Saxon Plug Bajonet ca. 1700

[corrado26]

I want to show you a very rare plug bajonet made by Peter Weyersberg at Solingen for the court of Saxony. Its wooden handle is fixed by a screw, that fits to a thread of the blade's angle. The monogram "AR" stands for August II. the Strong, Archduke of Saxony and King of Poland, +1733. Total length is 390 mm, length of blade is 235 mm, width 37 mm.

[fernando]

Very nice bayonet, Udo. See one of the kind in THE PLUG BAYONET by R.D.C. Evans .


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[corrado26]

Thanks a lot, very interesting!!

[Bayowolf]

Unfortunately, this is a Spanish plug bayonet made in Toledo ca. 1850-70. The "Saxon" etching and maker mark have been added by someone to increase the value.

[corrado26]

Really? Do you have a proof?

[fernando]

Engravings are a different work; but surely Bayowolf will show us stronger evidence.


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[Fernando K]

Hello
Just to highlight that the "handle" is different, in the photo that Fernando uploaded I have a growing decrease, to fix it to the barrel. On the other hand, in the photo uploaded by corrado, it can be seen that the handle is almost uniform, with the same diameter. Isn't the word "Solingen" spelled with a single L?

Affectionately

[Merenti]

the etching with frame reminds me a lot of the janissary sword

[fernando]

Originally Posted by Fernando K

... Isn't the word "Solingen" spelled with a single L?...

I guess you are right, Fernando !

[corrado26]

Orthography was in the 18. century a very different thing in comparison withthe today rules.

[Bayowolf]

I've collected plug bayonets for decades. Owning around 200 of them over the years. If you look in Roger Evan's book, The Plug Bayonet, a fair number of them are from my collection. This bayonet was offered to me for sale a few weeks ago. So I evaluated it at the time. If you will look at Toledo plug bayonets of the era in question, you can see for your self. This is a very classic Toledo style. They were producing plug bayonets on almost an assembly line basis. Picking particular cross guards and hilt styles that screwed together like this. The hilt and cross guard are clearly, Toledo as is the blade style. The blade etching is done pretty well and fairly convincing. The Weyersberg "Sollingen" engraving on the other had is frankly laughable. Taken as a whole, there is no question of this being authentic.

[Bayowolf]

Here is a very similar example from my collection. In this example they opted for some fancier options. But the basic form is the same. Look at the shape of the main body of the cross guard and the tapered central raised portion of it. This is identical to the Saxon marked example posted. The quillons on this example are fancier, but the finial is the same. Likewise the ricasso form and ricasso. This turned wood grip is a much fancier option, but there are numerous examples with essentially identical grips to the Saxon marked example.

[corrado26]

Ok, I am convinced!