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For those of you who are curious about the current value of marked M67's

I have no words.... :crossedlips:. But I cant understand why go so high. It is an US grenade in the USA, so are they so rare? :tinysmile_hmm_t2:
 
The only part of it that I really understand is that marked M67's and marked Lemons are actually very difficult to get for a lot of people. It can take a lot of work and time waiting to get one. eBay used to be a great place, you could just wait a little and eventually almost anything would pop up. But that's over now. I can't even find one marked M67 that's been on Gunbroker anytime recently aside from this one, just an unmarked body. So even though many of us on BOCN have them, there are many more people who don't and it's hard to know where to find them! I think US Subs is absolutely right(no, not the idiot part!) in that a couple bidders got a little crazy, but this was probably their first chance to get one(also a less common type) and with no gaurantee that they would get another chance, they fought for it.
 
C r a z y !!!

Value is in the eye of the buyer.
In no way do I think it's right or even sane. The fact that someone out there put that much value on it says to me that he has so much money that $2000 is nothing to him.
I just hope the seller gets his money for it. He's been stiffed before.

vomit-smiley-004.gif
 
GTR003121 said:
Not an idiot thank you, just giving an example based on what this particular auction brought.
Click to expand...

You get my point. I was talking to someone just this weekend, he had a beat up, repainted illumination grenade, with an incorrect spoon. Maybe $30-40- But this guy had seen one on e-bay 7-8 years ago that sold for $350.00. He only wanted $250 for his. The kicker was that he wasn't just looking for someone that would pay this, he actually felt that this was the "value" of the piece. Classic case of what it sold for vs what it was worth.I'm all for someone selling good things for good money. And someone should be able to blow their money on whatever they wish (Charlie Sheen is a personal hero). But you know that half the collectors out there are now scribbling on their little 3x5 cards, marking in a new value for their pieces. Pay what you want for items, get a new mortgage if you must. But never think that it's worth anything, because when push comes to shove and you need to sell - telling someone you need $2000 because that's what you have into it ain't going to mean much.
 
Grenademan2005 said:
I see. But why they are so rare? It is supposed that millions of these were made.
Click to expand...

It is because the government does a pretty good job of controlling access to live grenades. From the manufacturing plant, to loading, to issue, turn in, and eventual destruction, there are relatively few opportunities to acquire real examples.

In WWII, millions of Mk2s were scattered all over the world. They were easy to deactivate, and from the numbers that still show up, it looks like about half of the GIs in the war took one home as a souvenir. Controls on explosive devices seem to have gotten tougher after Vietnam and appear to get more stringent almost every year. In Vietnam, an additional factor was the grenades themselves became harder to inert because the M26 was a sealed unit with no easy access to the explosives inside. So very few came home as souvenirs and they are very scarce today....more than M67s.....just ask Justin if you doubt that.

I think the real factor here is the buyer probably isn't an ordnance collector as we would view it. From his auction handle, I'll assume he's a collector of Vietnam Special Ops gear. One of the main driving forces in the production of all those damn surplus store fake grenades is the number of collectors who just HAVE to have a couple grenades hanging on the mannequin with all his gear. I can't count the number of beautiful militaria displays I've seen ruined by the addition of these cast iron pieces of junk. But as Justin points out below, real ones are very hard to find and just don't turn up on eBay or the other auction sites these days.

So if you are a high end militaria collector and refuse to comprimise on the items in your display, where do you go to find a real, Vietnam period, dated M67 to hang on that tiger stripe shirt? Most of us have additonal sources of such things, friends in the business so to speak. But your average collector has the auctions, militaria shows, and sales lists. After looking for a good M67 for 10 or 12 years, maybe he just said....screw it, I'm getting that grenade to be the one super example in the collection.After all, it's not like he has to save another $400 for the newest Russian grenade or $600 for that WWI coast artillery projectile.

He's already saving money for the next documented SOG uniform grouping. I agree the value seems outlandish, but perhaps not in the wider view of a large collection. It would surprise some here to know that a WWII U.S. M2 paratrooper steel helmet might sell for $6000 or more in some circles. WHAT?!!, I'd never pay that much for an old steel pot, you say. But some do and it's all a matter of priorities and what interests you.....and how deep your pockets are.

Rick
 
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US Civil War is a very old war, Im really out looking those prices, but.... Ok, I will never claim anymore when have to pay 100 euro for a WWII grenade.
 
ordnance said:
It is because the government does a pretty good job of controlling access to live grenades. From the manufacturing plant, to loading, to issue, turn in, and eventual destruction, there are relatively few opportunities to acquire real examples.

In WWII, millions of Mk2s were scattered all over the world. They were easy to deactivate, and from the numbers that still show up, it looks like about half of the GIs in the war took one home as a souvenir. Controls on explosive devices seem to have gotten tougher after Vietnam and appear to get more stringent almost every year. In Vietnam, an additional factor was the grenades themselves became harder to inert because the M26 was a sealed unit with no easy access to the explosives inside. So very few came home as souvenirs and they are very scarce today....more than M67s.....just ask Justin if you doubt that.

I think the real factor here is the buyer probably isn't an ordnance collector as we would view it. From his auction handle, I'll assume he's a collector of Vietnam Special Ops gear. One of the main driving forces in the production of all those damn surplus store fake grenades is the number of collectors who just HAVE to have a couple grenades hanging on the mannequin with all his gear. I can't count the number of beautiful militaria displays I've seen ruined by the addition of these cast iron pieces of junk. But as Justin points out below, real ones are very hard to find and just don't turn up on eBay or the other auction sites these days.

So if you are a high end militaria collector and refuse to comprimise on the items in your display, where do you go to find a real, Vietnam period, dated M67 to hang on that tiger stripe shirt? Most of us have additonal sources of such things, friends in the business so to speak. But your average collector has the auctions, militaria shows, and sales lists. After looking for a good M67 for 10 or 12 years, maybe he just said....screw it, I'm getting that grenade to be the one super example in the collection.After all, it's not like he has to save another $400 for the newest Russian grenade or $600 for that WWI coast artillery projectile.

He's already saving money for the next documented SOG uniform grouping. I agree the value seems outlandish, but perhaps not in the wider view of a large collection. It would surprise some here to know that a WWII U.S. M2 paratrooper steel helmet might sell for $6000 or more in some circles. WHAT?!!, I'd never pay that much for an old steel pot, you say. But some do and it's all a matter of priorities and what interests you.....and how deep your pockets are.

Rick
Click to expand...

Excellent explanation Rick. Thank you.
 
As many M67 i had thrown when I was Infantry years back, kind of makes me sad to think someone paid $2000 for one, But if he really wanted it and had the money good for him. At least the seller has an extra 2000 grand in his pocket for selling a baseball shaped piece of steel.
 
Just to let you know the per unit cost of and M67 fragmentation grenade (what the government paid) was $27.64 (2005)
Might be a little higher now but not much

http://www.marcorsyscom.usmc.mil/AM/Ammunition/ref/pdf/PRESBUD07/Grenades(1468).pdf
Go to page 6/12 2006 unit price for M67

PHILADELPHIA, PA, September 29, 2010… Day & Zimmermann, a nationally recognized provider of industrial, defense and workforce solutions, announced today that its Munitions & Government unit was awarded a contract to produce M67 hand grenades for the U.S. Army. The contract, issued by the Rock Island Contracting Center at Rock Island, Illinois, is valued at more than $17 million and includes option provisions through 2014.
 
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