WWII NAZI GERMAN FIRE POLICE BAYONET BY EICKHORN

Nazi Fire police Drop forged 9 7/8 long bright nickel/silver plated steel blade with wide fuller to each side. Blade is in overall near mint condition. Maker marker to Eickhorn. Hilt consists of nickel/silver plated steel cross guard, eagle head pommel and molded black Bakelite grips with a repeating grooved diamond pattern. Cross guard features one up-swept and one down-swept arm. Diamond grooved Bakelite grips are held in place by two dome headed rivets. Magnetic sheet metal scabbard retains about 85% of its original black finish. Throat retaining screw and frog lug are both intact. Excellent. As with all Polizei agencies in Germany the Feuerschutzpolizei, (Fire Protection Police), came under the auspices of Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chef der Deutschen Polizei im Reichsministerium des Innern, (Chief of the German Police in the National Ministry of the Interior), effective on June 17TH 1936. Newly introduced regulations in July 1936 attempted to bring about uniformity in dress for all Feuerschutzpolizei and also established standardized side arms. The new side arms, official designated, Faschinenmesser, (Machete), were introduced in two lengths with a short model for Officer ranks and a longer model for EM/NCO’s ranks. 2) Wehrmacht dress bayonet with roughly, 9 3/4 long nickel/silver plated drop forged steel construction blade with wide fullers to each side. The blade is still quite clean and bright. The ricasso is well marked with impressed manufactures logo and initials for Karl Eickhorn. The chocolate brown leather washer is still intact. The bayonet has a nickel/silver plated alloy, opened muzzle ring, crossguard with one up-swept arm, a flash guard and a stylized eagle head pommel. The bayonet has diamond grooved, molded black Bakelite grips which are secured to the hilt by two small, dome headed steel rivets. The "TO" slotted, stylized eagle head pommel and stud button are all intact and functional. The bayonet comes complete with its original black painted, sheet metal scabbard that retains about 90% of its original black finish. The dome headed throat retaining screw and frog lug are both intact. During the Third Reich period numerous blade manufacturers produced customized, private purchase versions of the S84/98 and KS98 bayonets for dress wear. The dress bayonets were manufactured with an assortment of minor optional variations with a long model, (9 7/8"), blade for enlisted personnel and a shorter, (7 7/8"), blade for NCO’s and Officer’s. Due to the dress bayonets similarity to the issue bayonets they experienced slow sales and the F. W. Höller firm of Solingen attempted to increase demand by marketing the dress bayonets as the "Pionier", (Engineer), models, although they were available to personnel in all branches of service. It is not known if the marketing strategy was successful in increasing sales but it did result in the dress bayonets commonly being referred to as "Pioniere Extrawaffe".