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**EXTREMELY RARE ONE OF ONLY 3,412** WW2 Australian Paratrooper’s (P) Mark 1 Machete Bayonet For No.1 Rifles With ‘Slaz 43’ (Slazenger 1943 Grips) & Scabbard. Sn 20565:1 - 20565:1 On 3rd April 1944 a special Bayonet was approved for Parachutists being intended as a dual purpose Bayonet and Machete, for use with the No. 1 Rifle. Initially it was introduced as the 'P' (Parachutists) Bayonet but when use became more widespread it's nomenclature was changed to Machete Bayonet MK 1. Only 3,412 of these bayonets were made and serial numbers between 3001 and 6412 have been seen (see pages 284-286 of British & Commonwealth Bayonets By Skennerton). The Bayonet was popular with Elite Jungle fighting Troops/ Parachutists until introduction of the MKII variant with composite grip in 1945. This is an excellent, original, example of the extremely rare Australian made MK I Machete Bayonet and has all of the correct features ('43 Slazanger grips, scabbard is correct, The screw heads face the right way and appear untampered with, the blued finish, vs the parkerised finish of some of the repro's is correct, the serial number range, font and font size used to stamp it is correct and shows that it was added before being blued, with regards to the Government broad arrow acceptance stamp - it's really small by comparison to others stamped on other military equipment. This was also applied prior to bluing, on the right of the blade pointing towards the pommel) . It has a distinctive 11 ¼” richly blued heavy Machete style blade (16" overall). The blade is correctly, crisply stamped with a 'War Dept arrow' and no other marking. The cross guard muzzle ring and wood slab grips are undamaged. The wood grips are stamped by the Manufacturer 'SLAZ 43' which is Slazenger 1943. The right side of the pommel is crisply stamped with serial number '4468' which is in the serial number range for MK 1 production. The bayonet is complete with its original webbing and canvas scabbard with copper rivets and sprung steel mouthpiece. The scabbard has integral webbing belt loops and webbing retaining strap with single brass stud fastener. The price for this excellent extremely rare correctly marked Bayonet and Scabbard includes UK delivery. Sn 20565:1 £1,475.00
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