Original German WWII Police Long Dress Bayonet by Alexander Coppel with Unit Marking

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very nice Unit Marked Police Long Dress "Walking Out" Bayonet by Alexander Coppel of Solingen. At some time during the past the original scabbard was lost, along with any accessories that might have been attached.

The handle of the bayonet is lovely nickel plated brass alloy, featuring a very nice decorated "Birds Head" pommel without a bayonet slot, 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 in place aluminum rivets, which are dressed on the opposite side. Both cross guard and eagle’s head are in very good condition, with most of the original nickel plating still intact, showing some wear through on the bottom edge and end of the scrossguard.

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

L. Lg. 115.

We have unfortunately not been able to find any information about what type of unit this is.

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, though it does show signs of polishing to remove oxidation, which has resulted on a good amount of the nickel plating on the area near the edge. We would say it probably has about 60% of the original plating still present. The leather buffer washer is unfortunately not present.

The blade ricasso is maker marked ALEXANDER COPPEL / SOLINGEN in arcs surrounding the firms trademark scales logo, with the firm's initials ACS interspersed. The same trademark scale logo, only larger, is present on the other side of the blade. This type of trademark was used on Police and other dress bayonets during the Weimar republic and up into the beginning of the NSDAP era, up until around 1940, per J. Anthony Carter's work GERMAN KNIFE AND SWORD MAKERS.

Alexander Coppel & Co. KG, Stahlwarenfabrik, was located in Solingen, the legendary German "City of Blades." The company was a major manufacturer of edged weapons and tools from the end of the 19th century up until the WWII period. Unfortunately, as NSDAP-control increased, brothers Carl Gustav and Dr. Alexander Coppel, the Jewish owners of the firm, were forced out. In 1936 the firm had been "Aryanized", and started using the name ALCOSO to hide the Jewish family name. By the end of 1936 the brothers were ejected from their Solingen offices, and by 1940 the brand trademark initials ACS were changed to AWS to reflect the change in ownership and name: Alexander Coppel Solingen to Alcoso-Werk Solingen. Carl Gustav Coppel committed suicide in Solingen in 1941, and Dr. Alexander Coppel was arrested in 1942 and sent to Theresienstadt Prison camp, where he died August 5th 1942.

This is a very nice police bayonet, ready to research and display!

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