Hello all!
If this is the wrong area of the forum to post this then I sincerely apologize!
If not, could you fine gentlemen (and ladies?) tell me what exactly I have on my hands here?
My family owns a recycling facility and militaria comes in all the time. Luckily, I can use it to build my collection/ share with my high school history students (I work for my parents during the summer and work as a 7-12grade history teacher during the school year).
An elderly couple came into our facility yesterday to dump some random/ worthless objects that they were not able to sell after holding a yard sale. They came up to the office to pay when they saw a sign I posted about wanting helmets and militaria and we had a conversation about how I'm a history teacher and I love to share these historical objects with my class.
The couple told me that they had the poster and bayonet up for sale at the yard sale, but they hadn't sold. They had them in their car, and luckily they decided not to dump them. They decided to give me the bayonet and poster.
The man told me that during WW2 he was in the Boy Scouts. His troop went on a "mission to hunt for scrap metal for the war effort" and he found the bayonet. He thinks a WW1 vet gave it to him to melt down for the war effort because the vet didn't have the heart to hold onto a "Hun bayonet while our boys are over there fighting the Nazis." He said he thought the bayonet was neat and decided to hold onto it instead of turning it in to be melted down. The man said the bayonet had been sitting in the crawl space under the stairs in his family's house ever since.
The woman said she won the poster in a school spelling-bee. She said she was so excited to win the poster because at the time, she thought FDR was the only president EVER!
I loved the stories behind these two finds! I felt so happy and honored about them giving my the bayonet and poster, that I offered to pay for their dump fee... I told them it was the least I could do. The dump fee ended up being exactly $11 and they were thrilled.
The bayonet has some rust, but I think it really is in awesome shape considering it's almost 100yrs old. The wood panels on the grip are especially in awesome condition. The button on the rear of the grip even works just like new!
My eyes literally popped out of my skull when I pulled the bayonet out of the scabbard and saw the saw-back. I have heard so many stories about these things being rare and that German soldiers were executed on the spot if they were captured with these barbaric weapons! Are these rumors true?
SO! What exactly do I have here? How rare is this bayonet and what is it's value?
I don't think I can share this one with my high school students!
Thanks for taking a look!
If this is the wrong area of the forum to post this then I sincerely apologize!
If not, could you fine gentlemen (and ladies?) tell me what exactly I have on my hands here?
My family owns a recycling facility and militaria comes in all the time. Luckily, I can use it to build my collection/ share with my high school history students (I work for my parents during the summer and work as a 7-12grade history teacher during the school year).
An elderly couple came into our facility yesterday to dump some random/ worthless objects that they were not able to sell after holding a yard sale. They came up to the office to pay when they saw a sign I posted about wanting helmets and militaria and we had a conversation about how I'm a history teacher and I love to share these historical objects with my class.
The couple told me that they had the poster and bayonet up for sale at the yard sale, but they hadn't sold. They had them in their car, and luckily they decided not to dump them. They decided to give me the bayonet and poster.
The man told me that during WW2 he was in the Boy Scouts. His troop went on a "mission to hunt for scrap metal for the war effort" and he found the bayonet. He thinks a WW1 vet gave it to him to melt down for the war effort because the vet didn't have the heart to hold onto a "Hun bayonet while our boys are over there fighting the Nazis." He said he thought the bayonet was neat and decided to hold onto it instead of turning it in to be melted down. The man said the bayonet had been sitting in the crawl space under the stairs in his family's house ever since.
The woman said she won the poster in a school spelling-bee. She said she was so excited to win the poster because at the time, she thought FDR was the only president EVER!
I loved the stories behind these two finds! I felt so happy and honored about them giving my the bayonet and poster, that I offered to pay for their dump fee... I told them it was the least I could do. The dump fee ended up being exactly $11 and they were thrilled.
The bayonet has some rust, but I think it really is in awesome shape considering it's almost 100yrs old. The wood panels on the grip are especially in awesome condition. The button on the rear of the grip even works just like new!
My eyes literally popped out of my skull when I pulled the bayonet out of the scabbard and saw the saw-back. I have heard so many stories about these things being rare and that German soldiers were executed on the spot if they were captured with these barbaric weapons! Are these rumors true?
SO! What exactly do I have here? How rare is this bayonet and what is it's value?
I don't think I can share this one with my high school students!
Thanks for taking a look!
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