1758 Seven Years War Hand Grenades

[MosbyRanger]

I agree with jgawne. I am totally jealous!!!! :bawl Please keep posting Battlefield. As an avid fan of anything historical and historic military actions I thou roughly enjoy your posts. Relics aside, I like studying military tactics and how technology, throughout the history of weapons, has changed those tactics. Keep on Digging!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Battlefield 1866]

Keep looking then, I will put a post or two dealing with all of the wars/battlefields I have done some detecting or have relics from.

And, thanks for the feedback, that lets me know the information is of interest, also ask any questions. That will keep me on my toes digging out the answers.

I guess a little feedback on what is of greatest interest would be helpful. For example medieval warfare, Napoleonic, 19th century, artillery related, bullet related, buttons and so on. Although I am not a big fan of WW I and WW II I do encounter that sort of thing quit often and can add posts about it too.

I am just an all round military history buff and like it all, so it is hard to decide what subject to talk about!

Brad

[emike123]

Some of those 2.5" iron ball grenades do end up getting passed off over here as American Civil War for big bucks. There is one shown on page 500 of Dickey & George (1993 edition) and so folks are eager to get one of them. Looks like the fuse hole is smaller on yours.

As for what is of interest, for me personally it would be European found relics which are close to our own Civil War and thus shed light on the evolution of guns and projectiles used in the ACW (both small and large). Also, WWII finds are super cool, more for the recency of the conflict than anything else.

Mike

[Battlefield 1866]

I would consider any US found 2.5 inch grenade an extreme rarity! So, thus extreme caution is in order when considering purchasing one.

In fact, they are somewhat of a rarity here as well, they are not found in "heaps". I have been detecting here for about 16 years and have NEVER found one. Hopefully one day I do. All that I have in my collection, I bought. But.......there are places where they are a common find, either they are two far away, or I have not had the opportunity to go there yet, or, just simply do not know the exact find location. I did detect one area in Italy where I found more grenade fragments than I could carry, also found a French Revolution site here in Germany that had many grenade fragments. Most come from siege locations, a lot of which are a ruin or fortification of some sort and considered a historical or cultural site. Therefore, metal detecting is not allowed. So, ....you know the rest of the story.

Anyway, CW grenades....I would be VERY cautious, same with Rev. War grenades. As far as size, fuse hole diameter etc. I have several and have had many others and there are no real standards there. Each is different in it's own way except those found together in a particular locations.

More on Medieval grenades later.....

Brad

[jgawne]

we in the states have it easy. I sometimes buy odd lots of 'junk' from diggers in Europe just to look at the weird stuff. In the US you can date it from a pretty recent time, but in Europe it could be many different time periods.

Is it 1850? is it Celtic, roman, or what?

One thing I find interesting is that a few years ago in my heavy Roman Phase I was buying a lot of Roman relics. I recently started looking at them again and lo and behold suddenly there are lots of 'iron' fire starters for sale that I had never seen being sold a few years back.

Odd how a very ferrous item that one does not see, suddenly turns up in great quantity.

[Battlefield 1866]

Well, I know what you mean. As far as the fire starters go, I do find them fairly often here. By no means every time I go out, but I guess I have found about 50 or so over the last 16 years.

Most of this dug iron you see on ebay or in the collectors market is from eastern Europe. For the most part I do not doubt the authenticity since it should be pretty hard to create the same "iron patina - oxidation" as the stuff you did.

I will take a picture later of a huge pile of arrowheads, in my days detecting I have never found that many. So, you might ask...how is that.

In eastern Europe there are many unemployed......if you want to use the word "Mafia" I guess that will explain it. Anyway, they put them to work with detectors. Finds are eventually consolidated and seperated, quality stuff finding its way to auctions like Sotheby's etc. Arrowheads, spurs, flint strikers etc going other directions. When I buy stuff here "fresh" from the Bulgarians etc. it is always in groups by type. For example, lot of spurs - 45 pieces, all different time periods, big bag of misc. not so good brooches, all different time periods, arrowheads - same deal - keys....once again, flint strikers...again, same deal.

There are fakes out there, but if you know old iron, as soon as you get to cleaning it - it is obvious something is wrong. Also glued together and fixed up crap. I have bought a big group of arrows or spurs and find that 2 or 3 are "stuck together".....that happens.

Also, lots of fakes in the relics made from bronze, once again, after digging lots of it yourself, you eventually get that "gut" feeling when something is not right. 2000 year old bronze - and iron, just has a look and feel that cannot be re-created. Remember, different ground conditions effect this as well, some ground - "good ground" will produce 200 year old iron that is only lightly coated with rust. But.....it is still iron, not steel or modern made stuff. I cannot fully explain unless I can put some pieces in your hand, but (you know the difference).

So, just because you see groups of stuff, I would not suspect it as being "fake" there guys assemble=e the stuff from many - many diggers and sell it accordingly. Whereas in western Europe yo have only "hobby" detectorists and most of what they find you will never see. As I mentioned earlier, there is no united group of collectors, only local groups, who half the time do not fully understand everything they find.

Brad

[Selma Hunter]

Jgawne -

What is the fair market value of a genuine ACW 2 1/2" spherical hand grenade? I have searched the various dealer sites and cannot find any that are listed.

Much Appreciated.

Selma Hunter