SOLD - $1995 - This is the first true US adopted knife bayonet and was designed by Admiral John Dahlgren as a replacement for the sword pattern bayonets then used on the 1861 Plymouth Rifle. Measuring 16 5/8 inches overall, with a 12 inch asymmetrical clip point blade, marked "USN/D.R/1863" on the right ricasso. Left ricasson does not have the Ames name, may have been worn off. Blade has minor pin pricking.

Very well made, one-piece wood grips, brass hilt (pommel, back-strap, and crossguard); latching mechanism is a push-button/spring-steel arrangement. Crossguard is formed by the muzzle-ring as an upper quillon (with a "cock's comb" style) and the lower quillon is reversed ending in a ball or drum finial. The blade is straight and unfullered, single-edged, with a short false-edge (about 1/3 the length of the blade), ending in a spear-point.

Not a reproduction