Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 157:
Description
Pair of Inert U.S. Mk II "Pineapple" Fragmentation Grenades – a Mid-WWII Solid-Base Body with Yellow HE Collar Paired with a Post-War "A/H" Cast Open-Base Practice Body Fitted with an M228-Type Fuze Head Offered is a study pair of inert U.S. Mk II fragmentation grenades, the deeply segmented cast-iron "pineapple" that armed American infantry from the First World War through Korea and Vietnam. No separate published provenance accompanies either example; their story is told entirely through their construction, markings, and fuze components, which place the two bodies at different points in the type’s long service life. Both are completely inert and present no functional hazard. Adopted in 1918, the Mk II remained the U.S. Army’s standard defensive hand grenade throughout World War II. Early-war bodies were cast with a threaded filler plug in the base for loading the TNT or Flake TNT charge; by the middle of the war this was phased out in favor of a solid cast base, the arrangement seen on the left-hand grenade here. From 1942 onward, a narrow band of yellow paint around the neck, over an olive drab body, denoted a live high-explosive filling – the same collar marking preserved on this now-inert example. The companion grenade, with its open, drilled base and cast foundry codes
Share this lot:
