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Something you don't see very often


rldarmstr
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Retired Army Noncom

 

Not having a serial number is not the end all to authentication of an artifact. The M1905 bayonets went through a period of no serial numbers early in their production. I realize this bolo is not an M1905 bayonet but the principle could be the same.

 

SA dated their M1905 bayonets in 1906.

 

RIA did not serial number their bayonets at the beginning of their production in 1906. They did start to use serial numbers at some point in 1906.

This item is advertise as a 1915 bolo-bayo. Long after items like this were numbered. That's the reason I'd never touch it and the fact the steel quality does not appear as the same as an original.

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Yes, there appears to be a difference in the coloration of the two blades possibly due to surface condition varying between the two. Other than that, how can you tell the quality is different? The one on eBay has a different blade appears than this one too. Maybe that one is fake too and left out in the weather for a couple years to get a good rust pitting process going?

 

I also believe that if someone went to the extent to produce a fake, complete with U.S. flaming bomb and the other unique features of this item that producing a serial number would be easy enough to duplicate, even more so than other features. If omitting a serial number was going to mark this item as a fake, after going to the trouble to duplicate all the other features of the item, the faker has to be the dumbest person on the planet.

 

As I said before, I have no vested interest in this item but I am truly amazed at the out cry of fake and questionable that this thread has elicited. My intent was purely to show a rare and, at least to me, an interesting item.

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Retired Army Noncom

Yes, there appears to be a difference in the coloration of the two blades possibly due to surface condition varying between the two. Other than that, how can you tell the quality is different? The one on eBay has a different blade appears than this one too. Maybe that one is fake too and left out in the weather for a couple years to get a good rust pitting process going?

 

I also believe that if someone went to the extent to produce a fake, complete with U.S. flaming bomb and the other unique features of this item that producing a serial number would be easy enough to duplicate, even more so than other features. If omitting a serial number was going to mark this item as a fake, after going to the trouble to duplicate all the other features of the item, the faker has to be the dumbest person on the planet.

 

As I said before, I have no vested interest in this item but I am truly amazed at the out cry of fake and questionable that this thread has elicited. My intent was purely to show a rare and, at least to me, an interesting item.

Duplicating a ser# would automatically deem this item for the faker a fake and trying to sell it for thousands when it would be worth a couple of hundred would be more stupid. Best to leave the ser# off would make the chances for the real one with the same ser# to appear less damaging and branding the seller as a fraudster with possible jail time for deliberately ripping off the public. There is laws against such activity.

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I should have looked at mine before making my comments. I remembered that my M1912 with serial number 40 had cut outs in the grips as shown here. What I had forgotten was that my grips appear to have been taken from an M1915 bolo bayonet. The M1912's didn't have a set screw but the M1915's did, so the M1915 grips are made to fit around the set screw.

 

m1912.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Hello I thought I'd share a picture of one that was dug up in the Philippines. Not mine.

 

 

 

 

 

post-2532-0-54039100-1528245622_thumb.jpg

post-2532-0-41146100-1528245629_thumb.jpg

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That's one of the 6500 made in 1915-16. You can tell because it has the set screw in the bottom center of the grip. Thanks for posting!

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That's one of the 6500 made in 1915-16. You can tell because it has the set screw in the bottom center of the grip. Thanks for posting!

 

You're welcome. This was dug up in the backyard of a house that's located near and along the original main road from the outskirts of Manila heading north. There were some Philippine Commonwealth era coins with it.

 

Just a wild guess but plausible... I'm thinking that one of the 26th cavalrymen left it or dropped it in their haste to move out during the opening days of WW2.

 

The 26th had a troop on detached ceremonial duty in Manila, and based in Nichols Field (Troop F). When war started, they were ordered back to Fort Stotsenburg asap and did a forced march with their horses. I personally knew one of these troopers (who passed away last year). He remembered nodding off to sleep at night on his mount throughout the march. They would have travelled and camped out near this road on the way north. I wonder if this dug up bolo bayonet was from one of the troopers.

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VeeVee- Enjoyed the video very much. Thanks for adding it to the thread. SKIP

 

Glad to contribute!

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