Numbers of British P.1907 bayonets surviving

[Steve1871]

Seems to be rare to see an actual kitty Kay leather scabbard, I jealous of who got it. No think I will ever be that lucky

[Phil B]

Another FaceBook page find 

 

[JMB1943]

Phil,

They do keep appearing don’t they?

Serial #1099 added to the list.

Regards,

JMB

[Phil B]

JBM 

im on a role , here is another one from the conversation I was involved in.

[JMB1943]

Phil,

You have yet another new serial, #5411.

I had thought that perhaps there were no more to be found!

Regards,

JMB

 

[t.ryan]

Phil B and JMB,

Phil, I am glad you are finding a few new smiling tigers on Facebook.

 I think that I have just about dug as deep as I can into those that are still circulating on the internet after being sold at some time or another. I think that any new numbers we come across will be from ones that come up for sale, are seen at shows or from someone new that comes across this post and has one or knows of one. Time will tell.

Phil, what was the result with the scabbard that came with the smiling tiger bayonet you were waiting on at 24th March.

JMB, I think you are correct in thinking that we have already found most of them; but the search will continue.

I have only came across one new smiling tiger over the past few weeks, #1118 for you to check out and add to the list if ok.

Cheers,

TR

[JMB1943]

Mr Ryan,

I’ll put #1118 close to its stable-mate, #1115; nice example, very clear stampings and no corrosion.

Maybe we are now getting close to the end of the yellow brick road, although it wouldn’t surprise me if this time next year they are still dribbling in at the rate of about one per month.

Thanks again for all of the sightings.

Regards,

JMB

 

[Phil B]

JMB and Ryan 

the search must continue, it is our duty to locate these rare and beautiful Tigers  *** 

as for the scabbard , it turned out to be just a run of the mill English one 

[trajan]

10 hours ago, JMB1943 said:

"Maybe we are now getting close to the end of the yellow brick road, although it wouldn’t surprise me if this time next year they are still dribbling in at the rate of about one per month."

I seem to remember yuo saying something similar a l-o-n-g while back...

Julian

[t.ryan]

After a fair amount of searching through older listings, another stray smiling cat has shown up, #4451 for the list if it checks out ok.

Cheers,

TR

[JMB1943]

Mr TR,

Thanks again for your persistence in digging through old listings, it obviously does pay off.

Another stray, #4451 added to the register.

Trajan,

I did indeed!

Are we looking at a self-fulfilling prophecy here?

Regards,

JMB

[trajan]

On 10/05/2023 at 18:17, JMB1943 said:

... Are we looking at a self-fulfilling prophecy here?...

 

Looks like Hephaestus is mocking us... Or is it simply a case of ex antipodes lux?

Julian

[JMB1943]

Serial #4127 appeared today at auction, and I'll update the Table soon.

Regards,

JMB

[t.ryan]

JMB,

The booklet I recently received from Ian Skennerton containing the article on the smiling tigers, had a couple of new ones in it so I got in touch with Ian telling him what we were doing and to ask if it was ok to use his photo's; and no problem there, thanks to Ian. 

So here are numbers 1#0 which I think may be 130, 3279, 4650, 6801, all from Ian's books, and as far as I can see they have not been recorded yet.

Numbers 1#0 and 4650 had plenty of black paint, both on the grips and the metal scabbard.

Cheers,

TR

 

[Phil B]

On 18/05/2023 at 01:47, JMB1943 said:

Serial #4127 appeared today at auction, and I'll update the Table soon.

Regards,

JMB

Err what auction? JMB You can’t just through that out there and not expect me go into Mear Cat mode. 
you are a tease sir . 
cheers Phil 

[MikeyH]

On 27/04/2023 at 09:45, MikeyH said:

JMB,

A 1907 'smiling tiger'is coming up for auction in the U.K. with apparently the number 2642, No illustration of the number is shown. The auction blurb goes on to say that '2462', 'is 1919 in the Buddhist calendar' (note different no.), so they have possibly transposed the serial number as the date in some way, all very odd..... 

Mike.

 Purely out of interest, this bayonet sold for a reasonable £60 GBP, plus fees.  The condition was not that good, the pre auction estimate was £150 - £200.

Mike.

[JMB1943]

4 hours ago, Phil B said:

Err what auction? JMB You can’t just through that out there and not expect me go into Mear Cat mode. 
you are a tease sir . 
cheers Phil 

Phil,

I could tell you, but then I would have to………..well, you know the rest!

Regards,

JMB

[JMB1943]

Mr TR,

I thought that you had been very quiet for a while, and now you come roaring (pun intended) back!

Thanks for the new ones, and the Table update is due on or about June 1, so watch this space.

Regards,

JMB

[JMB1943]

Updated Table is given below: total = 229!!!

We may hit 250 this year.......

Thanks to the contributors to this thread, you made it possible.

