something I was thinking about: what are the 10 most important (in terms of how they represent the development and also ubiquity) types for the (hand) grenade collector to have in their collection?
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I would suggest:
1. A small spherical shell with a wooden time fuze such as the British Land Service or Sea Service grenades, or a French equivalent. They largely represent the grenade as it was before the ACW.
2. The British Mills or the French F1 or the US Mk II. Iconic designs.
3. A hairbrush grenade (French, British or German) representing improvised grenades.
4. A German WW1 stick grenade. Classic.
5. A British or German rifle grenade (No 3 or Model 1913 say).
6. One of the British Signal Grenades (No 31 or 32 or 38 etc). Just to show it is not all about delivering an explosive payload.
7. A No 19 percussion grenade to demonstrate that time fuzes were not always used; that the British had stick grenades; and that they designed grenade solutions that were obsolete before being put into general use.
8. A No 74 Sticky Type Grenade. Not because it is particularly sort after but as a piece of anti-tank hardware it is a conversation piece. Why on earth would you expect a 65 year old Home Guardian to throw a pound or so of gelatinised nitro-glycerine at a heavily armed and exceedingly grumpy Tiger tank?
9. A No 68 grenade (or M9) to demonstrate the employment of shaped charge on grenades.
10. A modern frag coil or matrix grenade (probably the US M26 if history is of interest).
My personal 'Desert Island Disc' choice would be:
1. No 1 Mk I
2. No 4
3. No 5
4. No 12
5. No 31 Mk I
6. No 54
7. No 74 Mk I early model
8. A T13 Beano
9. A SOE square block grenade
10. A GP Grenade
