German bayonet markings

[donhulme]

Need some help from the experts. Picked up a fairly nice WW II K98 bayonet.
It is marked "41cof and 3709", scabbard is marked "41cul and 3709g". There are eagle/WaA883 stamped everywhere.

I found out that "cof" is Carl Eickhorn Waffenfabrik, Solingen and "cul" was Ernst Pack und Sohne, Solingen.

Question #1- I cannot find the "g" with the serial # on the bayonet, only on the scabbard. Is this still two matched items by the serial # OR does the "g" make them unmatched ?

Question #2 - On the small ball at the tip of the scabbard is a very small eagle/WaA88?, which I assume to be a 3. WaA883 would be a Military Acceptance stamp. Who used this stamp ?

Thanks for any help

Don

[SCHUPO]

Don,

Your scabbard and bayonet are mismatched. They have different makers and the serial numbers are actually thousands apart. The sequential numbering system that each individual maker used started over at 9999 with 0001a suffix, through the entire alphabet then doubled the letters to 0001aa, etc. Sorry, not even a close factory match even though the numbers are the same.

[AndyB]

Hello Don, for first Your piece was mmatched, but it looks like it were reserialed in war, have You new numbers on bayonet or scabbard? Have You any photos of the serial? one part was probably missed or damaged, so it were reserialed in field. Probably the bayonet is with original serial and scabard was reserialed with new serial but old series letter remained.
Question #1- I cannot find the "g" with the serial # on the bayonet, only on the scabbard. Is this still two matched items by the serial # OR does the "g" make them unmatched ?

Question #2 - On the small ball at the tip of the scabbard is a very small eagle/WaA88?, which I assume to be a 3. WaA883 would be a Military Acceptance stamp. Who used this stamp ?

The WaA883 is typical for all firms located to Solingen area in period 1940-42, so probably 12 firms used this marking on 98k bayos, best regards,Andy

[donhulme]

Thanks Schupo and AndyB

I went back over the bayonet and scabbard with a strong light and glass. No crossed out numbers. The only thing I found was the "0" on the bayonet had been struck twice. You can see where it was struck lightly and then another one deeper. Anyway, thanks for the help.

Don