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.50 Caliber Trench Art

4K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  AAAPaul 
#1 ·
Wife's father was a WWII vet serving on the USS Louisville when it supported the retaking of Alaska and when the ship was hit by Kamikazes at Okinawa.

Apart from that, he made a number of Trench Art items from .50 caliber shells to include picture frames and these two lamps.

Anyone else have interesting Trench Art?
Mac
 

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#2 ·
Here are a couple. The 77mm shell is interesting with the Croix de Guerre and listings of various campaigns that whoever made it was involved with. The French 75mm with fluted waist marked Argonne 1918 is a common design as I imagine that those shells were plentiful. I also believe that one was not true "trench art" but rather one that was made shortly after the war for tourists and those who wanted to take home a a souvenir.
 

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#4 ·
Trench art has a long history, though it didn't get that name until the Great War.

The style goes back as far as when there was a sharp point, and something to inscribe/decorate as a was of passing the time.

One of the first styles was likely done on horn - decorative powder horns are a good example, and horn was ubiquitous.

Metal was a different matter, and often required more tools than a mere scriber.

But I digress...

During the Great War, shell casings would mound up behind the artillery emplacements on both sides of the line, and were was to get, so soldiers would scratch their names, units, and battles, and sometimes scenes, but it was the rehabilitation hospital where they'd get ever more ornate, as a pass-time, and way to channel energies.

They'd develop an assembly-line production - depending upon who could perform what after his injuries.

The shells were filled with sand, and capped with poured lead - sand-filled casings ensured that there'd be uniformity during the shaping process - the design was laid out, the paddles were formed that would crate the flutes, and snips were on hand to do any of the decorative work after the main design has finished.

Then, the work was begun, moving from one soldier to the next.

At the end of the line, backgrounds were stippled, the lead re-melted and the sand poured out, and anything that needed to be cut and bent was done - the whole thing was then polished with sand and usually varnished.

That varnish would later darken over time - accounting for many of the black ones found, but when they left for sale, they were shiny and bright, unless they weren't, because they could also be acid-etched...

Post-WWI, French and Belgian citizens continued the practice to take advantage of returning veterans and the desire for a souvenir.

Many things were made - match box holders, candle sticks, desk sets, shot glasses, lighters, ash trays - pretty much anything a tourist might want could be made, and was offered.

The art form remained as late as Korea, but little of that is seen, though 'Sweetheart' grips are considered so.

These things were produced by all sorts - including POWs, who produced some outstanding carvings on the M1911 grips, and the British REME shops, who had access to better tools and materiel.
 
#13 ·
Maybe not technically trench art, but when mu uncle was stationed with SAC in turkey in the 50s he bought several platters made from howitzer shells. He gave one to my mom. It is 5 ft across and hangs above the fireplace at my parent's house. It is similar to this one but the engraving is much more intricate on m parents plate.
 

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#16 · (Edited)
The grips on this late war Type 94 Japanese pistol have the same design on both sides. I saw this at the Ohio Gun Collectors show last year and bought it on a whim. The gun shoots and probably not very collectable but I like the homemade/trench art grips! Unfortunately no history of who brought it back.
Kim
Firearm Gun Trigger Wood Gun accessory
 
#17 · (Edited)
Not gun related, but I have some of my dad's "trench art" that he painted on a Merchant Marine ship during the end of WW2. He said there was a supply guy on the ship who was always drunk and he got pieces of heavy canvas from him and painted these. I don't know where he got the paint and brushes. The tiger is a print, the other two original. He said the Indian's face was a friend of his on the ship. I never heard of the term trench art until on American Pickers.








 
#19 ·
Nice. Not exactly trench art but these are from the Waterloo battlefield. The pipe bowl is English and the musket ball is French. When I lived in Belgium some friends took me out to the battlefield and gave me a private tour that included of some of the main sights but also a lot of things that aren't on the regular tours. Pretty neat.
Afterwards they took me over to a friend of theirs who lived in the village of Waterloo and was an amateur historian/archaeologist that specialized in the Napoleonic era. He explained everything about the battle to me, tactics, troop positions, weather, etc., and gave me these as souvenirs.
Rock
 
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