Kilroy was Here
Well-Known Member
Well finally my search for one is over, and here she is.... but first, I know it's a bit late but close enough, so I would like to wish a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year to everyone, and I hope all will be well for everybody and their loved ones and friends.
I have not posted a new thread here for quite a while due to some family issues, but I would like to share at this new year an interesting find from last year with all the great BOCN members, some of whom I know to have quite a bit of interest in US WW2 pineapple grenades...
Here is what I believe, and a few others here and elsewhere believe to be the holy grail of WW2 US pineapples......An original WW2 RFX "Richmond Foundry" solid bottom grenade
She was found early last year from a seller who was in his mid 60's, who was not a collector and did not know anything about the grenade except it was empty, and I was told it was one of his fathers bring back souvenirs from WW2, and it's been in his family for at least 50 years that he can remember since he was a kid. He wanted to get rid of it and some guns & knives because of his & wifes worry of their young grandchildren coming to visit often.
This elusive RFX grenade is also marked with an "H4" lot-production number on the opposite side of the body. It has what I believe is the original OD paint, yellow stripe at neck, and what I also believe to be it's original later war M10A3 fuze with stepped striker pivot pin. I truly think by it's patina and features it's an original untouched WW2 era pre-45 made grenade....except the pull ring is on the right side instead of on left side as is usually seen for use by right handed throwers, but who knows when it was changed...Maybe the sellers father could have been left handed? I didn't think to ask. Either way I've left it like I found it. If you notice the shape of the grenades body, the grinding marks of the seams on the bottom and sides it's very much like most of the WW2 manufactured pineapples except for a few makers such as the "BB" marked bodies which are more "knobby" and a couple others makers that had odd frag & body shapes.
It's a very different shape body than the well known & often seen post war "real" RFX trainers which are also very "knobby" looking and were used in large numbers during the Korean war and long after even into the Vietnam era.
There have been a few long and debate filled threads here on BOCN about these RFX grenades in which I said and did not believe there were any solid bottom HE RFX pineapples "made pre-45 & during WW2" until another member who's name escapes me now showed a couple RFX solid bottoms he found in a barrel of grenade bodies at if IIRC his workplace that cast doubt on my thoughts about these grenades not being made during WW2....especially because one body shown in the thread was a solid bottom yellow body overpainted OD green. I was skeptical of the paint originality on this yellow overpainted grenade ....and personally I'm still a bit skeptical of it's paint, as there is no history where this body came from, I've not examined it in hand, plus... Not one other "original" yellow painted RFX, whether overpainted or not has ever surfaced...at least that I and many other collectors know about at this time. If you know of one, or have one please post some photos.
But the question still remains, could that one OD green overpainted yellow RFX shown be totally original??.... If it is, this would for sure mean that that particular RFX that was shown, and for sure other RFX grenades must have been made very, very early in WW2 if they were painted yellow....but the fact that no one has seen ANY other yellow RFX's, only the one shown in that thread still makes me a bit skeptical of that one and only green overpainted yellow RFX body. But then a question arrises, where are all the other OD green ones like I've found....was the production so small that they were all used up? Or are there 100's of them out there but have not found yet 65+ yrs later? Or were they all destroyed by de-milling and sold as scrap? Or maybe the production was tiny after all?..... I wish there were some concrete answers about these very scarce RFX grenades.
Leaving the one yellow OD overpainted grenade aside, still I've now changed my opinion about these very unusual, near impossible to find RFX solid bottom grenades, as now that I have one and I've examined in my hands, I believe this one to be an orig. late WW2 made grenade so therefore I believe they must have been made during WW2.
Still...the question remains......"Why" are these RFX grenades so scarce to find for instance compared to "C" marked Crane Co. grenades, or "ARco - AR" American Radiator, "AF" American Fireworks, "Square G" Grabler Co. a pipe fitting Co, "Diamond L" and "L"- Littletown Foundry, or the many "Lazy S", BB and AA marked, and the many, many other different unknown maker marked grenades that we see quite often??
I hope you enjoy seeing these photos of a very rare bird....any info, pics of other RFX solid bottoms or thoughts are very welcome.
