About Us
The Society of American Bayonet Collectors is dedicated to the study, collecting and preservation of antique and modern bayonets. Our scope of study includes all bayonets, from the earliest plug bayonets to modern assault rifle bayonets and from all nations. This includes related accouterments such as scabbards, frogs, belts, etc.
Membership in the society will open new channels of history and collecting to you. If you know others with similar interests please let them know about us. We firmly believe that SABC membership can be beneficial to all bayonet collectors, and particularly to those interested in American models. Arms researchers and historians should also benefit greatly. Many of our members are already internationally recognized in the arms field for books and articles they have published. The annual meeting of the Society of American Bayonet Collectors
is held every March in Timonium, MD in conjunction with Maryland Arms Collectors "Baltimore" Antique Gun Show
Click here for dates and information about the gun show
Click here for pictures and highlights of a previous SABC meeting.
Man At Arms magazine occasionally honors individuals for their special contributions to arms collecting by award of "The Man At Arms Cup". The February, 1998, issue announced that SABC member Erik Goldstein, author of "The Bayonet in New France" was one of four recipients of this honor.
In 1997 the magazine published a "centerfold" photo of a magnificent 1686 dated English plug bayonet of the Coldstream Guards from Erik's collection, the only time a bayonet has achieved such prominence.
We congratulate Erik on this honor, and appreciate the growing recognition this brings to bayonet collecting.
Erik 's fine work places him in elite company in the arms collecting world. SABC founder, the late Robert M. Reilly, and long time Journal Editor Frank Mallory have also been honored by this prestigious award.
SABC members David Noe & Joe Serbaroli have completed a 225 page softcover book titled, "European Bayonets of the American Civil War, A Guide to the Imported Bayonets of the Civil War, Including American Made Bayonets for Foreign Arms.” It will be published by Andrew Mowbray Inc., and is expected to be released around March of 2013 in advance of the Baltimore Antique Arms Show. This extensive study contains hundreds of photos of sword bayonets and socket bayonets as well as their markings. Countries and states included are England, Austria, Belgium, France, and many German states including Prussia, Saxony, Baden, Saxen-Weimar, Brunswick and others. The book is a result of many years of combined research and study in the field of imported arms. In addition to basic information about the bayonets, it provides background information on the guns, piecing together how they arrived into Union and Confederate ports and ultimately into the hands of the troops. It also attempts to correct a few myths that have become associated with some Civil War arms over the past several decades. Copies will be available from Dave and Joe at the SABC meeting in Baltimore, and they will be pleased to autograph them for our members.