American Revolution
c. 1775-83 Revolutionary War Era Naval Hand Grenade
c. 1775-83 Revolutionary War Era, Naval Use Hand Grenade, Heavy Cast Iron Ball with its Rare Wax Plugged hole, Choice Very Fine.
Revolutionary War Hand Grenades are small hollow iron balls with a small fill and lighting hole, typically bout 2.5" x 3" in diameter up to 4" and were to be filled with gunpowder. The grenade's fuse was lighted and thrown by hand. This grenade is a larger size, about 3 inches in diameter, and weighs about 4.25 lbs. The fuse hole is about .75" with the early wax plug still intact. Likely Naval use, this larger size to be tossed from a height to an enemy ship's deck. It was crudely cast in a two part sand mold, and has a noticeable mold line around its edge with "35" stamped into each half. Revolutionary War Hand Grenades are very difficult to locate. These types of grenades were used in Naval battles; mostly for defense during an attack. To see another example, see page 9 number 3 in the "COLLECTOR'S ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION" (the example next to far left hand side on bottom row). Very few hand grenades were made during the Revolutionary War, and those used are only found in fragments since they exploded like mortar shells. The last examples of this historic militaria were sold as lot 260 in our EAHA, Auction of June 10, 2006 where a similarly graded specimen sold for $601 and in March 23, 2019 EAHA lot 40 sold for $1,080. A very scarce unused condition example with its original natural patina, excellent for display.