This knife-style bayonet has a 12 inch (30.5cm) double edged, fullerless blade, that ends in a spear point. The Model 1903 bayonet shares many characteristics with the Model 1888 bayonet, which it replaced. However, the Model 1903 bayonet had a relatively short service life and was replaced itself in 1907 by the sword bayonet that had a much longer 17 inch (43cm) blade. It was the sword bayonet that would go on to see widespread use in the First World War.

Although the manufacture date on the blade of this example is (18)’94, research indicates that many of the early examples of Model 1903 bayonet were commonly made with repurposed Model 1888 bayonet blades. This bayonet, therefore, is probably from an early manufacturing run.

There are, however, two features found on this individual example, that set it apart from other Model 1903 bayonets.

1. While the wood grips on the handle should be held in place by two machined screw bolts, on this example they are fastened with two brass rivets*. This feature might indicate that the bayonet was made, or at least assembled, somewhere other than in Great Britain. Research has uncovered a 1913 variant of the Pattern 1907 bayonet (both of which share a common handle design with the Model 1903) that was manufactured in Afghanistan. That Afghani-made bayonet also features two brass rivets securing the wood grips to its handle. The presence of these brass rivets in our example might be a possible indication that the weapon is of Afghan manufacture (which is where many of the 1903 bayonets were made for the Indian army).
2. The button that releases the bayonet from the mounting lug is on the right side of the handle (as seen when sighting down the barrel with the bayonet fixed). On all other Model 1888, Model 1903, Model 1907, Model 1913, and other contemporary bayonets, the button is on the left side. No reason for this anomaly has yet come to light.

*Further complicating the understanding of this bayonet’s history is that three early marks, or iterations, of the 1888 bayonet also featured, by design, brass rivets-rather than screw bolts-to attach the wood grips to the handles.