I’m no expert on militaria, but I spent yesterday evening doing a little research online and I’m having trouble finding an exact match. I may not be looking in the right places. At first glance, they appear to be the Mk V pattern manufactured for military use by a few different British and French companies during WWI. According to my COW research, Indy’s have been identified as Colmonts, and mine are LeMaire. Both manufacturers share quite a few similarities, however. It’s my understanding that any binoculars issued would have a stamp or engravement on the inner barrel and can be seen only when the binos are extended. As you can see, I have no such identifying marks on either side of my inner barrels.
I am also missing the loop on either side for the neck strap, although judging from the screengrabs Indy’s do not appear to have those loops either, as his pair appears to have a strap affixed to the bridge, between the eye pieces. Mine measure 4.75” at the widest point, 6” long when closed/not extended, with a 2.25” dia. lens housing (large lens). Using Ford’s three fingers as an approximate gauge in the screengrab below, mine appear to be the correct size. Three of my fingers fit in the grip section.
There is a combination of two features that are making it difficult to find an exact match online. One is the bell shape of the eyepiece casing, and the other is the shape at the bottom of the center post (each circled below). I can find examples with the bell shape eyepiece casing, but they all have a solid center post from top to bottom. Conversely, I can find a similar shape on the center post, but they all have a simplified shape to the eyepiece casing and do not have that extra “layer” that makes mine more of a bell shape.
Furthermore, most of the examples I can find with that bell shape (Both Colmonts and LeMaire) were manufactured in the late 19th century. So I’m increasingly convinced that my pair actually predate WW1 and are not military field glasses. Many of the pairs I can find with a similar shape and size are actually nautical or yachting binoculars.
I’m not trying to prove SA here, as there are noticeable differences between mine and Indy’s (although a few of the similarities are intriguing). I’m more interested in positively identifying the pair I have. I know we have more than a few military buffs in our membership, and I’m hoping they can steer me in the right direction before this becomes yet another obsession of mine. I have more pics from various angles, if that helps. I’m prepared for the replies to be something along the lines of “There are a million combinations of these features from any given manufacturer, and you may never find an exact match.”, but I figured it was worth a shot. Any insight would be appreciated.
