Blog

Time Flies!

Posted: 05/07/18 (11:04am)

As usual, I am beginning my blog by stating the obvious. I has been ages since I last blogged. No excuses, and no apologies either - I have a busy life - as we all do. Anyway, a regular customer and friend has pointed out to me that he has been patiently waiting for a new blog. The snows of winter covered the land when last I put finger to keyboard.

A great deal has happened over the last few months. I have moved into a new, larger workshop and have projects and commissions lined up to keep me busy for quite some time. I am also - as always rushing around the country from auction to auction looking for interesting and rare stock. I've picked up some lovely pieces recently, including a unit marked first pattern British P1907 hooked quillon bayonet, a World War II British No.4 Mk1 cruciform spike bayonet (sold already), A beautiful Lancaster and numerous others, all of which are either on or will be added to the website over the coming weeks.

Probably my rarest purchase is also one of the lesser known and collected bayonets. It is an incredibly rare Heavy Dragoon Carbine bayonet dating to the 1770's.
I have to be honest and admit that I did not know this at the time. In fact I thought it was an early Brown Bess musket bayonet dating to the same period.
I have done some research and am now quite sure that it is indeed a 1770 pattern Heavy Dragoon Carbine bayonet; and an early one at that. The later bayonets of this pattern had a longer blade.

For anyone who doesn't know, Bygone Blades has a Facebook page and I update it twice weekly with new stock. Just like and follow the Bygone Blades page and you will get the updates. I limit myself to updating the page twice each week so as not to bombard people with unnecessary posts - we all know how annoying that can be! From time to time, the Bygone Blades page also has free give away competitions. The last prize was a rare Swiss 1916 bayonet in mint condition, delivered free to the lucky winner.