A bomb disposal team was called out to Dartmoor Auctions in Sticklepath for the second time in 18 months this week after a WW1-era grenade was brought in.

On Tuesday (June 16), auction house staff called police after a military expert identified the newly delivered object as a First World War German rifle grenade. The grenade would have been fired from a rifle and was capable of causing significant damage. Precautionary measures were taken, and everyone within a 100m radius was evacuated while the bomb disposal experts collected the device to be safely detonated elsewhere.

Owner of Dartmoor Auctions Tim Penrose said: “When you looked at the item, it just looked a bit strange. It was about three times the length of a pencil, a rusty pencil, and then a little tube on the end of it. It wasn't like a hand grenade, where you would go, ‘it's obviously a hand grenade.’ We contacted our military expert, and he said, ‘well, actually, I think you should call the police,’ and then the bomb disposal came out.”

Their determination to identify the grenade, added Tim, was a testament to how thoroughly the auction house team researches the objects handed to them.

To Tim’s disappointment, he was out at lunch with Lord Heseltine the day of the grenade discovery and missed all the action – a particular blow as he had been away attending the Southport Flower Show, when the bomb disposal team were deployed to the auction house last time.

In 2024, the Royal Navy and Army bomb disposal squad were called out to Dartmoor Auctions after several unexploded WW1-era bombs were discovered in a drawer at an Exeter residence during a routine clearance and brought to the auction house.

Tim said: “I did say to Anne, my auctioneer, ‘Are you thinking of asking perhaps for a loyalty card? You know, it's getting a bit frequent – twice in about 18 months.’ But these things do happen. People bring them back from the wars. This was a World War One item, and it had obviously been brought back by some family member and put in the shed. And, of course, when that person dies, unless they’ve specifically said, ‘by the way, this is a bomb,’ you don’t know.”

Dartmoor Auctions’ staff are no strangers to dealing with an eclectic mix of items, which has recently included a 1952 embalming machine and a pair of false wooden legs.

“We're just always amazed, always amazed at what we have,” said Tim. “Somebody told me a while back that England is the treasure house of the world because people went out, diplomats went out, and people went out to the Commonwealth and brought stuff back. And then, if they didn't tell somebody about the item and it came to you and it's worth something nobody would know.”