Binoculars

[CheshireRifles]

Hello All GWR members 

maybe you could shed some light on this item. 
 

recently bought these Binoculars the description given ‘  Lumiere of Paris for the War Office ‘ I was told they are ww1 dated. But there isn’t a date stamp ?

also they are very small. Almost like opera glasses. 
 

does anyone know anything more about this ?

or can verify if they are original ?

many thanks 

CR

[MikB]

It looks like a French copy of the British Army Binocular Mk.V of 1902. Fred Watson's book 'Binoculars - Opera Glasses and Field Glasses' says it's not as strongly made as the original

It's a Galilean glass of about 4.5x magnification, and very likely made before WW1, although allegedly still sold as late as 1926 even though the Galilean design had been largely eclipsed by prismatics of the Abbe/Porro/Zeiss pattern. Severe shortages of all types of binoculars early in WW1 caused many Galileans to be brought into service as 'S'pecials - if yours are marked anywhere 'S.n' where n= 3, 4 or 5 they'll have issued under this process - if not, possibly private purchases brought to the front.

[CheshireRifles]

Thanks for the clarity on this. I couldn’t find any information about them.  I thought they were fake or not genuine.   
 

thank you