December 10-13, 2024 Firearms & Militaria
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/10/2024
While collectors rarely encounter a New Land Pattern musket in its original configuration, the bayonet produced for this arm is a true rarity, a combination of relatively limited manufacture coupled with the fact that a major portion of those produced were destroyed in the Great Fire at the Tower Armoury in 1841. I have only managed to acquire two NLP bayonets in the course of 30 years of searching, both of which are presented in this sale--this example being the superior in condition of these two, spring-mounted bayonets. The triangular blade is 16 7/8 in. L by 1 1/16 in. W at the bridge and the socket is 2 7/8 in. L; the bayonet's overall length is 20 11/16 in. The only markings that can be discerned on the flat of the blade is the remains of the crown portion of an inspector's stamp. It comes with an equally rare, associated leather scabbard of the early pattern first produced for New Land bayonets, complete with its original brass mounts of throat with frog button, and long chape and is engraved with unit issue markings for the 43rd Regiment of Light Infantry (one of the first two units to be equipped with NLP arms): "43d/A/2".