WW1 grenade brought to auction prompts 100m cordon

A World War One bomb has been handed in to an auctioneers alongside some garden tools.

Dartmoor Auctions in Sticklepath, near Okehampton, said someone had brought in a collection of items for auction and one had "caused concern". After checking with a militaria expert, auctioneer Anne Thorpe said she called the police as a precaution.

Police said they had been called at about 13:30 BST after which they had informed the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team and put a caused a 100m (328 ft) cordon in place as a precaution.

The Royal Navy identified the object as a WW1 German M1914 rifle grenade which it said was "safe to move in its current state" and would "be destroyed in a safe location".

Thorpe said it had been "quite an interesting day".

She said: "We had a collection of tools brought in for the auction, and one of the items looked a bit unusual, so I thought I'd do a little bit of extra research, and I felt it was probably military.

"We have to be careful, because in cases like this one, it's not always obvious what items are, so we have to be careful to research everything, just to make sure that we're doing the right things and keeping everybody safe."

The auctioneer said that it was not her or the auction house's first experience with war items.

She said: "We did once have a live detonator from a wartime shell, which the bomb disposal team came and took away to detonate... they've collected bullets from us before, current ones, modern ones and also wartime bullets.

"It's quite common, I think, or it has been in the past, for people who are serving in the forces to bring souvenirs, if you like, back, certainly from the First and Second World Wars."

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