Trench art paper knife : Sapper C G Blunt, 12 Field Company Engineers, AIF

Trench art paper knife manufactured from single large steel shell splinter. The handle has been left in its original jagged state, while the blade has been machined and polished to a fine finish. A blunt-nosed brass bullet has been soldered on to the handle.

16171 Sapper Cecil George Blunt was born in Chiswick, NSW and was an engineering apprentice with a Brisbane firm when he enlisted in the AIF on 5 October 1916, aged 23. He embarked for overseas service with the Field Company Engineers (FCE) Reinforcements on 11 November that year and arrived in France, after training in England, in April 1917. He was taken on strength into 12 FCE that month and served out the rest of the war with that unit on the Western Front. He embarked for return to Australia in England on 15 June 1919 and was discharged on 10 September.