World War I-era grenade removed from Pennsylvania auction Pennsylvania State police removed a World War I grenade from an auction, fearing the device could still detonate, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Bill Evans, the owner of Bill Evans Auction Service of Murrysville, said a trooper took the hand grenade from Saturday morning's auction at the Export Fire Hall. I don't know if it was live or not. Auctioneer Bill Evans The grenade - a "potato masher" style used by German soldiers during World War I and II - had attracted about 100 people to the sale before it was removed. "I don't know if it was live or not," Evans told the Tribune-Review. Evans told the paper he used plastic ties to secure what seemed to be the grenade's activating trigger. Before the auction, it had been secured with a rubber band, Evans said. State Trooper Nick Iera took the grenade to his police cruiser about 10:15 a.m., photographed it and contacted bomb disposal authorities, Evans said. Evans refused to reveal the owner of the grenade. Click for more from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.