Excellent and fascinating examples Wayne!
While of course spending most focus on historical swords and edged weapons of earlier times, these examples, though often deemed somewhat scornfully by many collectors of antique arms as 'militaria' have their own intrinsic value historically.
When I first began collecting as a young boy, I went into war surplus stores, WWII had been over barely a decade, and old military gear provided us with the camping equipment we used. There were old bayonets literally in barrels, and could be bought for 'loose change'......my exact 'budget'.
As I bought these, I became curious on the differences between the various forms, and nationalities etc. ........this was the root of my obsession with the study of edged weapons as I sought any references to identify them over the years.
I remember many years later, the late RDC Evans was writing articles solely on bayonets in an arms magazine, and I read this in amazement as he descriptively placed wonderful perspective on these common and ubiquitous arms. He became a good friend and remarkably, showed that a great deal of key information that pertained to markings etc. applied to swords, bringing new dimension to my appreciation of the larger scope of arms study.
I am not particularly drawn to guns, however I cannot describe the numbers of times I have found the clues and answers to questions regarding edged weapons in firearms references.
The Spanish American war was an intriguing conflict which provided the circumstances which brought resolution to many mysteries in the study of Spanish colonial edged weapons, with those of Cuba and connected as far as the Philippines. As Fernando notes, these factories were producing edged weapons for military forces, and often bayonets and 'machetes' fell into close association as the utilitarian function was typically most required.
No stone left unturned in serious arms study
