Trench art specimen vase : Sapper S K Pearl, 5 Field Company Engineers, AIF

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme
Accession Number RELAWM14158
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Trench Art
Physical description Brass; Copper; Steel
Maker Pearl, Stanley Keith
Place made France: Picardie, Somme
Date made September 1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Trench art specimen vase, to take a single flower, made from a brass German 'pom-pom' shell case and a brass German flare cartridge. The shell base is unaltered from the original. Attached to it is a section of a brass flare cartridge that has been flared out at the vase rim. Soldered to each side of the vase are decorative serpentine copper handles. A steel German infantryman's button with a Prussian crown is attached to the lower centre front of the vase. The base of the shell is impressed 'PATRONENFABRIK KARLSRUHE 98 VII 25 [crown] M'.

History / Summary

This vase is part of a collection of trench art made by 6756 Sapper Stanley Keith Pearl, a Tasmanian who served with 5 Field Compnay Engineers, AIF. He enlisted for service on 9 November 1915 and returned to Australia on 21 March 1919. Pearl subsequently moved to Canberra and was employed as a carpenter by the Australian War Memorial. He supplied the following information about the specimen vase, 'Made on the Somme in September 1918. The vase is a German flare cartridge from Warfusee-Abancourt, with a German infantry button at the base. At the bottom is a portion of a 3.7-cm German shell-case. Its handles are driving bands stripped from an unfired 3.7-cm shell found at Suzanne.'