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WWI Trench art!
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Zed View Drop Down
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Joined: May 01 2012
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    Posted: August 15 2016 at 12:18pm
At recent "brocante" sale I found a very nice piece of trench art. 
It is a French 75mm she!! case from 1916 production. The decoration has been beautifully done, and bare's the name of "LUCIE" as well as the name "CRAONNE".
Well it was obvious that Lucie must be a sweet heart or wife because there are hearts next to the name and a Tulip is engraved on the main body. 
I had no idea of the significance of "Craonne" and thought it either a family name or place name. Turns out it is the name of a village that was on the "Chemin des Dames". The village was completely destroyed and the 1917 battles of the Chemin des Dames led to the mutinies and executions within the French armed forces. 



The base shows the marks of testing the engraving techniques. 
It is such a shame that the full story of Lucie and the soldier will never be known!
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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nice , i once had a few small examples that are now long gone but its really fun to see these , 
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Very nice.
Always looking for military manuals, Dodge M37 items,books on Berlin Germany, old atlases ( before 1946) , military maps of Scotland. English and Canadian gun parts.
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This is what I like about this group.  We appreciate those little items that tell the human stories associated with our hobby.  I was recently in a gunshop run by several generations of the same family.  The walls were covered with trench art works (mostly she!! casings).  The deceased founder had collected them over the course of his life.
Enfields are like chips, can't stop at just one.
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There used to be quite a few trench lighters around.(I think the WW1 re-enactors may have snagged them all)
They were made with a spent .303 casing. Really a cool little piece of ingenuity.
Loose wimmen tightened here
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This type of stuff turns up quite often in France. If I get anything interesting such as a lighter, I'll let you know.
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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I'd like that.

reminds me of the time we were doing a re-enactment @ the site of the Elmira N.Y. civil war P.O.W. camp.

I stepped into the porta - john, & when I came out - everyone around had been given a pair of eye glasses (spectacles) that had been in the basement of the town hall. They were reportedly taken from the prisoners that were there during the un-civil war. The historical society gave them to the participants..free.

Story of my life...something good happens, right about the time I'm gone fer a dump!!
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Originally posted by hoadie hoadie wrote:

I'd like that.

reminds me of the time we were doing a re-enactment @ the site of the Elmira N.Y. civil war P.O.W. camp.

I stepped into the porta - john, & when I came out - everyone around had been given a pair of eye glasses (spectacles) that had been in the basement of the town hall. They were reportedly taken from the prisoners that were there during the un-civil war. The historical society gave them to the participants..free.

Story of my life...something good happens, right about the time I'm gone fer a dump!!



Same for me Hoadie !!!  Missed out on some firearms My Father brought back from the Pacific theater during WW II !! and also when I was in the Army, since I was with the 1st Sgt all the time in the field , I missed out on some goodies that the other guys got . but then I got to do things no one else got to , just because I worked for the 1st Sgt in the field ... in Garrison , I got to visit just about every Kassern in Germany due to working with the supply Sgt , He grabbed me for some reason after they put me driving the 2 1/2 ton truck.. so I drove him every place he went , if it was for supply's or for doing his in house trading among other Supply NCOs !!! 

"White Rhino"

"Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." --W. C. Fields
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I like trench art as well.
Always looking for military manuals, Dodge M37 items,books on Berlin Germany, old atlases ( before 1946) , military maps of Scotland. English and Canadian gun parts.
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Zed, that is a really nice piece.  I have seen some examples on the Antique Road Show, but not as large.  Cool find.
For the pikes must be together at the rising of the moon.
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Here's a close up of the detail on this case. It is clear that someone has put a lot of time and effort into working this piece.
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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often they had nothing but lots of time to apply such attention , that one was an artist to some degree , nice eye for applying the details 
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