An Austin Estate Sale Buyer Opened His Boxes and Found Six Live World War II Grenades

AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 25, 2026 — Estate sales are famous for surprises in the bottom of the box. An Austin resident found six of them, and they were live.

The buyer was sorting through boxes picked up at an estate sale when he came across what turned out to be six World War II-era grenades, CBS Austin reported. Police responded to the 5800 block of Gentle Breeze Terrace around 4:09 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 12.

Patrol officers set up a perimeter and kept neighbors back while the bomb squad came in. Technicians X-rayed the grenades and determined they were live. Police said they were in relatively good shape for their age and didn't pose an immediate threat under the circumstances, but the squad rendered them safe anyway.

The Austin Police Association praised the squad's "steady nerves." "Handling 80-year-old explosives with unknown stability is dangerous, precise work," the association said, as quoted by CBS News.

Austin radio station KLBJ identified at least three of the olive-colored devices as Mk 2 fragmentation grenades, the "pineapple" grenades U.S. forces carried in World War II, according to The Guardian. Neither the buyer nor the seller was named.

"No crime here," the association said. It did add some advice for the next bargain hunter: if you find old military ordnance, even if you think it's inert, don't touch it, don't move it, and call 911.