Swiss M1918 Schmidt Rubin Bayonet by Elsener (Victorinox)

Double-edged spear-pointed blade, wood slab grips secured by two steel rivets to the exposed tang, crossbar hilt with muzzle ring and lower lobe quillon, steel scabbard with frog hook and leather frog strap, leather frog with buckle.

The ricasso of the blade is stamped on one side with ‘ELSENER SCHWYZ’. Karl Elsener was a Swiss knifemaker who opened his own factory in the village of Ibach in the Swiss canton of Schwyz in 1884 making knives and surgical instruments, including military contracts. He invented the Swiss Army Knife in 1891 and later renamed the company Victorinox, which still makes knives in Isbach to this day, run by his great-grandson. The old name indicates that this is a pre-1950 example.

The hilt is stamped on one side with the serial number ‘55659’. Its lobe quillon is stamped on the blade side with a small Swiss cross and a circle.

The rear side of the leather frog is stamped with several marks faint from rubbing, including a square cartouche (which would have contained a letter but this is too faint to make out), the maker’s mark ‘____BUHE REINACH / BASEL’ - this would have been a saddlery/leatherwork firm contracted to produce the frog, based in the town of Reinach in the canton of Basel at the northern edge of Switzerland - and ‘44’, probably an item number.

This bayonet fits the M1911 (K11) and M1931 (K31) rifles and the M41, M43, M41/44 and M43/44 submachine guns.

Some tiny spots of patination to the blade, no edge damage, track marks from sheathing and drawing. Likewise some spots of light patination to the hilt, tang and pommel. The wood grips have a few very light dents. The blued finish of the scabbard has worn in places exposing bright steel, particularly where it rubs against the frog, that section not visible without disassembly.