Original Items: Only One Lof of 5 Available. Trench art is any decorative item made by soldiers, prisoners of war, or civilians where the manufacture is directly linked to armed conflict or its consequences. It offers an insight not only to their feelings and emotions about the war, but also their surroundings and the materials they had available to them.

Not limited to the World Wars, the history of trench art spans conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the present day. Although the practice flourished during World War I, the term 'trench art' is also used to describe souvenirs manufactured by service personnel during World War II. Some items manufactured by soldiers, prisoners of war or civilians during earlier conflicts have been retrospectively described as trench art.

All ammunition and field gun rounds are totally inert in this lot and cannot be rendered live again. They are in compliance per the current BATF standards on inert ordnance ownership.

Not Available For Export

The Items Included set are as follows:

- US Army M1910 Web Belt by Russell Mfg. Co With 16 Attached Souvenirs:

"Hate Belt": the idea was that if a German soldier had killed or captured an Allied soldier, then he would have the button from the newly deceased or captured soldier attached to his belt as a kind of notch of conquest on his belt. This, no doubt, is the most intriguing explanation for those decorative belts.

"Souvenir Belt": this description is apt for many of the belts that are in circulation today. The souvenir belt would involve a German infantryman's belt being decorated with buttons and tabs from troops BOTH Allied and CENTRAL Powers and kept as a remembrance of The War.

"Grave Digger Belt": description is self explanatory, to a degree. Troops burying
dead soldiers would sometimes remove buttons from those they buried as a remembrance.

It is impossible to determine the origin of most belts, but some of these highly collectible belts provide some hints as to their origin. Nevertheless, these belts provide for excellent points of interest for collectors.

The belt is in wonderful condition and appears to have had 17 attachments originally but unfortunately one is missing. Most of the attached buttons are German with a few American ones, but the most interesting one is the early 1900s Carhartt’s overalls button.

- German 7.92 Round Brass Letter Opener (8” Total Length): This is a wonderful example of what appears to be an unused letter opener. The round itself has a Prussian button affixed to it and no markings on the “blade”.

- French 8x50mmR Lebel Round With Small Prussian Crown: The 8×50mmR Lebel rifle cartridge was the first smokeless powder cartridge to be made and adopted by any country. It was introduced by France in 1886. Formed by necking down the 11×59mmR Gras black powder cartridge, the smokeless 8mm Lebel cartridge started a revolution in military rifle ammunition. Standard 8mm Lebel military ammunition was also the first rifle ammunition to feature a spitzer boat tail bullet (balle D), which was adopted in 1898. The long-range ballistic performance of the 8mm Lebel bullet itself was exceptional for its time. For use in the magazine tube-fed early Lebel rifle, the 8 mm case was designed to protect against accidental percussion inside the tube magazine by a circular groove around the primer cup which caught the tip of the following pointed bullet. However, the shape of its rimmed bottle-necked case, having been designed for the Lebel rifle's tube magazine, also precluded truly efficient vertical stacking inside a vertical magazine. The bolt thrust of the 8mm Lebel is relatively high compared to many other service rounds used in the early 20th century. Although it was once revolutionary, the 8mm Lebel was declared obsolete after World War I and was soon after replaced with the 7.5×54mm French round.

We believe this to have been used as some sort of stand due to the slit cut in the round but are not 100 percent certain. The round does however display nicely as a stand for the letter opener!

- Matchbox Holder With Prussian Gott Mit Uns Insignia (2 ¼” x 1 ⅝”): Objects like these don’t appear as much but you have to think of the importance of them to the individual soldier. In a time when smoking cigarettes was a way to find relaxation and a brief escape to the horrors of war, the most important item a soldier can have on him is a source of fire. These were rather important to a soldiers’ kit and not just for the smokers, fire and flame has plenty of uses on the battlefield. Flames were used to start cooking fires, ignite flamethrowers and so on. The wooden matchboxes were very fragile and these would protect them as well as offer some protection against moisture.

- French 37mm Hotchkiss Round With Prussian Gott Mit Uns Insignia (6 ¾”): The US forces in WW1 mainly used French and British weapons as their military was not prepared for war, however before the US entered the war, many US factories were making weapons, guns and munitions for the Allies. The 37mm Hotchkiss gun got its start during the 1870s when Benjamin B Hotchkiss, an American inventor was supervising the manufacture of munitions for the French during the Franco-Prussian war. There was a lack of effectiveness with the current Mitrailleuse gun and began designing a replacement.

This round is often referred to as the common type shell, which was made of cast iron and had a brass band around the base of the projectile to aid in flight stabilization by gripping the rifling of the barrel upon firing. This projectile was made to explode upon impact and typically made about 15-20 fragmentation shards. Up until the late 1800's, the brass casings were spiraled to prevent jams in the gun breech, however this was corrected with advancements in metallurgy in which stronger stamped single piece brass casings could be made, these are the types used in WW1 onwards. 2 types of fuses were used with these projectiles, the Hotchkiss type and the Desmarest, and they both look very similar in design. The Hotchkiss type fuse was designed for land use and was typically more reliable.

All items come more than ready for further research and display.