Japanese Type 97 Grenade Found in Local Dump!

[J.Q.M.D.]

Greetings all,

 

Another collection I put a lot of effort into is antique bottles.  Most of my collection was dug from old local dumps in Indiana and Kentucky.  Well a few weeks ago we were digging at a small community dump dating back to the late 1800s.  My buddy yells "Hey, I think this is a grenade!"  I went over to him and sure enough it was a Japanese Type 97!  It still had the safety cap and pin in place.  I was able to pull off the striker cap and found that the fuse had been completely drilled out and the body was empty.  Well long story short, I traded a couple old bottles for it.  I can only imagine that some veteran's wife found it, freaked out and threw it away!  It now sits proudly displayed next to a Mk.II grenade body that was dug from another local dump.

 

P.S.: the ring on the fuse of the Japanese grenade was found a few feet from it in the same dump.

 

JQMD

[American Graffiti]

Very cool, digging it up is as close to history as it gets.

Great finds,

AG

[manayunkman]

Very cool.

 

Imagine what you could find in a land fill.

[sundance]

Great items. What's on the front of the ring? Were you comfortable removing the striker cap? That sounds a bit dicey. 

[J.Q.M.D.]

27 minutes ago, sundance said:

Great items. What's on the front of the ring? Were you comfortable removing the striker cap? That sounds a bit dicey. 

Thanks!  There is nothing on the front of the ring.  I can see what looks like old silver solder, so it likely had an applied insignia of some type that fell off sometime in it's 80+ year stint in the ground.  I really wasn't nervous about taking off the striker cap.  It sits loose in the top of the fuse, so all I had to do was wiggle it off.  As long as the safety pin is still in place, the striker can not contact the primer. 

[R Michael]

that's crazy! i grew up in Jeff and used to dig the dumps and old outhouses in that are when i was young and i never found anything cool like that. 

 

mike 

[Honestbuilders]

Anybody know what type/era this is from? Found it digging new foundation footings in my building in iowa. Has the letters P.L. Stamped on it. Seems to have a lead plug in the bottom.

[AustinO]

Your grenade is a US WWI MK.I grenade, sorry can't help with the manufacturers marking of PL, it's one I'm not familiar with.  Nice find! 

[Honestbuilders]

Thank you! Sure was a surprise when we hit it with the shovel!

[zk4298militaria]

Construction projects often lead to some of the best militaria finds!