KS98's - WHY SO AVAILABLE????

[Vulch]

I have only just got back into collecting WW2 German items after a fairly long hiatus, and after selling nearly all my old collection (well over 100 rifles, and a similar amount of bayonets to go with).

I am amazed as to how many KS98's, in all their variations, and the Fireman's and Police bayonets aand knives are available, especially compared to when I initially collected them!

Why is this? Were bulk amounts recently "found" somewhere? Vets / old soldiers who souvenired them, or in some cases the original wehrmacht owners, deciding to let them go???

Please don't tell me someone is repro'ing garden variety KS98's!!!

This question has probably been asked and answered, but humpour the new-comer please

I have a decent collection of the KS98's ammassed so far - most with original frogs and felt plugs (where true bayonets), but none with portopees.... gotta find a few.

[50_CAL]

I noticed the same thing about the police and fire bayonets as well

[marc brans]

I went to the monthly militaria fair in Antwerp this morning, and although there are "some" K98 available, but much less then some years ago and they got more and more expensive through the years...
Maybe the "bulk" has yet to come to Europe And hopefuly most of it my way
We (my father and I) have several in our collection - luckily for us my grandfather started collecting from the moment the war was over...
@ Vulch: got two bayo's with portepees:

[SCHUPO]

Vulch,

You ask about the availability of KS98. Consider that the KS98 was the private purchase option "dress" bayonet for all enlisted men and NCOs, so there were a lot of them made by quite a few makers. From that standpoint, there would have been more KS98 made than say, Heer Officer daggers. They are fairly common so prices are low for plain jane examples. That is why there are so many around, IMHO.

50 Cal,

You mention that there are also quite a few police and fire bayonets as well. These were both large organizations and there were quite a few policemen and firemen so again they are available and fairly inexpensive. Police bayonets have become more in demand and the prices have more than doubled in the last few years. Fire bayonets are not in as much demand and there are more available on the market. Supply and demand again, I think.

Marc,

You mention that there are fewer nice matching S84/98 bayonets like the two you show. The S84/98 was an item of issue to most soldiers and so there were lots and lots of them made. The supply is still plentiful. The demand for nice matching bayonets by collectors who are grabbing them up by maker, date, branch, etc. is what seems to be driving up the prices for desireable matching S84/98. If you look closely, you will see that is what is also making SOME KS98 and Police bayonets hard to find. While there are still a lot of issue S84/98 out there there are fewer and fewer nice matching ones avilable. I would not hold my breath for a hoard of them coming out of Europe in collectable condition.

George

[AndyB]

Hello Marc, could You send more details about Your nice 98k bayonets to our dbase, thanks ,best regards,Andy
We need maker, date and serial number with series letter.

[Colorado]

Dress bayonets, unless etched are not sought out by any collector's I know and are plentiful and have not gone up in price near as I can figure. Original unit marked double etch are very rare and bring very high dollar. Please tell me where they are, and I will come running. Single etch, will bring less than a 1/3 of a double etch as they are still somewhat common. Plain ones, are tough to give away.

Nice matching combat bayonets are not that available if you see them everywhere, please direct me to them. Look on eBay and see how many are available in nice condition. Maybe one or two at any given time and there is always bidders on them. High prices are bringing them out at shows I know that.

[chuck locke]

Hey, Colorado, I've just started to put together some unetched derss bayos and portapees. Where the heck is this givaway.

[Colorado]

Yes, that was unfair of me to say (perhaps I exagerated to make a point ).

They are very common though. When I first started collecting edged weapons about 6-7 years ago, they seemed real affordable and they still are. The rarity of particular makers or often distributors (to my knowledge) has not translated to price increases that one sees in other edged weapons. To me the interest in the dress bayonets lies in the great looking regimental knots/portepees that come with them many times.

[Billy G]

As far as bayonets go, I only collect fire and police dress bayonets but I would have to agree with George and say that in the last 3 to 4 years, prices on these types of pieces have doubled.

A standard Feuerwehr bayonet, even a scarce or rare maker might have previously gone for $75 to $100. Now we're talking close to $200, sometimes more. While that won't break the bank, look at Schupo police bayonets, particularly ones with matched numbers. I would say were talking pieces previously priced at $300 to $350 now easily going for $550 or more with a lot of the interesting variations drying up and being salted away in collections.

I would say many of the collectors who favor dress bayonets originally did so because of the prohibitive prices of dress daggers. That was one of the reasons I started noticing the finer subtle details of an ordinary fire or police bayonet. But with prices like these, it certainly cuts into a collector's ability to pick up different makers or variations. I can only say that I hope the current trend in the prices of these dress bayonets doesn't continue to rise. They'll be going for dress daggers prices soon enough. What's next, tinnies?

[Luftm40]

People are rediscovering these, along with other overlooked common items, because the price of the more popular stuff is going thru the roof. It used to be at shows and what not, you would walk right by a pile of these because they were so common. As someone said, KS98s have become sort of the poor man's dagger. I love them, and hope they stay affordable

[Vulch]

Well, ALL my S84/98 III are TOTALLY matching (second most recent acquisition was an all matching Mundlos 1940) except ONE. THIS one:



That's a simple one for Andy to add to his database! When I saw the number, I just HAD to have it, and got it, scabbard-less for $75. I got a mismatched scabbard for it for an extra $30. It has not yet arrived here, but should be any day.

My most recent quick buy was a Portuguese M937 (pre-98k Standard Modell type) contract bayonet - E serial block. The M941 (Kar98k) started in the F block.

I have one more KS98 coming (non-false edge deep fuller Solingen), as well as a GENUINE HJ knife. that should round out what I want for a while.

Still searching for a Fireman's scabbard if anyone knows of a spare - using a Portuguese Verguero scabbard for now.

[AndyB]

Hello Vulch, really great piece, could You send more details, its a cvl piece? the letter looks really strange it could be h or f ? best regards,AndyPS. we have only one other "1" piece in dbase,

[Vulch]

Andy,
It's a 1940 WKC (DAMNED fine guess at CVL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...




Pretty sure it is 1 f.

[AndyB]

It could be letter h in sutterlin font, interestingly the other "1" piece in our dbase is the same 1h, but made by E.F.Horster 1940, its very curious? best regards,Andy

[nellyp51]

Mind you there were a few produced.