Very Rare British Lee-Enfield P1903 Bayonet, Scabbard, and Frog

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Very Rare British Lee-Enfield P1903 Bayonet, Scabbard, and Frog:
$199.99

This is one of the rarest bayonets for the Lee-Enfield, if not the most difficult of all of them to find. It was originally produced by Wilkinson of London in October of 1897 (and marked as such on the ricasso), but then was re-hilted with an SMLE pommel and catch in 1903 (also over stamped on the ricasso.) The other markings on the reverse of the blade are: \"16\" over \"4\"; \"(crown)\" over \"05\" over \"W\"; \"(broad arrow)\" over \"I\"; and, \"X.\" It is the interim bayonet, between the short P1888 bayonet for the Long Lee Metford/Enfield and the long P1907 bayonet used on the SMLE. Basically, it is an \"upgunned\" P1888 bayonet, but it has a brown, versus black, leather scabbard body. When I acquired it, it came with an \"Emergency Pattern 1914\" frog (with the helve carrier attaching strap intact) and it is very faintly marked \"John Roy*** & Co 1915.\" The scabbard and frog have been together for a long, long time, and I expect that is how it was re-issued during WWI. Everything is in immaculate condition, with no conservation issues whatsoever.
Very regretfully, with the looming proposed directive before the European Parliament which will effectively ban all private ownership of all vintage military weapons-- including deactivated firearms and firing replicas (see EU Directive 91/477/EEC)-- in Europe, as well as other import restrictions imposed by many countries, I will not be able to sell this historically significant bayonet outside of the USA.
As Indiana Jones used to say, \"this belongs in a museum!\"-- but it will have to be an American, and not a British (where it belongs!), museum...