Jim, Billy G. is a very experienced collector and I very much respect his overall knowledge of dress bayonets. However, I am not sure that we are on the same wavelength as to what �late war� is or not. I know that a very popular book incorporates 1933 - 1945 into its title (I have the book). But I�m afraid that the book has some notable areas where it is wrong.

First, forget 1945. If Solingen military production for the Wehrmacht was shut down at the very beginning of January 1945. Were they making dress bayonets in 1945? I don�t think so. They were trying to figure out how to keep the Allies from invading Germany itself, not making uniform accessories.

If in 1942 Himmler proclaimed that SS honor swords would no longer be made because of material shortages (this includes nickel). Did they make an exception for ordinary soldiers when none was made for the SS? We also see RZM items discontinued. So they made exceptions for ordinary soldiers for off duty dress accouterments and tossed NSDAP requests out the window? What are the odds of that happening??

Looking at the hilt from the coloration to me it looks more like oxidized aluminum instead of zinc. Which can be a little difficult to place. Because there is a problem fixing a date or dates between makers because not everybody did the same thing at the same time. Still, if we put the time roughly at pre 1940 for aluminum I think we might not be too far off.

As mentioned the Germans were chronically short of almost everything at one time or another. And the use of a stag substitute I think is just another variable. With basic economics also being a factor. I don�t assign any particular time value to wood, although it has bearing in military production.

And the frog appears to be (government property) military issue and is probably dated 1941 having steel (?) rivets.

Actual combat operations began in 1939. So if your bayonet was labeled early wartime I would think that is probably fairly close to when it was made. I am open to other interpretations. But from my point of view that is what I think is a more realistic appraisal of the time period when it might have been made.

That said, I think that it would be an interesting example to add to a collection. Regards, FP