This trench art is made from a shell from a French 75 field gun. I measured it to ascertain this, and it is French. The manufacture stamp is for July 1917. I bought it about four of five years ago in a museum in Albert, France, which is a few kilometres from the site of the Battle of the Somme. My own uncle was killed in October, 1916 at the Somme. He fought with the Roual Irish Fusilliers. || Trench art - French shell casing || || Memorabilia || 46.227638,2.213749000000007 || France || Trench art made from a shell casing from a French 75 field gun with a manufacture stamp of July 1917 || || France || Memorabilia || Trench art made from a shell casing from a French 75 field gun with a manufacture stamp of July 1917 || 46.227638,2.213749000000007

This trench art item is a spent 37MM shell, marked at the base with '37-85' signifying the calibre (37MM) and original year of deployment for this type of munition (1885); 'PDPs' the manufacturer, who was 'Pinchart Denys Paris'; '180' - the production batch number, being '180' in this case; '2 16' the date of manufacture, with '2 16' indicating 'February 1916'. The design on the side of the shell shows an ornate Serbian eagle - the heraldic, national symbol - with the French word 'Serbie' and '1918'. || Soldiers at the front would sometimes occupy themselves with making trench art. Commonly, trench art would involve the use of everyday objects, in this case a 37MM shell, and the soldier would spend his personal time transforming them with some artistic adornment.

Attached to this story is a gold matchbox holder from the Battle of the Somme. The name A. Lynch can be seen on the front of the case along with a floral design which extends to the spine and the back of the casing. On the back of the holder a carving of Somme 1916-1917 can be seen surrounded by the floral design. || This story is about an anonymous soldier who used to work for my grandfather Anthony Lynch before he went to fight in the great war. The unknown soldier used to be an estate agent from Verschorles, Ireland before the war. During the war he fought in the Battle of the Somme. During the Battle of the Somme he handmade a matchbox holder out of an old German shell in the trenches. He personally created the design of the matchbox holder and carved my grandfather's first initial and surname onto the front of the case. When he returned home from the war he gave the gift to my grandfather's farm hand who delivered it to the family home in Clonyn Castle, Co. Kildare, Ireland. This matchbox holder was then given to Anthony's daughter Angela who then passed it on to her son. Unfortunately, the name and details of the soldier has been lost through the years.