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Information about this scabbard
Other than the stitching and the copper rivet attaching the belt loop to the scabbard throat, this scabbard is entirely made with a heavy brown leather. The back side of the scabbard body has been neatly stitched together from throat to tip. The overall length of the scabbard, not including the belt loop, is approximately 515 millimeters. The width at the scabbard throat is ~36 millimeters and then tapers to ~27 millimeters where the missing scabbard tip would have started.
The throat of the scabbard is made of two pieces of leather, ~34 millimeters in length, that are stitched together on each side of the scabbard. The front side of the throat piece has a short strap that is looped through the throat and extended ~28 millimeters down the scabbard body. This strap is purely decorative in function. The top edge of the front side of the throat is stitched to the scabbard body and retains the decorative strap.
There is a belt loop, ~28 millimeters wide and ~118 millimeters long, stitched to the back side of the throat piece. There is also a single large copper colored rivet fastening the belt loop to the throat piece.
The stitching through the front side of the throat is the only means of attachment to the scabbard's body. The backside of the throat piece, not being attached to the body, freely moves up and down.
There appears to have been some sort of a tip mount previously attached to the scabbard body that is now missing. Two holes can be seen on each side of the body tip where rivets once attached this tip mount.
The only observed example of this scabbard was found with a Remington Rolling Block Rifle Bayonet - Feathered Grips - T2 and it appears to have been associated with this bayonet for some time. The leather body is contoured to the shape of the curved blade and the scabbard fits the blade of this bayonet neatly.
Information from other sources
Jean-Pierre Vial, Le Nouvel Atlas de la Baionnette de Collection, shows this very scabbard under N1407, page 85 and states that it is "undoubtedly of local manufacture".
Speculation and questions
Other than the above recorded details, there is no known information about this scabbard. It fits the associated bayonet perfectly but it is not a scabbard that is typically found with this bayonet. Apparently the bayonets were sold in multiple small contracts around the world. Maybe this scabbard was produced for one of these small contracts. It could just as well have been produced for another bayonet and later added to this bayonet. It could have been made to replace lost or damaged original scabbards.
I have always thought that this scabbard was a replacement provided by Francis Bannerman Sons, Inc. in the early twentieth century. Unfortunately, I cannot find any evidence to back up this belief.
Based on its current condition, it appears to have a lot of aging and it appears to have shrunk to fit the blade of the listed bayonet. So, I do not believe that it is a recent production.
The construction of the belt loop and its attachment to the scabbard body is pretty weak and not likely to have lasted very long in service carrying a heavy bayonet.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
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