Brass trench art German officer's cap : Driver C S Barton, 1 Divisional Ammunition Column

Officer's cap, German, miniature made from base of brass German 77mm shell case. The bowl of the cap is formed by the base of a shellcase, with a copper chinstrap, edging and buttons, brass visor with copper binding featuring a decorative edge, and a brass Prussian button used as a badge. The base of the shellcase (really the top of the cap) is marked 'st 77 OKTR 1917 A^Dr 60 A^Dr.' The inside of the cap is engraved 'C BARTON', and the reverse of the visor with his serial number, 31078.

Made by 31078 Driver Clarence Stanmore Barton, a shunter from Sydney, NSW, born Mudgee, who enlisted on 15 September 1916 aged 26. Barton served with 1 Field Artillery Brigade as a driver for 1 Divisional Column. Barton embarked for overseas service from Sydney aboard RMS Orontes on 19 December 1916, disembarking at Plymouth on 17 February 1917. After a short peroid of illness and training, Barton entrained for France, joining his unit on 24 May. He returned to Australia aboard the Euripides on 7 September 1919, and was discharged on 8 December.

Barton collected the materials to make this cap on the battlefield and worked on it in various places around Flanders and on the Somme in 1918. The chinstrap is made from the copper driving band of the German 77 mm shellcase, the edging is some small tubing from a German aircraft found in a dam, the buttons are from French bullets and the badge is a Prussian coat button.