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NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman

NOW SOLD An Incredibly Rare And Famously Desireable to Collectors, The Original Lee Metford, British Bayonet, 3 Rivet, Mk 1, 1st Type. The 1st Pattern, P1888 Metford Bayonet used at Omdurman

This is an incredibly interesting very rare first pattern first type M1888 Lee Metford Rifle bayonet. Very few of these were made, in fact less than 5% of production of the Metford bayonet was the 3 rivet 1st pattern type 1, before the Mk1 Type II was introduced.
The reason for the rapid design change was that the positioning of the three rivets resulted in the grip scales splitting in field conditions so the Mk1, type II was introduced with only two rivets. This super bayonet has many inspection stamps and dates throughout.
We bought the entire small collection from the widow of a 'Best of British Empire Rifles and Bayonets, Both British and German' collector, who acquired them over the past 40 years, and only ever kept the very best he could afford to keep. Act fast they are selling really fast, three rifles and six bayonets and a cutlass have sold today alone. Top quality and condition,19th and 20th century scarce British and German collectables are always the most desirable of all.

They were used at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan

Battle of Omdurman:
The British troops wore the new khaki field uniforms with the characteristic pith helmet. The two Highland regiments wore the kilt. The British infantry regiments were armed with the Lee-Metford bolt action magazine rifle. Each battalion had a Maxim gun detachment.

The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief (sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the Mahdist State, led by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. The battle took place on 2 September 1898, at Kerreri, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman.

Following the establishment of the Mahdist State in Sudan, and the subsequent threat to the regional status quo and to British-occupied Egypt, the British government decided to send an expeditionary force with the task of overthrowing the Khalifa. The commander of the force, Sir Herbert Kitchener, was also seeking revenge for the death of General Gordon, who had been killed when a Mahdist army captured Khartoum thirteen years earlier.3 On the morning of 2 September, some 35,000–50,000 Sudanese tribesmen under Abdullah attacked the British lines in a disastrous series of charges; later that morning the 21st Lancers charged and defeated another force that appeared on the British right flank. Among those present was 23-year-old soldier and reporter Winston Churchill as well as a young Captain Douglas Haig.4

The victory of the British–Egyptian force was a demonstration of the superiority of a highly disciplined army equipped with modern rifles, machine guns, and artillery over a force twice its size armed with older weapons, and marked the success of British efforts to reconquer Sudan. Following the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat a year later, the remaining Mahdist forces were defeated and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was established.

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