Articles of the Gazette

An unusual argie M1891 scabbard ! (Gazette 16 - Article 5)

The bayonet shown in the illustrations is an ordinary Argentinian Model 1891 bayonet with aluminium grips. It is marked ‘WEYERSBERG KIRSCHBAUM & Co. SOLINGEN’ on the reverse blade ricasso while the obverse ricasso is stamped with the national crest of Argentina, the words ‘MODELO ARGENTINO 1891’, and a serial number ‘S 5329’. It carries the usual Argentinian inspectors’ proof and view marks, together with the letters ‘RA’ in a Circle on the pommel obverse, the initials of República Argentina . The first contract for M.1891 bayonets was placed with W.K.C. by the Argentines on 8th January 1892. The first batches of bayonets had brass grips and 40,000 of these were manufactured with A to D serial numbers. The remainder (190,400 with E to W serial numbers) were supplied by the German company from 1893 to 1901 and had aluminium grips, which made the bayonets lighter in weight than the brass gripped version.