99 - Seitengewehr 84/98 bayonet Gebr. Heller 1917 with frog, Seitengewehr 71 with scabbard and fragment

Seitengewehr 84/98 bayonet Gebr. Heller 1917 with frog, Seitengewehr 71 with scabbard and fragment Steel, brass, wood, leather. Two sidearms and the fragment of a third, with two scabbards. 1) Seitengewehr 84/98 new pattern bayonet with wooden grip scales, straight crossguard without muzzle ring, pommel with mounting slot and press button, the blade with broad fuller, marked “GEBR. HELLER / MARIENTHAL” at the ricasso, on the blade spine the Prussian acceptance stamp crown over “W” over “17” and a further small crown stamp, with the steel scabbard in the leather frog with retaining strap. 2) Seitengewehr 71 bayonet for the infantry rifle M/71 with brass grip, diagonally ribbed on one side, smooth on the other and with a name engraved in cursive script, crossguard with muzzle ring and downward-curved hooked quillon, the long, narrow, single-edged blade with fuller and faded decorative etching, a small pictorial mark at the ricasso, with the leather scabbard with brass locket with carrying hook and brass chape with ball finial. 3) Fragment of a Seitengewehr 71 bayonet, brass grip, diagonally ribbed on one side, pommel with hook-shaped end, mounting slot with spring catch, without crossguard, long, narrow, single-edged blade, without scabbard, the blade extensively pitted with corrosion. Viewing recommended. L. 41 to 60 cm Gebr. Heller GmbH, knife and ball factory in Marienthal near Schweina in Thuringia, produced Seitengewehr 84/98 new pattern bayonets for the Prussian army from 1915 to 1917 and Seitengewehr 84/98 III bayonets in the years 1934 to 1940, initially under the production code S/178, from 1937 under the company name written out in full. Crowned stamps with letter and year on the blade spine are Prussian acceptance marks: the crown over W stands for Kaiser Wilhelm II, the two-digit number for the year of acceptance. The Seitengewehr 71 was introduced with the infantry rifle M/71, the first metal-cartridge rifle of the German army; characteristic features are the brass grip with diagonal ribbing on one side, the muzzle ring and the downward-curved hooked quillon, the blade measures 47 cm with an overall length of 60 cm.