French 75mm shell vases

[Otter]

I bought these for a present for Mrs O a couple of months back, they are shells for the French 75mm field gun. The head codes are a bit faint but seem to read MGM 409L 1/USA and MGM 421 I 1/ USA, although that / May be 17.
I am assuming they are USA made, anyone any clue as to the other codes ?

 

[John Lever]

We have a shellcase lamp my granddad brought back from France

 

[Bombing IP]

Otter love the Art Nouveau tiles on your fire place . The shells are nice also took some skill to do .One thing WW1 did is devastate the craft industry of skilled men in all fields .When you travel through UK every town has a monument to the fallen in WW1 ,these were obviously done by a tinsmith .

BIP

 

[Pilot]

View attachment 47433View attachment 47434

I bought these for a present for Mrs O a couple of months back, they are shells for the French 75mm field gun. The head codes are a bit faint but seem to read MGM 409L 1/USA and MGM 421 I 1/ USA, although that / May be 17.
I am assuming they are USA made, anyone any clue as to the other codes ?

If I recall correctly :
75 DEC means : De Campagne ( 75 mm Field Artillerie)
MGM : Manufacture General de Munition ( in Marseille)
Lot 421 , Lot 409
Components ( brass ) from USA
17 stands for 1917

 

[Otter]

Pilot, great that is exactly what I wanted to know !

Booking IP, I know exactly what you mean. A lot of Scottish villages have war monuments and when you look around and take out all the buildings built 1920 onwards then the death toll of young men was horrendous.

 

[daw]

Very cool! How the heck do they apply the artwork? If they're doing it by hand, that's a lot of effort.

 

[Bombing IP]

Here you go
Personal Treasures: WWI Trench Art

Trench art objects are holders of soldiers’ memories and reminders of the conflict they faced. Made out of recycled war refuse such as shell casings, spent bullets or whatever came to hand, they open a window to the past. They tell us things like where soldiers went and what their surroundings were like. They also give hints about soldiers’ thoughts and actions. Something as simple and functional as a matchbox cover can provide a map of a soldier’s movements while other, more decorative examples, show a desire to find and create beauty, to camouflage war in art.

The National Army Museum has a significant collection of World War One trench art. This online exhibition showcases a selection of them. Come explore to find out who made trench and why, where they made it and from what materials.


Who Made Trench Art?

Although evocative, the term trench art can be quite confusing or misleading. Trench art does not just refer to things made by soldiers in the trenches but objects made by anyone in response to conflict or recycled out of war materials. This includes soldiers, those in the trenches and those far behind the front lines, prisoners of war who made things to pass the time or to trade, and civilians. The civilian cottage industry in World War One trench art lasted from the beginning of the war, through the interwar years, to the beginning of World War Two.

More
Soldiers
Although there are many objects made by soldiers in the trenches, the majority of soldier-made trench art was designed and created far behind the front lines. Specialist equipment was available in blacksmiths and engineers’ workshops and the men there had enough downtime to make beautiful and intricately finished products.
Civilians
A substantial cottage industry sprung up in war devastated areas where the leftovers of battles provided a useful resource material to local civilians. Sometimes it is very difficult to tell the difference between soldier-made and commercially produced civilian trench art. Some commercial souvenirs, like this crucifix, combined war material, such as these bullet casings, with factory-produced elements, like the Christ figure.
Prisoners of War
Producing trench art had a two-fold gain for prisoners of war. It helped fill in their large amounts of spare time while producing a tradable commodity which could help to improve their lives by swapping it for things like food or cigarettes. Prisoners of war could either make things on commission for people or produce things from available materials in hope of trading them later.

Source NZ Army Museum /also examples similar to otters in the Imperial war Museum .


BIP

 

[Bombing IP]

Here is the death toll for UK WW1 1914 -1918

How many UK soldiers died in ww1?
In the UK around six million men were mobilised, and of those just over 700,000 were killed. That's around 11.5%. In fact, as a British soldier you were more likely to die during the Crimean War (1853-56) than in WW1.
1954- to 1973 Vietnam US KIA 58,200 put the perspective in place ,
BIP