UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons The BCN Bayonet Forum Is It Carl Henkel Or Karl Henkel?

Those of us who collect dress bayonets have all occasionally seen Feuerwehr bayonets marked by the distributor Carl Henkel, Bielefeld. Henkel was primarily known as a distributor of Feuerwehr ephemera, an equipment general store, if you will. Besides bayonets, Henkel's logo can also be found on period FW helmet liners & FW uniform tunics. Carl Henkel must have turned a decent Reichsmark back in the day as the firm survives to this day.

http://www.carl-henkel.de/

But was it "Carl" Henkel or "Karl" Henkel? I first saw this variation several years ago & nearly fell off the chair. It had a frog with no knot & was priced at something like $300 which at the time was a lot for such an item. I didn't jump on it, kicked it around for a month or two & when I finally committed to buy it, it was gone. Such is collecting, strike while the iron is hot or lose out.

I got a shot to buy one of these sometime last year & didn't realize until I had the piece in hand that it had been sharpened. Sometimes the rarity of the mark will trump condition, at least to me when dealing with variations of fire bayonets. Later on I got the chance to purchase another minty example. 10 years of watching the little details of these pieces & I've only seen 3 of them. But why the different spelling? I'd submit it's the same firm that exists today in Bielefeld, albeit with the name Carl Henkel.

I almost forgot, the newer one came with a nice treat, a distributor marked frog.

The "Carl" Henkel bayonet I have came with a thick leather, 2 rivet frog, unmarked but identical in every other way to the named one. We really don't see marked frogs that often so it's always nice to pick one up, especially if you have the bayonet to go with it.

Billy always finds the unusual. I had never seen the Karl variation until he posted a picture of his. Nice job.

From Cartes book

Carl Henkel, Uniformen-und Lederwarenfabrik, Bielefeld, Herforderstrasse 48. Wartime code kuu. this leatherware maker produced pistol holster, belts, belt frogs amd ammunition pouches as well as acting as a military outifitter, Many walking out bayonets (extra-Seitengewehr) and Fire Department sidearms Were sold during the Third Reich.

Terry,

Thanks for the additional info. Here's Henkel's logo from a fire helmet liner.

Here's a tag from a Henkel tunic, very unusual to see one of these.

cool post Billy!!!
I was talking with Tom Johnson on the subject of hang tags this past winter (more like picking his brain) but it was great exchange,anyway we were on the tag thing and I had ask about if he had ever seen dies related to the metal stamped tags. He said they were farmed out to other firms. Like say Pack didnt make their own tags and so on. I kinda think the same to be true for the stampings on the distributor you show here. farmed out. I would think that The Karl piece would be of a bit more value than the Carl marked one. a variant with in a variant sorta'
again very neat stuff!!
Bret Van Sant

BillyG:

Cool.

John

Thanks for the kind words Guys. It's always nice to find some small tidbit to add interest to an item. I just realized that the frog that came with the Karl Henkel bayonet has the name spelled "Carl". Maybe their initially ordered stamp was misspelled & they decided to use it anyway?