Portuguese M1886 Kropatschek Bayonet by Steyr
Yataghan curved single-fullered blade, crossbar hilt with upper muzzle ring and quillon and lower circular finial, black wood grips, plain steel scabbard with frog hook.
No maker’s mark to the spine of the blade – it may have been removed by polishing. The frog stud of the scabbard is marked ‘WG’, a Steyr factory mark. Hilt marked ‘N159’, scabbard marked at the throat with ‘RR884’.
The M1886 Kropatschek rifle proved to be reliable and had a long service life - while it was replaced by the 1904 Mauser in the Portuguese army it was used by colonial units in WW1, issued to the Portuguese Legion during the Spanish Civil War, and was still in use by colonial police as late as the 1960s. Its bayonet was one of the last to make use of the ‘yataghan’ downward-curving blade.
