Reference # 424
Confederate States of America
Unknown Bayonet with S&K Blade
Possible Model 1841 Rifle
Petr Rubín Collection
Information about this bayonet
This bayonet has a smooth ribbed brass hilt that is 117 millimeters long and has 16 ribs. The muzzle ring is flush to the hilt flat and the inside diameter is 23.0 millimeters. There is a forward swept round finial on the bottom of the guard and no finial on top of the muzzle ring. The press stud spring is 41 millimeters long. There is no steel rivet in the center of the cross guard. The overall quality of the hilt's finish appears to be very good.
Petr Rubín Collection
The rather small lug slot is chamfered around the top edge and there is no guide slot.
Petr Rubín Collection
The left side of the lower quillion's disk finial is stamped with the number 2 under a dot. A star like marking is stamped on the right side of the finial but it may be a post production addition by a bored soldier.
The left ricasso is stamped S&K for Schnitzler & Kirschbaum of Solingen, Germany.
Petr Rubín Collection
The yataghan blade is 543 millimeters long and has unstopped fullers.
Information from other sources
Jason Kaplan believes that this is a very early war Confederate bayonet for the Mississippi Rifle (Model 1841) with imported blades from S&K and hilts made by the Confederacy. He has test fitted several of them on Confederate altered Mississippi Rifles and some fit and some were very close.
Speculation and questions
The big issue with this bayonet is the S&K blade. Was it made in the US with blades imported from Germany or possibly blades salvaged from surplus stock? Could the bayonet have been made outside of the US? It is certainly in the US style and it could be made for one of the many alterations of the US Model 1841 Rifle.
The hilt design is similar to bayonets made by Collins or Ames but this bayonet is different enough to believe it was made by another manufacturer. Plus, It would be very surprising if Collins or Ames would have used imported blades. It could possibly be made by P.S. Justice. I am sure they would have used imported blades if available but the overall finish to the hilt is superior to what I have seen on Justice bayonets.
The number 2 stamped on the disk finial looks very similar to some Confederate bayonets with single digit number markings. See the third image on page 300 of Confederate & Southern Agent Marked Shotguns, by Pritchard and Ashworth, for a similar marking. It is believed that several small shops made bayonets for the Model 1841 rifle for the Confederacy at the start of the war.
This Confederate selection is a good possibility and with Jason Kaplan's knowledge and experience with other examples in his collection to back it up, it was decided to list it as Confederate until proven otherwise.
Example Reference # 5036
Note! All measurements are in millimeters
Muzzle Ring Diameter --------- 23.0
Overall Length ----------------- 660
Hilt Length -------------------- 117
Blade Length ------------------ 543
Blade Width ------------------- 28.0
Blade Thickness --------------- 8.2
Press Stud Spring Length ----- 41
Guide Slot Length ------------- None
Lug to Stop Length ----------- 12.6
Lug Slot Width --------------- 5.0
Lug Width -------------------- 9.2
Lug Thickness ---------------- 2.4
Petr Rubín Collection