I was interested to see the trench art vase turn up in Stonecats' "A study of Contrast" thread. Does anyone perceive a link between trench art work of this kind and Arts and Crafts metalwork generally? Certainly the trench art pieces feel right at home in an AC themed room. Three images of my own trench art vases accompany this post. For those who are wondering, the objects in the tallext vase are a collection of trench art letter openers.

Another Trench Art Vase

Third and last Trench Art vase

You may or may not know this but Dirk Van Erp got his start at hammering copper in an old ship yard, using of all things, spent shell casings. About a year ago an early piece of his was sold on ebay and not to many people knew what it was but there were a few who did and the piece went for a rather large sum of money. The piece was a vase that was formed from a casing that bared the name of the shipyard that he worked at on the bottom of the vase. Even the primer for the shell remained on the vase. Something to keep in mind when your out hunting for period copper. Hope this helps. Jason

The pinched base in vase 1 and 2 seems to be a common treatment as I have seen this done several times - I assume the shell was spun and heated to soften it up, and then hammered or tooled into shape. The best trench art lamp I have ever seen went on eBay earlier this year (didn't save a pic unfortunately) and the quality of hammering and patina treatment was superb A&C style, but the maker was of course a mystery. I don't think there is any doubt that trench art is influenced by the A&C movement and vice versa, given the timing of WW1. I imagine much of the trench art out there was not really made in the trenches but rather back here, by idle hands, right after the war. I also imagine someday finding a Vetcraft Shops stamp on the bottom of a shell case vase !

Stonecat,

I too saw a superb shell casing vase with wonderful hammering and superb patina. I suspect it was the work of Van Erp and so did the high bidders. The shap was a known shape used by Van Erp.

Fred

Here's a nice Trench Art vase from my collection that I would like to share with all of you. It's 14 inches tall and the detail in the flowers on the vase just awesome. I agree that many of these vases deserve some proper recognition due to their fine craftsmanship.

Here's a close-up of the detail in the flowers.

Jason

Looks like poppies, a fairly common A&C motif.

I often wonder if there's a way to tell if the shell is WW1 or WW2. The one I posted has 1942 stamped on it, plus other letters and numbers, but I don't know if this is the year or just an ID number of some sort.

Mine has a series of numbers and letters on the bottom as well. I guess I could ask some old war vets that I know and see if any of them could give me some insight as to what they stand for. I'll keep you posted if I find anything out.

Jason

My vases (a matched pair) are also dated - from WWI. As I have seen other shells of the same calibre with different numbers, this would indicate dates.

Certainly, many trench art pieces fit in beautifully in rooms decorated in the Arts & Crafts style. People interested in this unique form of folk art may like my recently published book, "Trench Art: An Illustrated History." Details may be viewed at http://www.atlasbooks.com It is a hefty tome with over 1,000 color illustrations, including many in the Arts & Crafts style.

Jane Kimball