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WW1 French ' Grenade Contre fil Barbele'


Achtung Spitfire!

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Here's a nice example of a French 'Grenade Contre fil Barbele'.This is a 1916 version which was larger than its predecessor containing 800g of Chedite. It's smaller brother contained 400g of Chedite

It was basically a sheet metal cylinder with a wooden plug and a stick with a hollowed out centre containing a traction igniter.

Its main use was for blowing up barbed wire.

Pictured next to an M16 stick grenade for scale.

 

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Nice Barbele, I have this on my wish list, along with a P1 grenade, still looking. 

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This one just popped up on a site I  keep my eye on and so I grabbed it. About $180 US. I've also found the smaller version on another site.Same price same kind of condition. Would make a nice pair.You come across P1s over here once in a while.There is a lot of inert ordinance over here in the UK. Thing is when you're a new collector like me you see things all the time that you don't have or didn't know existed. I've only been collecting WW1 grenades about 3 or 4 months. I have 29 with a few hard to find types. Top of my wish list is a Turkish ' Gallipoli' Grenade. They're pretty expensive over here and again you've hot to watch out for fakes.

Edited by Achtung Spitfire!
unfinished
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Grab them while you can, they will only get more scarce as time goes on. 

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  • 5 months later...

I did manage to find the smaller version of this grenade. It is a dug example, but these are getting really hard to find. 

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That's a nice original example 👌Are the larger versions around Stateside?

 

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Honestly, I was not expecting to find this one, as European models are really rare here. But I will keep my eyes open.

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Typically what I see here the most are German M1917 egg grenades, Kugels and French F1 types. Sometimes others become available such as British No. 5's. Rod grenades are really rare here, especially British and French versions.

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You have an extensive collection though so how'd come by them stateside?

Edited by Achtung Spitfire!
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I imagine most of the items found here today are veteran bring backs or done by collectors before the weapons bans started. Some might be left over from training or display boards. I get most of mine through other collectors or vetted collector websites/companies. But still they don't come up often, the US ones are even hard to find. Most WW1 items were reused in WW2 or sold off to colonial interests, so not many are still around. 

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You do have that Shinkle though that's a love bit of kit. 👌 You do have one major dealer in the States who always has European grenades for sale. Can't mention the name of course but you'll probably know who I'm talking about. Top dollar prices though.

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There are several dealer's I know of that sometimes have the European ones, but like  you said, the prices can be quite ridiculous sometimes. I do have quite a bit of vendors that I deal with and they have my want lists, which usually pay off better for me. 

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  • 1 month later...

Found this nice image of the longer Barbele being used at the front.

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  • 4 months later...

Just landed the smaller earlier version. Nice find and nice to have both versions in my collection.

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Very nice A.S. those are quite hard to find in the US, I am still missing the long version. 

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  • 1 year later...

Found another image of this grenade in use by Russian soldiers 

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