Early Grenade

[mananero]

I spent some time trying to figure out when and where this is from. The only markings is a stamped 3 on the base piece, another near the large opening and one on the handle. Whole thing is made out of brass and wood. Got it with some wwi american and french stuff I just got. Weighs two pounds.

Fyi its inert.

Thanks in advance.

[mananero]

more pics

[mananero]

Last pic

[mananero]

interesting no opinions?

[me6_130]

Maracas?


Carles

[Norman Hamilton]

[me6_130]

Not joking Norman...


Carles

[Lampwick]

Where would the fuse go? Does the round part stamped '3' unscrew?

[me6_130]

Well now, seriously, I don't think it is an early grenade. Grenades have existed for centuries. Since gun powder was discovered, hand explosive devices have been used in many armies as a short distance weapon. Specialised soldiers, Grenadiers, were chosen to use grenades. These early grenades were something like small cannon balls and filled with gun powder, and lit just before thowing them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenadier

Your item could just be anything. Looks like made of brass, together with wood as a filler in the handle. I would say it was produced late 19th century but not sure, and granades by then were different.

Carles

[klarkon]

I think also that it is not a grenade.

[Lampwick]

IF the hole shown in picture 2 is of the ball at the end of the wooden handle AND the handle is hollow all the way through then it could be where the pull fuse (like the potato masher) would be. ergo...a grenade.

[klarkon]

It weighs about 1 kg empty..... . What do you think,how far would you were able to throw it ?

[Andreas Panzer]

ч

what kind of metal?

[klarkon]

Andreas Panzer - I quote mananero : "Whole thing is made out of brass and wood".

[Andreas Panzer]

Andreas Panzer - I quote mananero : "Whole thing is made out of brass and wood".

for the grenade, it's too expensive to do the main parts of brass