Trench art shell casing

[alikat]

I bought this last year and finally got around to taking some pics. If anyone can tell me more about it I would be grateful. Height 57cm/22.5 inches and open end 155mm/6". Base says it was made by Patronenfabrik in Karlsruhe in I assume 1900. It sits behind the cats little box, so has collected a little dust in the engraving, but apart from dusting it I am loth to spoil the patina by scrubbing it.

[Wagriff]

An Extremely popular souvenir from WWI where they had fired literally Millions upon Millions of these artillery shells and had to find a use for them! While some of them were just simple designs, Some of them could get Really artistic! These vases(yes, they were indeed used as vases!)could be found in countless homes in Europe and the US during the 20's, but by a few more decades time, had lost the public's interest and wish to be reminded of a terrible war and had faded from general view and ended up in land-fills and attics where they still occasionally turn up even today in house clearings.

I think the most popular size seen are the 75mm's, but as you can see, they used about any shell case they could pick up. Many had the fluted indents like yours and others were punch engraved with a myriad of different designs and art work. Some had raised art and some had the opposite. Flared tops, scalloped tops and plain tops. Some carried dates and personal names while others had Company names and numbers. They are fascinating relics of a century past war that still horrifies the researchers with it's facts. WWI, in my opinion, had a Huge amount of trench art, due mainly to the fact of the endlessly idle hours in the trenches. Making trench art kept the men occupied.

I wouldn't worry overly about the patina, as bronze darkens quite quickly, so unless you put a shiny gold polish to it, it shouldn't suffer too badly from a nice soap and water wash down.

[alikat]

Thanks William. Has my shell casing been fired? I don't see a firing pin mark, but there is what looks like lead solder in the center.

[Wagriff]

Yup..it did it's duty! Sometimes they left the punched primers in them and sometimes you find them like yours-with a lead plug. They're fascinating relics!