Regards,

JMB

1	1013	2011	3008	4060	5021	6013	7056	8262	9047	32xx
6	1021	2078	3070	4070	5027	6107	7094	8496	9070	5x46
35	1046	2133	3090	4078	5044	6137	7128	8262	9088	608x
67	1048	2177	3155	4116	5066	6212	7143	8089	9091	808x
96	1099	2247	3260	4127	5154	6249	7441	8104	9130	x2x2
107	1115	2278	3279	4150	5171	6279	7594	8181	9185	xx1
130	1118	2280	3290	4335	5221	6285	7600	8349	9229	x070
145	1166	2339	3400	4403	5225	6339	7611	8388	9233	104x
320	1202	2390	3449	4406	5278	6430	7745	8415	9296	x33x
326	1241	2399	3454	4451	5351	6476	7778	8651	9306	x95
330	1306	2411	3572	4496	5391	6485	7860	8712	9338	71x
341	1326	2590	3689	4537	5405	6527	7948	8714	9356	158x
404	1367	2622	3797	4570	5411	6557	7973	8726	9385	16xx
427	1431	2702	3810	4629	5502	6581	7999	8737	9412	X97
456	1482	2715	3815	4632	5531	6630		8751	9413	437x
505	1485	2784	3893	4650	5960	6732		8783	9459	X400
541	1527	2815	3958	4651		6737		8793	9502
544	1758	2833	3992	4654		6750		8833	9737
577	1831	2849		4724		6801			9792
590	1860	2851		4770		6831			9851
625	1889	2925		4779		6847			9903
644	1527			4803					9931
649	1584			4983					9957
711	1635								9968
714	1757								10000
732
788
836
866
941
979
997
32	25	21	18	23	16	21	14	18	25	16 = 229

[t.ryan]

JMB

Well done with the two new lists, they sure are starting to grow. We now have two sets of twin smiling cats, 4650/4651 and 9412/9413.

New numbers have been very quiet of late but I am sure with hunters scattered around the globe, a new litter of numbers is not far away.

Cheers,

TR

[EastSurrey]

I have a 1907 serial no.2237 below the spring catch with a  2 above this serial no.  and R M below.

Michael

[JMB1943]

Michael,

Thanks for taking an interest in this thread.

However, because Patt. 1907 Bayonets were not issued with a serial number, we are using as surrogates the 10,000 Patt 07’s that were sent to Siam (now Thailand) by BSA Co. to accompany a contract for SMLE No 1 Mk III rifles in 1919.

These weapons were delivered to the personal bodyguard of the King, known as the Wild Tiger Corps, and their symbol was a somewhat toothy-looking tiger head which was stamped on the blade near the cross guard; hence colloquially known as the Smiling Tiger. These bayonets were numbered serially from 1 to 10,000 in Siamese numerals.

We are recording these serial numbers as surrogates to try to estimate the numbers of Patt 07’s still in existence, and we welcome you to join the hunt for these big cats! Scroll backwards through the thread to see some photos etc.

Your bayonet does sound very interesting, as not many issued to the Royal Marines have come to light.

Please start a new thread and post your bayonet with some good photos.

Regards,

JMB

Edited 3 June , 2023 by JMB1943

[t.ryan]

JMB,

Smiling Tiger number 5168 just showed up here for sale, there is still the odd one out there on the prowl. Sorry, not the best of photo,s.

Cheers,

TR

[JMB1943]

Mr TR,

Where do you find these????……..Rhetorical question…….

So, now #5168 is the latest, for which many thanks.

Regards,

JMB

 

[t.ryan]

JMB,

I printed out a hard copy of the latest smiling tiger list and done a little more researching and hunting. First up I went back through all those tiger numbers that had already shown there faces on this forum and marked off all the numbers shown against those on the list, found a couple there that had gone astray. I then went back through all the sites that I had searched before and found a few more new ones, the printed list in the hand quickly says yes or no as to whether it is a new number or not. Result, a new litter has been amassed .

First up, a bit of detective work. Back on page 8, I added # 1582, the 2 being to hard to call so at the moment it is in the part # list as 158x. I always thought that the bloke that stamped those numbers must have been standing on his head at the time, as the numbers all leant the wrong way. I noticed yesterday that the muzzle ring was also on the wrong side and realised that this photo had been somehow flipped, so I used a mirror and got a photo the right way up. We now see that it is #2851 which we already have listed but with a different photo. So at this time we will lose number 158x on the part number list. ( first 3 photo's ).

Then the following 9 smiling tiger numbers are not showing on the new list, a mixture of a few strays and some new ones for you to check out and add if appropriate.

#s   392, 1926, 6819, 7626, 8363, 8625, 8732, 9288 and 9372. All clear numbers for a change..

I also noted about 15 advertised smiling tigers that there was no way of knowing what the numbers were, which is a pity.

Cheers,

TR.