A BUCKET of Old BAYONETS!

[Adam Helmer]

Our small town has 3 or 4 nice antique shops. One shop owner called me up yesterday and asked for my "Technical Services." It seems the shopkeeper came across a milk bucket full of old bayonets. He needed them identified so he could label the pedigree on the handtags. He also asked me to describe individual condition and price, per each.

I told him my appraisal fee and he concurred. Today, I saw the most rusted, neglected, sorry-looking bayonets I ever had the sad duty to observe. I would guess only the bayonets laying in "No Man's Land" of the Great War were more affected by the elements!

Apparently, some old farmer was a veteran and collected this bucket-full of bayonets and kept them in the barn or cow shed his entire life. He is dead and the bayonets are "beyond economic repair" per my examination. RUST was everywhere and the locking gizmos were "frozen" on the rear of the handguards of British, French and American WWI bayonets. When the old farmer changed oil in his tractors, he should have poured that old oil into the bucket of blades. He did not, and the blades look like an old hay rake or plow left outdoors in the elements. Proper care takes little time and makes a BIG difference.

Adam