80. Auction

Short sword, probably plug bayonet, brass crossguard with cupids, king's head mark, leather scabbard

Steel, brass, wood and leather. Short sword in the form of a plug bayonet, probably for hunting. Broad, double-edged blade tapering to a point with a strong ricasso, there two struck marks: a crowned king's head mark (Solingen type), and below it a serpentine mark with star. The brass hilt, the crossguard cast on both sides as a reclining cupid with a quiver on its back, above it the moulded brass ferrule. The dark turned wooden grip with a spherical collar above the ferrule, tapering towards the end, the brass pommel with a small figural finial. With the leather scabbard with brass locket and brass chape, closed at the back with a cross stitch. Condition commensurate with age, the blade stained and pitted, the scabbard rubbed. Please inspect. L. with scabbard 47 cm, blade length 37.5 cm

The plug bayonet was inserted by its grip into the muzzle of the musket or fowling piece; the spherical collar on the grip limits the depth of insertion, and the grip tapering towards the end sits firmly in the barrel. In military use the form was superseded around 1700 by the socket bayonet; in hunting it remained customary until the end of the 18th c.: the hunter carried the piece as a dagger on his belt and could fit it onto his gun to dispatch game. The king's head mark is a blade mark used in Solingen since the 16th c. by the Wundes family, which was widely adopted and copied. Struck marks on the ricasso are the most important feature for the attribution of a piece and are specifically sought by collectors.