I was going through my late uncle's belongings and I uncovered what looked to be the shell of a WWI field gun that was turned into a vase. I attempted google but I have no idea if its an individual created piece or something created for retail.
So I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone can answer.
Was it common for soldiers to turn shells into artwork?
The bottom of the piece has the stamp "AM LOT 75mm F.G. BH-1948-18". I'm assuming the 75mm F.G. refers to the size of the field gun but what do the other numbers mean? If it's a serial number, can we trace it to it's origin?
The shell has the words "World War" with "1914-1919" on it. Was World War 1 referred to as the "World War" that early? Why would it claim the war ended in 1919?
Thanks for any help.
The war did end in 1919. The armistice that ended the fighting was signed in 1918 but the Treaty of Versailles that officially ended the war was signed in 1919.
Was there any engravings on the out side? A lot of trench art was quite smutty.