Petard grenades

[paul the grenade]

Hi everyone.
Has anyone got any interesting petard grenades?
Heres some pics of the ones i have. Hope you like them.
Cheers, Paul.
Pic 1 French Barbel and wire bound pipe bombs.
pic 2 Various French 3rd Army petards.
Pic 3 German Box petard.
Pic 4 German Cylindrical petard.
Pic 5 German box petard 2.

 

[18pounder]

hello paul nice grenades.
These are called racket grenades by the british are they not or are they totally difrent to the racket?

Also i have heard they are alot of these as fakes,have you come across any and how are they difrent to the original?

Sorry for the many questions- but i like what i see!!

thanks for sharing
regards

 

[paul the grenade]

Heres a few more
Pic 1 Austrian Pipe bombs (Lakos Grenades)
Pic 2 Austrian Box Petard wrapped in barbed wire.
Pic 3 Italian Pipe bomb ( Spezzone grenade) 40cm long.
cheers, paul.

 

[paul the grenade]

hi 18 pounder.
rackets is another name used for these simple grenades.
ive only seen 1 that was obviously a repro. the wood handle was too fresh and the wire binding was a very thin guage and only wrapped around a few times. just enough to hold the pipe on.
if anyone has any pics of repros it would be nice to see them.
paul.

 

[dano1917]

Les Petards Raquette

Great showing of petard grenades Paul, they are among my favorite. I have a real liking for all the artisnal grenades. I really like that Austrian box petard with the barbed wire wrap and all. I've never seen one like that before. The 2 head French petard are not very common either. Again great stuff...Dano

 

[Der_Feldgraue]

Two weeks ago I found the empty fragmentation body of a french 3. army petard raquette in the Argonnen. It is the second one from right on Pauls photo with the ten frag rows.
Will post photos this evening. I think it was a quite rare find and I think about restoring it with wood etc.

 

[Millsman]

I see quite a few of these at the French markets and I think over 90% are fakes these days. I've only got one in my collection, which is a 3rd Army type. I'm happy it's genuine but unless you have been collecting for many years as Paul has, it's not a great time to start collecting this type of grenade.

John

 

[Der_Feldgraue]

Is there any proof, that there are fakes around? All I have seen so far, looked genuine und "old" but I also wonder about the large numbers, which are still around. Is it possible, that there was somewere a larger stock of them, which where not used because of a larger amount of "real" handgrenades which became available?

 

[dano1917]

Hi Jens, I know for a fact they have been reproduced in the states. The 3rd army repros I have seen are good but not great and the place I know that sells them advertises them as reproduction. They are aged but just don't look right...Dano

 

[Der_Feldgraue]

Dano, have you got a link or photos of them?

 

[dano1917]

Hi Jens, I went to thw site (Great War Militaria) and no more pics as they are sold out..Dano

 

[Millsman]

Apparently there is a man on the Somme who has made hundreds these grenades and similar numbers of trench clubs, all of which look pretty good. Normally with the trench clubs they have false makers names, broad arrows and the like. The French grenades are unmarked but have modern gauges of wire binding and less than authentic fuse blocks. - John

 

[Trenchwarfare]

Since we're on the subject of repros. I've always wondered about mine. The first set of pictures are of two purchased off internet. The left, off gunbroker. the right one off ebay, years ago. The left one, looks like a combination of original and replaced components? The right? As per your question Der_Feldgraue, the second set is of two repros, I made myself. Millsman, I have seen, and purchased:tinysmile_angry_t: some of the fake clubs you mentioned. Very convincing. M.P.

 

[Der_Feldgraue]

Thanks for the pictures. I will post photos of my example and the part I've found later.

 

[Millsman]

Since we're on the subject of repros. I've always wondered about mine. The first set of pictures are of two purchased off internet. The left, off gunbroker. the right one off ebay, years ago. The left one, looks like a combination of original and replaced components? The right? As per your question Der_Feldgraue, the second set is of two repros, I made myself. Millsman, I have seen, and purchased:tinysmile_angry_t: some of the fake clubs you mentioned. Very convincing. M.P.

I'm no expert M.P but I have looked at a lot of these grenades at French Military fairs and I'd say the genuine one you have is the one on the right in the first photo. I think the rest are visibly repros. Your own efforts being as good as the French pros! It's always a hard call, especially when buying off the net and many sellers will truly believe they are selling the real thing (but many won't). I'll try and dig out mine and posta photo.

One of my rules of thumb for these is that if it still has the belt hanging hook it's probably a fake.

John

 

[18pounder]

This thread is another example of a seperate ''fakes/repro'' section.

I wonder how many collectors have been ripped off so far?
You wont know something is fake unless you have a genuine example to match it too,and even then..who knows,i mean you have to be a real expert.
If i was making fakes to sell on(and i wouldnt) i would use very old wood and correct wire and probly original iron container.
I dont mind repro's they can be usefull to museums or for something that is rare like rocking horse sh*t and way too expensive.

I bet there are plenty a faker rubbing his mitts together now.
When ever i have made a repro looking thing,ive done it with spelling mistakes,if there is lettering present,or i have written repro on the inside somewhere.
I wouldnt like someone to get done after i'm long and gone.

Thats just it,its the same with any fakers-its all about cash.
They dont care and it angers me because i havent the money to waste so if i ever get something that turns ot to be a modern fake i would be pretty gutted.

There are loads of these racket grenades about,and for something quite rare how come there are all over the place?
I wouldnt touch one really,not unless it was one that i have found in the ground.

Regards
lets spread the word and warn new collectors to beware !:tinysmile_twink_t2:

 

[Millsman]

OK Guys here's my one. I bought this off ebay quite a few years ago from a seller who I know was not a militaria dealer and who told me he had been present when it was dug up somewhere south of Ypres. The handle has rotted away a bit, and I think the wire holding the det block on has been replaced but I'm happy with the rest of it.

Also a spare tube I bought from Siegfried.

Open to opinions on this one.

John

 

[dano1917]

Hi John, For what it's worth it looks great to me as in original as hell...Dano
P.S. nice grenade

 

[Millsman]

Thanks Dano. I forgot to add I bought it for 10. Three weeks before it had been bid up to 39 on ebay with three people bidding but failed to make its reserve. It was relisted and for some reason I was the only bidder next time around. This was about 8 years ago.

John

 

[18pounder]

This is one of the small German petard, pretty obvious it home made (fake) as it is all wood. The small German petard is rar of rare with the only one i've ever seen was the line drawing in the Delhomme book German Grenades of the Great War...Dano

Hello Dano

you may have inspired me to have a go at making one!

doesnt seem that difficult and they seem to differ alot so it should be a piece of cake...hmm but which one??