ww2 trench art

[NorCalBottleHunter]

well i traveled to Dayton, NV to help my wifes god mother move back to tahoe and after we had finished she gives me this. the story she told was that her father had fought in world war two for the axis, he was Hungarian, and supposedly he made this while operating an anti aircraft gun on the fronts of Russia, its an 8 cm shell and beat into it, using various tools, is the Hungarian shield and in Hungarian, the words, "free Hungry", also the dates, 1941-1944. anybody ever seen pieces like this? i'd love to hear some feedback

 

[cordilleran]

NorCal:

Trench art has been around for a long time and usually has four sources of origination: art actually made by soldiers in combat; prisoners of war; items made from civilians around combat zones; and commercially made objects from military surplus after the conflict. The bulk of trench art dates from World War One and decorating shell casings of various sizes is not uncommon. What you have is a unique piece of memorabilia reflecting Hungarian conscription into military service with the Axis during the last big war. Determining how a piece of trench art was created is the difficult part.

 

[beendiggin]

That shell is awesome. Thats one unique piece. I would get a picture of the guy who made that and display it with the shell. Great history.

 

[privvydigger]

History of the battles and locations will undoubtly give you an insight to where and possible when it was made. That could have been of great inportance at the time to the men who watched it being made.

 

[cc6pack]

Could you post a pic of the headstamp, (bottom) of the shell. I'm thinking it could be a 75mm shell?

 

[GuntherHess]

I have read that a lot of "trench art" was done by wounded soldiers while recovering.

 

[NorCalBottleHunter]

i could post a picture of the bottom but i dont think it would do any good, its hard to read anything as it is in person. i can tell you it does say 8cm, and the date, 1939, and some type of shield that i cannot make out due to the corrosion. not that i would sell it since it came from a family member but i was afraid to clean it with brasso or something and decrease the value, like a coin. so there is a question, would cleaning it decrease the value?

 

[NorCalBottleHunter]

i dont know lobey, i like the way the ones you posted shine a bit, really catches the eye. so, is it a bad idea to clean it or not?

 

[cyberdigger]

Yours has a beautiful finish just the way it is, I would not touch it!!! VERY NICE!!!Besides, yours is copper, while the ones Lobey posted are brass.. I don't think you would get the same result by polishing it.

 

[probe buster]

If you're ever traveling I-10 in So Cal, about 30 miles east of Indio at the Chiriaco Summit exit you will find the General Patton Museum. This is worth a stop. They have several trench art pieces on display, along with narrative information. Pretty cool stuff!