GUEST: My father-in-law was in the army in D-Day, Normandy, Saint-Lô. He came home unscathed. Over the years, he eventually divulged where he got them, how he acquired them. He picked them up off of some German soldiers that were disposed of. He passed away, God bless him. And because today is D-Day, and because of my father-in-law's gallant efforts, (chuckles) I decided to bring it up here for the "Roadshow."
APPRAISER: We call these spoils of war. You were not allowed to take personal property, but you could take military implements– guns, swords, knives, uniforms, hats, helmets. And what we find, interestingly, is a lot of these guys who came home from World War II with souvenirs, brought home souvenirs from World War I. What you have here is a bayonet that would not have been anywhere near Normandy or, or World War II battles.
GUEST: Oh, okay.
APPRAISER: This, this is an S98 bayonet. Seitengewehr is the German word. This was the standard issue German bayonet from 1898 to about 1905, when they just eventually kind of realized we need a redesign. So they went with something that is a lot more meaty and, and compact. However, this model continued in use and in limited production up and through World War I. And as you can see by looking at it, it's kind of a very long, spindly thing that would be prone to problems. Typically, the scabbard breaks on them. This one is unusual, though. And when you brought it up, I was getting ready to tell you all about standard $100 98 bayonets. And I pulled that out of the scabbard, and lo and behold, there was a surprise there. The engraving that you see there, the abbreviation at the beginning, stands for "kaiserlich." The Kaiserlich Marine, or the Kaiser's Navy. And that is the second sea battalion. These are naval troops that are serving on land as infantry. They were-- essentially it's the German Marine Corps. In World War I, very famously, they were part of the naval infantry that was organized to be in the north of the line around Ypres in Flanders. They were on the Somme. They were involved in Antwerp, where they drove out the Royal Naval Division. So this is unusual and exciting in terms of a World War I collectible. If you had to pick a German unit, this is the last thing that I expected to see come tumbling out of that scabbard. This one was never issued. The company, WKC, we can see their manufacturer's mark on the ricasso, made this for private purchase. Another clue that tells us that it's not an issue piece is there's nothing up here on the spine. Typically, they'd be marked with a date and then an acceptance mark that would indicate which German state they went to. So this is one that just came right off the line, got custom engraved and given to an individual. Or, more likely, they purchased it for themselves to wear with their walking out dress uniform. On the market today, this would have a retail sales value of $1,200 to $1,500.
GUEST: Very good. That's a pleasure to hear. (chuckles) Yes. Wow. I told myself if I were ever on this show, I was not gonna say "wow" like everybody else does. (chuckling)
