SMGL-147 Police Bayonet by WKC *SOLD

So this bayonet came to us with a little bit of a lesson. The bayonet came in, looked fine. Paid the guy, done deal. After it sat around for a while and I finally got to it, I noticed the blade didn’t go all the way in the scabbard! Whoops! So, I had to figure out what the deal was, which means taking the scabbard apart. The lower retention pin was a little loose on the bottom so I knew immediately someone had taken this thing down before. What I found was an old epoxy of some sort…and I mean like 50+ years old. Maybe even a period repair because its not your traditional epoxy. It was used to reshape the leather tip so the pin would stay in and the metal tip would stay on. After 70+ years of the leather drying and being neglected, the leather seam warped inward at the tip preventing the bayonet from going in all the way. How to fix???? Time, and a jewelers file to file the seam down from the inside! So, the end result is a bayonet that fits tightly. Over time and repeated withdrawing from the scabbard, it will loosen further.
Now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about the rest of the bayonet! Ok so we have two things in the PLUS column, numbers matching scabbard and bayonet (14) and the original frog which hasn’t been removed in many many years, and I left the THICK green verdigris on the back of the scabbard throat to prove it! The heavy duty plated brass hilt/tang is looking pretty average, showing wear but not in an ugly way. The grip eagle is perfect with no signs of replacement. The blade is pretty clean but does show some oxidation on the spine and blade edge. The edge is unsharpened but it does look like someone ran the bayonet down another very hard object at some point scuffing it up.

The leather frog is original to the piece and the stitches are a little dry and have begun to pop in a few spots. I think a good old school shoe repair guy can fix her up on the cheap for you if you wanted.

Overall, the piece isn’t perfect as we have discussed, but it also isn’t $1500. So if you can deal with a loose scabbard tip, a snug fit and a little wear and tear…you are in business.