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No question from the photos it is a bona-fide Phrobis XM9. My understanding is when Phrobis produced this bayonet for the 1986 trials, they had to deliver 55 examples to the U.S. Army (as did the other contenders). Phrobis made slightly more than that, but no one knows the exact number. The additional bayonets were likely produced as replacements for damaged/lost bayonets, metallurgical testing, etc. It appears each bayonet actually submitted for the trials had a serial number painted and/or scribed onto both bayonet & scabbard. This was probably done to keep track of the bayonets and identify a specific bayonet/scabbard which may have suffered a fault or failure during the trials process. Those without such a number were the remaining spares. My XM9 is such a bayonet as may be the one you pictured.
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