Lot 212: A First World War British 18-Pounder Trench Art Vase Hand-Inscribed by a German Prisoner of War

A First World War trench art vase fashioned from a British 18-pounder artillery shell casing. The brass body is decorated with hand-chased and stippled motifs, featuring a top border of stylized floral wreaths and swags. One side contains a central rectangular stippled panel inscribed ‘SOUVENIR / OF THE / GREAT / WAR / FROM / SOMME FRONT / 1916-17’. A secondary stippled panel is present on the reverse, though the characters within it are heavily worn and not clearly legible.

The base of the shell bears various factory stampings including ’18 PR’ for an 18-pounder field gun, ‘II’ for Mark II, ‘LOT 041’, ‘CF’ for Cordite Full charge, ‘ALCO’ for American Locomotive Company, and a broad arrow government ownership mark. It is dated ‘2/16’ for February 1916. Stippled into the brass around the primer is a hand-inscribed attribution reading ‘MADE BY GERMAN PRISONER / IN FRANCE / W. GERST’. The rim of the casing has been flared outwards to form a vase shape.