This is a German Discus Grenade. Roughly translated into German; Diskushandgranate. Not surprisingly, it was thrown like a discus. Used primarily in WW1 (and in some experimental forms during WW2), it’s a timed explosive like a regular grenade, but wasn’t as popular as the much more common ‘stick grenade’. These discus grenades has ‘questionable reliability’ when it came to their fuses, and also their shape made them difficult to carry in large numbers which resulted in them not being widely adopted. Making this piece, all the more rare.

Although it doesn’t come apart, all pieces are solid, with the exception of the ring and pin. We believe this was dug up because of the pitting on the metal shell. Thankfully, this rare piece still has the original pin and ring. Despite it’s age it’s in a fairly good condition. The fact the original pin and ring comes with it is remarkable. These discus grenades are quite rare now, so to find one with original pin and ring makes it even more rare.