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Gents,
Well, my time in Switzerland is coming to a close and soon will be back in California after 3 years here in Zurich. I've gotten a number of nice pieces since I've been here (primarily shakos) and a number of smaller things which i've sold to a number of you.
Today I took possession of what is to me the Holy Grail of Swiss C&R Militaria (aside from the stgw57): The 1879 Engineer Shortsword and Spike Bayonet combo, know affectionately here amongst the Swiss as the the "gotthardbesteck", or "gotthard (pass) silverware", since the primary recipients of this piece of kit were engineer/pioniere/sapeur units manning the fortresses (and the Gotthard pass, which connects switzerland to italy).
I've been looking for one of these for ages and finally got it! This one's stamped 1879. A little bit of spotting on the blade but no serious pitting. What it DID have a lot of was very fresh copper oxidization along the frog rivets and sheath edges which very easiyl wiped away. Made me a little nervous, cant wait to eezox it and protect it better. The leather's in decent shape, no rust, some age old cosmoline stains on the sheath, and the leather sheath almost seals (.5cm gap), which makes me think this was stored in near perfect conditions until recently, when it picked up the oxidization. glad i could get it and clean that off before it damaged anything.
without further ado, here are the pics!
1. shown with a swiss enlisted dragoon sword and g11 bayonet (same size as the 1918 k31 bayo) for size comparison
2. with the shako of the type of unit who would've worn these
3.
4.
Well, my time in Switzerland is coming to a close and soon will be back in California after 3 years here in Zurich. I've gotten a number of nice pieces since I've been here (primarily shakos) and a number of smaller things which i've sold to a number of you.
Today I took possession of what is to me the Holy Grail of Swiss C&R Militaria (aside from the stgw57): The 1879 Engineer Shortsword and Spike Bayonet combo, know affectionately here amongst the Swiss as the the "gotthardbesteck", or "gotthard (pass) silverware", since the primary recipients of this piece of kit were engineer/pioniere/sapeur units manning the fortresses (and the Gotthard pass, which connects switzerland to italy).
I've been looking for one of these for ages and finally got it! This one's stamped 1879. A little bit of spotting on the blade but no serious pitting. What it DID have a lot of was very fresh copper oxidization along the frog rivets and sheath edges which very easiyl wiped away. Made me a little nervous, cant wait to eezox it and protect it better. The leather's in decent shape, no rust, some age old cosmoline stains on the sheath, and the leather sheath almost seals (.5cm gap), which makes me think this was stored in near perfect conditions until recently, when it picked up the oxidization. glad i could get it and clean that off before it damaged anything.
without further ado, here are the pics!
1. shown with a swiss enlisted dragoon sword and g11 bayonet (same size as the 1918 k31 bayo) for size comparison
2. with the shako of the type of unit who would've worn these
3.
4.
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