A scarce No.4 Mk III British WW2 spike bayonet complete with a rare Mk III scabbard.
The No.4 Mk III bayonet was produced by Joseph Lucas Ltd. of Birmingham between 1944 and 1945. Lucas produced 196,200 Mk III bayonets during this period. The bayonet was declared obsolete in 1946.
The 203mm spiked rod/blade is in excellent condition and the socket retains over 90% of its original finish. The top of the socket is stamped with the Lucas maker’s mark, M/158 and a War Department arrow. The rod is stamped with the code S7 for Auto Engineering ltd. Croydon who produced only 30,000 rods.
The bayonet is complete with a rare Mk III (type) parallel sided plastic scabbard with tear drop frog stud. This scabbard does not conform to the official Mk III pattern (that was never produced) and has no formal entry in the list of changes. Ian Skennerton in his book “British and Commonwealth Bayonets,” suggests that these scabbards were produced in North America (USA or Canada) but this is not confirmed and production numbers of these Mk III experimental scabbards are not available. It is thought that around 100,000 were made.
