A novelty silver grenade table cigar lighter,

A novelty silver grenade table cigar lighter,
by The Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Co., London 1916,
realistically modelled as a No.5 Mills grenade, detachable ring, height 9.3cm.

William Mills was asked by the War Department to improve the mechanism and means of manufacture of the hand grenade. He redesigned the grenade and created the distinctive pineapple appearance which increased the grip for the thrower and the case fragmentation on detonation. By 1916, the Mills No.5 hand grenade was in wide-scale production and during the course of World War I some 75 million grenades were manufactured. Mills was knighted for his services in 1922.