Original German WWII Dresden Metropolitan Police Long Dress Bayonet by P.D. Lüneschloss with Scabbard & Frog - Matching Unit Marks

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an excellent Matching Unit Marked Dresden Metropolitan Police Long Dress "Walking Out" Bayonet by P.D. Lüneschloss of Solingen. It comes complete with its original nickel fitted black leather scabbard, which is held in a lovely black leather frog.

The handle of the bayonet is lovely nickel plated brass alloy, featuring a very nice decorated "Birds Head" pommel with a bayonet slot and functional lock, and an upswept cross guard decorated with oak leaves. The grip scales are made of beautiful stag horn with an aluminum police insignia firmly attached on one side. These are held with solid aluminum rivets and show no wiggle at all. Both cross guard and eagle’s head are in very good condition, with most of the original nickel plating still intact, showing wear and light oxidation where the plating has worn away on the ends of the pommel and guard. The grip scales look to have been cleaned and lacquered at some point to protect them.

As with most police bayonets, there is a unit marking on the reverse guard of the bayonet:

S. D. II. 503.

This would probably indicate issue to the Schutzpolizei (Protection Police) of the Dresden Metropolitan Area, Second District, Officer 503. The same marking is stamped into the back of the throat of the scabbard, so this is an original matched set.

The bayonet has a lovely approximately 33 cm (12.75 inches) long nickel plated steel blade, which was forged "cut-down" style, with the fuller running to the tip. Blade is nice and bright, of excellent quality, and still has over 95% of the original nickel plating, with just a few small dents and small areas where the plating is a bit marred. There is no wear through near the tip or on the edges due to runner wear, definitely a rarity!

The reverse ricasso is stamped with the P.D. Lüneschloss simplified address:

P. D. LÜNESCHLOSS
SOLINGEN

This well-known company was founded in 1810 by Peter Daniel Lüneschloss, and produced numerous edged weapons, both for domestic and foreign contracts. They manufactured many private purchase officer's swords and blades for the U.S. Civil war. This marking was particularly used during the Third Reich period on walking out bayonets, per J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.

The scabbard is made of fine black leather, fitted with heavily nickel plated brass alloy, and is in very good service used condition. The leather does show age and some degradation of the finish, but there is no major loss, and it really looks great. The fittings have a lovely polished patina, with some small areas of wear through to the base material. The fittings show some plating loss and wear, but still present very nicely. The black patent leather frog is the black patent leather dress type with steel reinforcement rivets. The stitching looks to be all intact, however there is some degradation to the leather, with cracking at the end of the belt loop. The black finish has cracked and degraded over the years, which is very common.

This is a wonderful unit marked early war Dresden metropolitan police bayonet by P.D. Lüneschloss with some great research potential! Complete with scabbard and frog, this bayonet is ready to research and display!

Specifications:
Blade Length: 13"
Blade Style: Single Edged with Fuller
Overall length: 17 3/4”
Crossguard: 2 1/4”
Scabbard Length: 15 3/8”