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Early MkII grenade with date stamp


Abomb
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Hello All,

          The grenade body in the photos below was picked up at a recent  estate sale.  Filled  with lead to use as a weight it was dirty, rusty and with plaster clinging to the bottom half. 

    I thought it was an abused and neglected WW2 model I could strip and re-paint. However,  after  removing the plaster bits, most rust and partially drilling out the lead fill this

    grenade has shown itself to be something quite different.

          The form of the grenade appears to be that of a 1930's MKII .   It has a wider base with a    3/8"  filled hole. It has 40 segments with wide grooves that extend to the top without a break.

  The shoulder is more square and flat than rounded.   The grenade body  has a worn base coat of gray paint overall  . The upper part has worn and chipped brown paint extending down the first

two rows of segments. Two vertical rows of segments with the mold lines are both wider  and higher than the others.  One base segment has a faint logo of two triangles attached point-to-point.

 The base plug is lead. It is stamped  FEB 1919 . (the dated plug was a real surprise after removing the layer of plaster  on the bottom.)

        The  gray paint , by itself, indicated an early date, pre-1926. The date stamp confirms that and seems to imply standard features of the later WW2  era MKII were already established by early

 1919 for at least this one maker. Also, one reference in a post on April 7, 2018 (hirsca) in this forum states  that the color  " brown- indicates a low explosive filler- normally a brown band around the item" .

          So,  this grenade will not get re-painted. It will be left as it is.   Much info used here came from inert-ord.net and tgrm.foxed.ca (American Grenades)  as well as  forum postings. (Thanks)     

       Photos :                                                                       

 

        1390315715_mk2grenadebody(Custom).jpg.9bcb03b1d368ea486e6c64dcda2d22ce.jpg    1252890940_Mk2fusehole(Custom).jpg.c59d3f1373c83238ee81d71fbdb18431.jpg   1971102763_MfrMarkDate(Custom).jpg.39252ee90ac370ccd70535eab74f23e6.jpg  863496109_P1130990(Custom).JPG.bdb7e5e05924c72002cc0be35a26e24c.JPG  

 

         As found, before cleanup                                       lead-filled fuze hole                                                      date stamp on lead plug & logo lower left                     after rust and plaster removed.

 

 

          894957499_P1130987(Custom).JPG.92311c17d66468de4b5ca9a60f2849ed.JPG  

 

              Another view

 

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Very interesting piece. I can say it is puzzling as it has a MK 2 body. Late WW1 had fewer segments, different plug end design. I agree you have a late 1930 MK2 with a surplus WW1 era plug. Here is a late WW1 / post WW 1 from my collection.image.jpeg.0a3c8bbfc249873c829d946cfd58f749.jpegimage.jpeg.d6fc83680015c0eba2162c6ce2edd6c3.jpegimage.jpeg.7400bb49af203d5a51b59625add82e09.jpeg

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Persian Gulf Command

Very nice and interesting.  As stated the dated plug is (may be) unique.  It seems that there are enough of us on this Forum, with an interest in grenades, that we are continuously adding to the knowledge of these iconic items of ordnance.

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