Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a tremendous piece of trench art made from an enormous spent German artillery shell casing which measures 9¼” in diameter and is 9⅛” tall. The shell depicts a large scene of three French children mourning a grave in a destroyed city with rubble, destroyed trees, and debris in the background. A young girl with her arm in a sling is knelt before a recently buried grave with small rocks and a cross marking it. Considering there are three children at this grave, we can only assume this is the grave of another child killed in the bombing of their city. The caption underneath reads c’est ta main, which translates to it’s your hand. This is likely referring to Germany’s aggression in letting the First World War go on for so terribly long. By engraving this onto a German shell, the caption is basically saying “this was your own doing.”

This is a somber and very dark reminder of the cost of war. This is the darkest subject matter we have seen on a piece of trench art, and being such an enormous-sized shell only further delivers the message.

The bottom of the shell is stamped:

97
PATRONENFABRIK
KARLSRUHE
JULI 1917
SP255

This is a fantastic piece of trench art which will complement any WWI trench art collection very well. Its size makes for a really stellar display, so don’t miss out on this macabre piece. Comes ready for further research and display.