True last ditch grenade.
Most think of the ceramic grenades as "Last Ditch" and in their own right they were. However, the ceramics were their own type, not a low quality version of an earlier first line weapon which is what we see with last ditch rifles and bayonets.
Today I went to a little antique shop I know but hardly ever get to. The guy has some GREAT Jap ordnance but his prices are generally full retail and out of my league. He did have a few items that I was chomping at the bit for today. #1 was an actual Japanese land mine. Not a tank mine or magnetic or any other, a regular landmine. Tape measure mine if you know the slang. $950 and I can't argue the price as I've never seen another real one. Way out of my league now but I can stick some money away. The other items I did grab though were two 37mm shipping plugs, a brass fuze tip and a last ditch steel grenade. The plugs and fuze will complete some junk and bump the value a heck of a lot more than the $26 I gladly paid him. The grenade I am keeping and I got it for $180. It is a little rough but it was never nice. The top plug is machined and threaded off center, the body was not milled for fragmentation and the fuze cap is short and appears to be brass plated steel or a bad alloy as brass doesn't usually rust! It is also noticeably heavier than the standard Type97 grenade. It is fairly complete and I am happy with the price. I will add one of my repro safety pin pull strings later.
Here are a couple of pics.
Reply With Quote
