Original British WWI 1917-dated SMLE Wire Cutter No.I MkII by Decimals Ltd Original Items

Original Item. Only One Available. These are fantastically rare! Company director Christian Cranmer has only ever handled two previously, the first at The London Gun Show in 1990, and its price then was near to $3,000! Since then we purchased one of our own, which we have since sold, however these earlier TWO examples were both Marked No.1 MK III. This example is clearly marked No.1 MK II, although we can see no obvious difference between the two marks.

No doubt these were produced in some quantity originally but for whatever reason very few appear to have survived. This style of wire cutter is designed to attach to the muzzle end of a Short Magazine Lee Enfield Rifle, the S.M.L.E., by way of an integral clamp, on the right side. The two wide “jaws” stand vertically to guide the barbed into the cutting edges. Once engaged, the Infantryman lowers the muzzle to the ground automatically closing the cutters and severing the wire. Quick and ingenious, this must have been of great service in WW1’s Trench Warfare.

Marked on both sides:

DECIMALS LTD.
SELLY OAK
No.I MARK II
1917

Selly Oak is a suburb of Birmingham in England’s Industrial Midlands. Decimals Ltd. was an engineering firm that was contracted to make wire cutters and phosphorous grenades during the Great War.

Incredibly scarce, these are the first of this version that we have ever owned. They appear to be fully functional, but we have not tested them for their ability to cut wire.

NOTE: SMLE Rifle and P-1907 Bayonet are shown for illustrative purposes only, and are not included with the wire cutters.