OK...OK...I know...now I'm finished with yet another of my long winded rambling posts
cguru: :congrats:
(It's just that I find this subject very interesting.... and I always like a good mystery.....)
I have not posted a new thread here for quite a while due to some family issues, but I would like to share at this new year an interesting find from last year with all the great BOCN members, some of whom I know to have quite a bit of interest in US WW2 pineapple grenades...
Here is what I believe, and a few others here and elsewhere believe to be the holy grail of WW2 US pineapples......An original WW2 RFX "Richmond Foundry" solid bottom grenade
She was found early last year from a seller who was in his mid 60's, who was not a collector and did not know anything about the grenade except it was empty, and I was told it was one of his fathers bring back souvenirs from WW2, and it's been in his family for at least 50 years that he can remember since he was a kid. He wanted to get rid of it and some guns & knives because of his & wifes worry of their young grandchildren coming to visit often.
This elusive RFX grenade is also marked with an "H4" lot-production number on the opposite side of the body. It has what I believe is the original OD paint, yellow stripe at neck, and what I also believe to be it's original later war M10A3 fuze with stepped striker pivot pin. I truly think by it's patina and features it's an original untouched WW2 era pre-45 made grenade....except the pull ring is on the right side instead of on left side as is usually seen for use by right handed throwers, but who knows when it was changed...Maybe the sellers father could have been left handed? I didn't think to ask. Either way I've left it like I found it. If you notice the shape of the grenades body, the grinding marks of the seams on the bottom and sides it's very much like most of the WW2 manufactured pineapples except for a few makers such as the "BB" marked bodies which are more "knobby" and a couple others makers that had odd frag & body shapes.
It's a very different shape body than the well known & often seen post war "real" RFX trainers which are also very "knobby" looking and were used in large numbers during the Korean war and long after even into the Vietnam era.
There have been a few long and debate filled threads here on BOCN about these RFX grenades in which I said and did not believe there were any solid bottom HE RFX pineapples "made pre-45 & during WW2" until another member who's name escapes me now showed a couple RFX solid bottoms he found in a barrel of grenade bodies at if IIRC his workplace that cast doubt on my thoughts about these grenades not being made during WW2....especially because one body shown in the thread was a solid bottom yellow body overpainted OD green. I was skeptical of the paint originality on this yellow overpainted grenade ....and personally I'm still a bit skeptical of it's paint, as there is no history where this body came from, I've not examined it in hand, plus... Not one other "original" yellow painted RFX, whether overpainted or not has ever surfaced...at least that I and many other collectors know about at this time. If you know of one, or have one please post some photos.
But the question still remains, could that one OD green overpainted yellow RFX shown be totally original??.... If it is, this would for sure mean that that particular RFX that was shown, and for sure other RFX grenades must have been made very, very early in WW2 if they were painted yellow....but the fact that no one has seen ANY other yellow RFX's, only the one shown in that thread still makes me a bit skeptical of that one and only green overpainted yellow RFX body. But then a question arrises, where are all the other OD green ones like I've found....was the production so small that they were all used up? Or are there 100's of them out there but have not found yet 65+ yrs later? Or were they all destroyed by de-milling and sold as scrap? Or maybe the production was tiny after all?..... I wish there were some concrete answers about these very scarce RFX grenades.
Leaving the one yellow OD overpainted grenade aside, still I've now changed my opinion about these very unusual, near impossible to find RFX solid bottom grenades, as now that I have one and I've examined in my hands, I believe this one to be an orig. late WW2 made grenade so therefore I believe they must have been made during WW2.
Still...the question remains......"Why" are these RFX grenades so scarce to find for instance compared to "C" marked Crane Co. grenades, or "ARco - AR" American Radiator, "AF" American Fireworks, "Square G" Grabler Co. a pipe fitting Co, "Diamond L" and "L"- Littletown Foundry, or the many "Lazy S", BB and AA marked, and the many, many other different unknown maker marked grenades that we see quite often??
I hope you enjoy seeing these photos of a very rare bird....any info, pics of other RFX solid bottoms or thoughts are very welcome.
OK...OK...I know...now I'm finished with yet another of my long winded rambling posts
cguru: :congrats:(It's just that I find this subject very interesting.... and I always like a good mystery.....)
Attachments
Last edited:
