hilt as one piece of steel. Chequered black leather grips secured by two steel rivets. Black leather scabbard with steel mounts at the throat and chape. Unique locking mechanism, consisting of an integral locking catch on the scabbard, and sprung release lever on the hilt.
The ricasso of the blade is stamped with the manufacturer’s mark ‘Alex Coppel Solingen’ with their logo of a set of weighing scales. Below this on the rim of the grip is stamped a crown over ‘91’, which means this bayonet was produced in 1891.
The pommel is stamped on one side with a unit mark ‘34B. 329’ to the 34th Battalion, over a cancelled unit mark ‘20B 351’ to the 20th Battalion, and on the other side with the item number ‘20239’. The chape finial of the scabbard is stamped with ‘34’ and ‘329’, matching the unit mark.
The leather grips mark this out as the early version of this bayonet, which was made in Germany. The later and more common version was introduced in 1892: made in Denmark, it had wooden grips, which held up better to heavy use and wet conditions. Those bayonets of the early model whose grips wore out also received wooden replacements. The Danes were the first nation to adopt the Norwegian-designed Krag-Jorgensen rifle, followed by the United States and Norway.
The blade is bright with a few very small spots of pitting along the spine, and near the tip on one side. The hilt and pommel have some spots of light patination. The leather grips have some light handling wear to the chequering and two surface-level cracks on one side between the rivets. The throat and chape pieces of the scabbard have areas of patination. The leather of the scabbard is good with all its stitching intact.
