Does Anyone Know What This Is/

[ETF]

Hello Everyone,

This came in a medals lot that I bought on an on line auction. I know that Armentieres is a town in Northern France. This object has
"ARMENTIERES"(some letters hard to read unless in hand) engraved or stenciled on the spine. It looks like it was done with an electric pencil as do the other words.
"F Norman" and 1917 are also stenciled on this item. Can someone tell me what this is? I don't even know if it's a military object.

Ed

[warbuff]

looks like a match box holder

[hangarman]

You could say its trench art, possibly made from an empty shell case, as warbuff says, it is a match box holder.
Hangarman

[Wagriff]

Armentieres is a town in France that saw horrendous fighting and strife during WWI. It was Heavily gassed with Mustard gas by the Germans. As has been said, it is, indeed, a bit of trench art and was made to hold the little wooden match boxes and protect them in the pocket. No doubt, the soldier (probably British)who made it saw service in or near Armentieres. As can be seen by the wear to it, it was carried extensively for quite some time-most likely well past the end of the war. A Very nice little collectable! Some people have enormous collections of these match box holders! The practice of making these in the field continued right up to the 2nd World War also! Nice pick up!

from Wikipedia: During World War I, in April 1918, German forces shelled Armentières with mustard gas. British troops were forced to evacuate the area but German troops could not enter the commune for two weeks because of the heavy contamination. Witnesses to the bombardment stated that the shelling was so heavy that liquid mustard ran in the streets.

[ETF]

Gentlemen, Thank you for your responses. Most informative and interesting.
Ed