This is a picture of an etched KS98 Pack bayonet with an unusual knot variant attached to the frog. The bayonet etch is IMHO a generic Army etch, the knot appears to be for an NCO in the Polizei. The picture was saved from an old auction last year although the name of the company escapes me at this moment. I do know the auction was for the estate of retired Major General Theodore Paulson. Interestingly, this knot (& bayonet) also appear to be the exact items pictured on page 138 of "Tom Johnson's Edged Weapon Accouterments of Germany 1800-1945".

It's condition is not great & the strap definitely shows it's age. The bulb looks typical for the most part with its green & silver bullion cord however thesunusual feature is on the bulb. Instead of having 2 cords of silver followed by 1 green cord, the green cord is gilt.

My presumption is it was for some type of superior rank but it's just a guess. Never seen this combination before & wondered is anyone else had.

I have seen this certain knot 3 or four times up to now. Once I saw it attached to a Feldjäger bayonet. But as this bayonet was played with I am not sure about the role of this knot on this bayonet.
Sorry for the bad pic, there was no better one.
Regards,

Guys,

I think these are simply faded green stripes on the ball. Some dyes were sub-standard during the war and the color did not hold up very well.

The Polizei NCO knot has the green stripes in the ball while the Offizier does not.

Thanks for the thoughts gents, I always appreciate sage opinions.

George, I get what you're saying about the loss of color & general tarnishing as I have seen all facets of the rainbow in terms of color changes. Assuming you're right though, why did the green cords on the bulb change to gold whereas the green cords on the bulb's crown retain their color?

I suspect they came from different spools of cording used during manufacture. Some of these dies were unstable and did fade. A knot from a small cottage industry might have threads/cords that were taken from one spool but a factory would have different work stations performing different tasks. One worker might construct the ball while another might finish the crown, etc.

ORPO, you might be right, as these have been also my first thoughts when I have seen such a knot for the first time. And you are right what you have experiences on different materials. Think of the LW/army portepees which sometimes have tarnished (deep gray or even black) segments in the stem which is only due to different materials and do have no special meaning (although some collectors do believe).
BUT when you can examine such a certain (police)knot you see that the lighter(atraw/gold?)color is quite consequent, no shades on the reverse. So I am not totally convinced concerning the fading theory.
Regards,

Thank you all for the thoughts. I admit that George's theory about color fading &/or changing didn't cross my mind, primarily because not all the green in the knot changed to gold.

I have a significant number of Feuerwehr knots that have tarnished, showing all sorts of color changes. At the very least, it makes for a beautiful group display. Will post one such knot in a new thread shortly.

It is a shame that this knot can't be more closely examined. It was sold in a lot with another etched bayonet for a decent amount of money.