Hobnail trench club and bayo

[Farkas]

Hi Gents

An elderly Gentleman with no family passed away recently in Wrexham, North Wales.

During his house clearance a ‘lead filled, hobnailed trench club and a Austro Hungarian ‘knife in a sheath’ were found together.....

they are on their way to me....

Fingers crossed they are as good as they sound......!!

 

pictures asap gents

 

tony

[Tony]

Don't forget to have your camera ready and don't break it in the meantime 

[1812 Overture]

I think my ending is probably the same as the poor old man.

[Farkas]

Hi Gents

The postman has been!

Pictures first...

 

 

tony

On 09/10/2018 at 05:22, 1812 Overture said:

I think my ending is probably the same as the poor old man.

On 05/10/2018 at 08:04, Tony said:

Don't forget to have your camera ready and don't break it in the meantime 

 

[Farkas]

Hi Gents

im seeing these described as a trench knife, usually with a dark cover....

tony

 

[Farkas]

Hi Gents

i’m trying to ID the stamp on the knife....

to me it looks like an ‘S’ on its own

 

the site I’ve used before only has this - listed in a section for weapon unit markings....

 

 

I don’t suppose anyone recognises it as something else?

thanks gents 

tony

[Tony]

Has someone sprayed the sheath silver? The knife itself is very similar to the WWII boot knife that my wife's grandfather had but the blade is unmarked. Have a look here, the third post shows your sheath http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/imperial-germany-austro-hungary/wwi-german-occasional-austrian-trench-knife-370751/ 

I suppose the next question is if you can tell the club is original or not. 

[Farkas]

Hi Gents

First.... a big thank you Tony 

15 hours ago, Tony said:

Has someone sprayed the sheath silver? The knife itself is very similar to the WWII boot knife that my wife's grandfather had but the blade is unmarked. Have a look here, the third post shows your sheath http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/imperial-germany-austro-hungary/wwi-german-occasional-austrian-trench-knife-370751/ 

I suppose the next question is if you can tell the club is original or not. 

Excellent link.  Most informative.

—-///—-

So....

It has helped me in a number of ways.

Most important being I am now happy that it is Ww1 Austrian and has the correct sheath.

My style sheath matches one of the examples as Tony said.

Regarding the knife stamp... The ‘S’ is in fact a known, but unidentified, stamp. Although it is most probably a makers own marking,  some suggest it may just simply be a stamp for ‘Steel’.  I would have thought a makers mark.

I hadn’t noticed any other stamp but the forum said there would be an acceptance stamp on the knife for either Austria or Hungary. After a quick check I see mine has the eagle mark meaning it was Austrian issue. 

 

 

My one is stamped on top not underneath....

Its a big relief that at least one of these is the real deal....

——-////—/—-  

the sheath has indeed been painted silver

Finish seems like spray paint to me....

Apparently spray paint not invented until 1948!!

However it has seen some use or at least handling since it was done

I doubt I’ll clean it up though as it probably has a story I will never know...

——//::/—

Lastly for now....

Tony : “”I suppose the next question is if you can tell the club is original or not.””

Good question!

the jury is out......

I will need to have a proper look at the club , fingers crossed please

i will report in soon......

tony

[Brian Wolfe]

People get the strangest ideas about how to "improve" an antique arm and probably the only thing worse than spraying the scabbard with silver or aluminium paint would have been to have used gold paint.  Either way this can be removed and the original look restored with a little work.  I think the club has upholstery nails which is not to say this is not original. At the time soldiers used what was at hand to make such items.  I would not hesitate to purchase such an item that looks like this, if I were looking to add one to the collection, as it has the "look" of authenticity.  I could more than likely turn out such an item in my shop but to get the look of the ages would be just about impossible. And why one anyone want to fake such an item in the first place.  My opinion is that this is an original.  Also remember that any specimen one might find on "Images" on the internet may not match this one as they were, at times, ad hoc, that is to say made individually or in small runs as needed.

Nice find.

Regards

Brian

 

[Farkas]

Thanks Brian,

Encouraging words - much appreciated....

(I never thought I’d be googling ‘antique furniture studs’.... )

And I’ve started cleaning the paint off.....

 

Again, thanks for your reply....

tony

9 hours ago, Brian Wolfe said:

People get the strangest ideas about how to "improve" an antique arm and probably the only thing worse than spraying the scabbard with silver or aluminium paint would have been to have used gold paint.  Either way this can be removed and the original look restored with a little work.  I think the club has upholstery nails which is not to say this is not original. At the time soldiers used what was at hand to make such items.  I would not hesitate to purchase such an item that looks like this, if I were looking to add one to the collection, as it has the "look" of authenticity.  I could more than likely turn out such an item in my shop but to get the look of the ages would be just about impossible. And why one anyone want to fake such an item in the first place.  My opinion is that this is an original.  Also remember that any specimen one might find on "Images" on the internet may not match this one as they were, at times, ad hoc, that is to say made individually or in small runs as needed.

Nice find.

Regards

Brian