Incendiary device? Grenade? Or what?

[M ELEY]

I picked up this odd item a number of years ago (note in the second and third pic that the 'wick' and wooden cap are for show only) at an antiques mall with no provenance or explanation as to what it was. The item appears very old, is made of a light-weight black clay and while fragile, I can squeeze it in my hand without cracking it (i.e. It's not so delicate that it can't be handled). It is slightly bigger than a gulf ball and completely hollow. It measures roughly 2 1/2" tall and approx 7" total diameter. My hand gives a corresponding size. Now, the question is...what is it?

When I first bought it, it had a very old piece of cork stuffed in the top that crumbled away. I wasn't sure if I smelled any residue or not. I can't tell if it is scuffed or had weal markings on the outside at one time. Perhaps I'm being fanciful, but I think this is an incendiary carcass or stink pot/bomb? I think we can rule out a few things it's probably not. I doubt it held incense, candle wax or a plant! The bottom is completely round and it wouldn't have been practical as any of those type devices. As a container holding liquid, it would be very prone to spilling. I guess it could be a one-off pottery piece, but I can't imagine it would have been easy to make such a thing just for fun? It reminds me of the early grenadoes that were used by the buccaneers of old, but they were made of iron (same shape and even with a raised lip. See Warren Moore's 'Weapons of the American Revolution' ,pg 215, ex.A-166 grenade found at Fort Ticonderoga). What got me thinking about this piece was Matchlock's incendiary grenade thread with it's glass French bombs, which are similar, but much thicker. In use, this little item could have very well held a volatile liquid or even black powder. In Gilkerson's 'Boarder's Away', he mentions clay stink pots, so I thought this could be another possibility?

Has anyone seen anything like this? Was black pottery used for such things? Were there Spanish colonial grenadoes like this? What type of clay was used? Anyone want to weigh in on this odd piece?

Pictures to follow! Have to resize them!
Mark

[M ELEY]

Pics resized-hopefully!

[Matchlock]

Hi Mark,


You called and here I am, right at your service ,


What you've got here may well be a small clay hand grenade of ca. 15th to 18th c. type. This does not necessarily mean that your little clay guy is of Western provenance; it may be Oriental and go back to ancient times when Greek Fire was employed.

As I tried to show, hand grenades often even consisted of greenish to yellowish glass in the 17th and 18th centuries. I attached photos of some, together with clay grenades, from the vast supplies of Forchtenstein Castle, Austria, and two period illustrations.


There is a very detailed recent Austrian study by Franz Felberbauer, "Die Handgranaten der Grenadiere der Fürsten Esterházy aus Gusseisen und Ton im Zeughaus der Burg Forchtenstein" (the cast-iron and clay hand grenades for the grenadiers of the Princes Esterházy, at the Armory of Forchtenstein Castle), in: Waffen und Kostümkunde, 2012, vol. 2, pp. 181-220, and 2014, vol. 1, pp. 1-52.
I scanned a few images from that essay and posted them here for you.

The two photos at the bottom of the clay grenades in the glass case, together with the two model cannon carriages, I took some 25 years ago in the Fortress Oberhaus, Passau, Lower Bavaria.


Please see also my thread on incendiary items, grenades, quoits etc.:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7085



Best,
Michael

[fernando]

What about dimensions, Michl ?
Isn't Mark's example too small for a grenade or equivalent device ?
Say yes ... so that i can propose him to dispatch it to me

[Matchlock]

Well, Nando,


It is tiny, indeed.

On the other hand, if I remember it correctly, the 1,000 year-old samples from the Egyptian period of the Fatimids were quite small and delicate as well. And the 17th c. clay hand grenades at Forchtentein Castle, Austria are of an average diameter of only ca. 10 cm.
I am about to get into contact with a real scholar on this field of hand grenades and will ask his opinion. He did research on a great number of clay and glass grenades kept in the Forchtenstein Armory. Maybe we will all know better then.


Best,
Michl

[fernando]

Whatever you find, keep it secret from Captain Mark

[thinreadline]

Of course towards the end of WW2 the Japanese also manufactured pottery grenades as an emergency measure known as Type 4 I think .... here is one I have. The size is that of a cricket ball.