[skinsfan]

picked this up recently with a 42dated rfi mk11*-it just feels cheaply made compared to other uk made scabbards,altough i don't have any for this particular blade-no markings at all and the leather and metal feel thinner than other scabbards i've handled-thanks all-scott

 

[JollyGreenSlugg]

Looks like it could be a copy. There are Indian-made copies of P1907 bayonets available (from IMA) and these come with scabbards.

The one in your pictures looks like a copy to me, as the finish on the metal is has a thin and overly glossy look about it, which looks unlike the finish on correct scabbards (even those painted gloss black).The texture of the leather is wrong too, as it looks like there is a surface to the leather which is out of place.

To me, the fact that there is crazing of the leather where it is joins the metal looks like a poor surface which has crazed recently, rather than sixty years of wear. I reckon if you twisted the scabbard, it would craze and more surface cracks would appear in the leather.

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Vaarok]

I think it looks like an Indian scabbard, both in the shiny-cheap metal finish, and the brittle leather. Not sure it's fake, but it's not high-quality British production.

 

[skinsfan]

yeah,i was hoping at least legit indian,i guess they didn't do any markings then???

 

[Vaarok]

Not that I could tell. I just got out my GRI Enfield bayonet and scabbard, and it looks like a dead ringer for yours, except mine's a greenish color, not a reddish color. Same shine to the metal, same varnishy texture to the leather.

 

[skinsfan]

any markings on yours at all????

 

[Calgacus]

The leather does indeed have the look of many other Indian-made objects. There is a Kipling story of a conversation between the notorious mugger (which then meant a crocodile) of an Indian ford, a jackal and an adjutant crane, at which the scavenging business naturally comes up. They agree that the English don't dress their leather properly, so it interferes with the digestion. An SMLE bayonet scabbard ought to be more indigestible.

At the same time, not all WW2-dated Indian bayonets are copies. They did make them at Ishapore.