Unknown ball grenade ?

[pwb30576]

Hi

Anyone able to assist me in identifying this cast iron ball? It’s next to a Turkish / Makedonia grenade for scale.

Could it be an emergency pattern ? It’s very roughly cast with no internal segmentation. Only marking is the embossed ‘A’.

Located in Australia - I initially thought: Law Adams, ball, or Malta grenades. Maybe it’s not even a grenade ?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

[Alan1]

Here is the Malta grenade. According to Landers the Law-Adams is internally segmented. That may help.
Alan1

 

[pwb30576]

T

Here is the Malta grenade. According to Landers the Law-Adams is internally segmented. That may help.
Alan1View attachment 211882

Thank you I’m wondering if there were other similar emergency patterns too.

 

[Alan1]

Landers (pp 31/32) gives some detail. Similar cast iron ball grenades were a service store until the 1870's, but these were relatively well made.
Alan1.

 

[Snufkin]

T

Thank you I’m wondering if there were other similar emergency patterns too.

Grenades marked "Hand Grenade, Mark I, Malta 1915" appear from time to time - one was sold at Bosleys as recently as 24 September: Malta grenade

The IWM holds at least two similarly marked examples - here is one: IWM Malta grenade. As shown by Alan1, not all Malta grenades were necessarily cast using molds that showed type, contractor and date.

Less well documented is that other emergency ball grenades were produced for the Gallipoli campaign in Egypt, and had an even worse reputation for reliability than the Malta grenades. The attached memorandum shows the ball grenades from Egypt were treated with a certain contempt, and the wording tends to indicate a poor casting of the two halves - a feature shown in the images of your opening post. The intimation is that your grenade might be a ball grenade from Egypt.