British 1907 Pattern Bayonet with Early Hooked Quillon, Dated 1909 by Sanderson
Straight single-fullered knife blade, steel hilt with muzzle ring and distinctive forward-curving lower quillon, wood slab grips secured by two screws, steel beaked pommel with locking button. Black leather No. 1 Mk 2 scabbard with steel locket & teardrop-shaped frog stud and steel chape piece.
This bayonet is still in its original configuration with hooked lower quillon and no oil hole: the quillon was ordered to be removed from new production bayonets in October 1913 and existing examples were often removed by grinding during repair.
The ricasso of the blade is stamped on one side with ‘E.R.’ (Edwardus Rex), 1907 (the pattern), 1 ‘09, indicating the manufacture date to be January 1909, a reissue stamp ’11 for 1911, a crown inspection mark with ‘E’ for Enfield and the maker’s mark ‘SANDERSON’ for Sanderson Bros & Newbould Ltd of Sheffield. It is stamped on the other side with a ‘broad arrow’ War Department stores mark, three more crown inspection marks with ‘E’ for Enfield, and an ‘X’ indicating that the blade passed a manufacturer’s bending test.
The throat piece of the scabbard is stamped next to the staple on one side with ‘RE’, indicating the manufacturer Remington. The leather body of the scabbard is stamped next to the seam with ‘W’ indicating that it was made with a waxed finish. There are markings on the other side faint from rubbing, I can just make out a broad arrow.
The blade is mostly bright with spots of light patination, one patch of very light pitting at the forte on one side which has been nearly polished out giving the blade a hazy finish in that area. It retains its blued band next to the shoulder. Its edge has been previously sharpened toward the tip but is not very sharp currently, with a few tiny nicks to the edge. The tip is slightly rounded (~1mm). The hilt, exposed tang and pommel have cleaned moderate pitting overall, some dents to the pommel. The wood grips have a few dents and some patches of oil staining. The locking mechanism works smoothly.
The leather scabbard body has light surface rubbing and numerous small shallow dents, all of its stitching remains intact. The throat piece of the scabbard is blued with some rust patches to its edges and some tiny spots of what I believe is silver paint to the frog stud. The chape piece has one dent to its front face which does not interfere with sheathing and drawing, it is partly covered on both sides with the same silver paint, with about 50% lost to chipping and rubbing exposing darkly patinated steel.
