Camo Painted French F1

[ordnance]

Thought I'd share a couple photos of one of my favorite grenades to test out the new format and features.

This French F1 has been in the collection for 30+ years and I always thought the repaint was pretty interesting and well executed. My suspicion was the 4-color camouflage job was probably done after the war like so many of the similarly painted helmets, perhaps on the troop ship home. Just never saw another grenade done like this before.

Rick

 

[paul the grenade]

what a lovely example. someone must have been a bit bored and got the brush out!
Thanks for sharing with us.
Paul.

 

[dano1917]

Agreed, probably painted right after WW1. That was the grenade carried by doughboys befpre MKI's started making it overthere in numbers (with the Billant 1916 automatic fuze) and the paint reminds me of some U.S. Brodie helmets with similar camo which were also repainted right after the war was over. The U.S. allowed no insignia or camo on the helmets during the war....Dano

 

[Grenademan2005]

And why not during the war? Too much free time at trenches. I have never seen something like that, it is lovely.

 

[Darrol]

looks strange . in a good way .question ..what would be the point of camo on a grenade ?.regards Darrol.

 

[Grenademan2005]

To hang out.

 

[Darrol]

To hang out.

I thought that at first but thought that a simple drab colour would have been fine for an object that size .

 

[Jolly Green]

Probably done out of boredom. Like Trench Art.
Looks cool to me. I'd be more than happy to adopt it.

 

[ammocat]

Troops do things when they are bored. We often recover ammo with happy face on them, messages on them, etc. This one is was painted up like a ladybug.

 

[Grenademan2005]

Probably done out of boredom. Like Trench Art.
Looks cool to me. I'd be more than happy to adopt it.

It is not cool....... IT IS TOTALLY COOL!!

 

[Jolly Green]

My most humble apologies for such an understatement.