Mills bomb price check?

Hello everyone,

I'm a new collector based in Ottawa, starting a collection with my young son (age 7) who also has a keen interest in military history.

I've been offered the following Mills Bomb for $200 shipped. Is that in the right ballpark more or less?

I recognize the photos are grainy, but I bought an excellent Fairbairn Sykes pattern 3 from the the same seller at a fair price, so I don't want to harass him too much about photos.

Any comments or advice would be appreciated.

It's a realistic price.... not a great price but certainly not out of line. I'd probably buy it. I wish these were still $40 but those days are long gone.

You can buy two of them from the Collectors Guild, a dealer, for $230! And they are known for being overpriced!
As always prices are subjective, I wouldn't pay more than $100 but I'm cheap. I think a more realistic price is $150. I have 8 of them and haven't paid more than $75 for one, I do consider myself lucky in that regard.

I should have added that I am a big fan of ordnance and am trying to expand my collection so maybe I'm willing to pay a bit more then some others would but these are the prices that I am seeing solid examples sell for these days. There is a finite supply in the country and now that they are prohibited from being mailed and almost impossible to import the value has gone up quite a bit in the last several years. I do agree with Jeff in that they should be valued in the $100-150 range but that doesn't seem to be the reality most of the time, at least not online or at shows/dealers here in Edmonton and Calgary. It's possible that the market is different between different parts of the country too. Like anything else, with some patience and perseverance you will eventually find a good example at a fair price. It all depends on how badly you want one now and what you feel the chances are that you will find another in comparable condition and in a reasonable amount of time.

I just noticed that the striker is not visible. If the grenade is not complete that will affect the value greatly IMO. Spare parts are rather difficult to find and are usually expensive. There are some excellent repro parts available from England if you don't mind that sort of thing.

And I should add that I rarely buy from dealers. Almost everything in my collection comes out of the woodwork and I am not a type collector. I collect what I find at a decent price, so I don't need to pay a little extra for that one peice missing from my collection.
As I said before, price is subjective. You have to decide if its worth it to you. Do you have to have it or are you willing to wait for a cheaper example to come up.

Thanks for the feedback gentlemen. Jeff, I'm more of a generalist similar to yourself (buying disparate items that I appeal to me rather than a set goal or narrower focus), but the striker issue is a concern and I'm going to bring that up with the seller. If it isn't complete I'd rather wait and find a nice complete original example.

jholl72 wrote:And I should add that I rarely buy from dealers.

You're lucky. I rarely come across anything directly from a vet or their families.

I used to collect in a more general fashion but I found that I got to a point when most of my collection was packed away because there was no room to display it. I decided to narrow my collection so that I would have a greater ratio of what's on display in relation to what's packed away and forgotten about. Also, because I'm being more selective I tend to be able to afford to spend a bit more on the items that I want and can pick up what I believe to be higher end items. That's just where I have decided to take my collection.

Check for matching manufacturer marks on the Mills body and the safety lever. FW for Frost and Woods, C for Chatco, M for Montreal Munitions and G for Galt Industries. Those are the Canadian manufacturers. The Mills will also be dated. The base plug will have the last 2 digits of the year of manufacture. Unscrew the base plug and the last 2 digits of the year of manufacture will be on the inside. The base plug and the inside of the Mills will be marked with an S for Joseph Stokes Rubber. See this website under WWII, Weapons & Ordnance, Chatco Mills Bomb. The post is by mk1rceme. It is of a Chatco 1943 dated Mills that is 100% original. Hope this helps. Mike.

OK, just got another photo with the striker in place. Everything looks correct?

Is the spring inside?

jholl72 wrote:Is the spring inside?

I don't have it in hand, but I'm told yes it is.

The only other thing is what zekehp mentioned, matching makers marks if that is important to you.
Otherwise it looks good to me, but I would negotiate the price.LOL

He agreed to $185 shipped (~$175 base price) so really I'm comfortable with that.

Not sure about the makers marks, but that will be something I'll share when I get it in hand. :)

Congrats on your purchase! Please post some nice detailed pics when you get it. I'm sue I'm not the only one who would like to see them.

jholl72 wrote:Congrats on your purchase! Please post some nice detailed pics when you get it. I'm sue I'm not the only one who would like to see them.

Of course, will be happy to.

Since we're sharing, here is a photo of my wife's grandfather, who won the MC in what was apparently his first action, leading a patrol in Holland. He was a member of the GGFG, a unit I was with for 2 yrs as a reservist ~50 yrs later.

WOW, fantastic display! You should post them up in the appropriate forum and do a little write up about his service. Do you have the citation for the MC?

The only thing I have at present is a copy of a rather tattered newspaper article that was written about him a the time.

I keep encouraging my wife and her mother to get the official service record from DND, but due to personal circumstances they haven't done anything about it to date. In brief, like so many of that great generation when he returned home from the war he was haunted by his memories, looked for solace in alcohol, and eventually took his own life to end the pain.

I will continue to pursue the war record as now my young son (age 7) is very interested in all things military, and I believe he has a right to know of his great grandfather's service - and we have a duty as his parents to share it with him.

Sorry to hear that. Its a very sad thing indeed.
I have in the past gathered documents and written letters/applications for military files and then just had the NOK sign it. I then mailed it in. Sometimes it helps if the leg work is done by someone else to help speed the process along. Perhaps that is something you and your son could do together?

jholl72 wrote:Sorry to hear that. Its a very sad thing indeed.
I have in the past gathered documents and written letters/applications for military files and then just had the NOK sign it. I then mailed it in. Sometimes it helps if the leg work is done by someone else to help speed the process along. Perhaps that is something you and your son could do together?

That's a good idea, I'll try that approach.