Buster Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 I got this yesterday,as can be seen its dress bayonet manufactured by Eickhorn, the paint has been removed from the scabbard , would this be permitted during the third reich period? & it also a little buckle & strap fitted to the frog , this looks to have been done a very long time ago ( clearly not a professional job) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 Parade frogs never have a strap, this has been added by someone. The frog is also not a parade frog, but a normal field issue frog. Frogs for the parade bayonet were always of lacquered leather, and are usually now in an appalling condition today, as the surface cracks and the whole leather hardens to brittle. Scabbards for parade bayonets were always with that special black lacquer finish, here two examples. When I was collecting 50 years ago, they were mostly as good as new, these two I got about 10 years ago, in even worse condition. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buster Posted August 16, 2019 Author Share Posted August 16, 2019 Yes Fritz, I was sure it was the wrong frog as you said they are usual in a terrible state, I know also that the strap shouldn't be there but looks very old, I was going to remove it but when it arrives in the post i just couldn't mess with it,I just gave it a thin coat of renaissance wax to preserved the bare steel from rust & leather from cracking any further. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz Posted August 16, 2019 Share Posted August 16, 2019 The removal of paintwork would certainly not have been approved or tolerated. Uniformity was of utmost importance and all items were regularly inspected, everybody could not do as they wanted. Wilfull damage of army property was punishable, as in any army. Many of these items were undoubtedly private purchase, but they had to be approved or rejected, and that would be a clear waste of money. The strap looks as though it has been applied a long time ago. Usually, when the original weak leather straps gave way, they were simply removed. Many frogs had no straps, and earlier bayonets never had them. Here, two orginal field issue frogs, early manufacture with aluminium fittings. Later these were of grey finished iron. Another example of the parade frog of patent leather, this one has black rivets, many were not rivetted. This also has the usual age problems of patent leather . Same issue with the patent leather parade belts, many of them nowadays are not even suitable for display, they still cost at least 100 Euros a piece. There used to be a good commercial black patent leather dressing available in most shoe shops, but this has been discontinued, it was the only ideal restorer of this type of leather. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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