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

Trench art chrysanthemum vase made from a brass French 75mm shell case. The top of the case has been shaped to flare out and has a scalloped upper edge. Attached to the loewer centre front of the vase are a brass British Royal Artillery cap badge with a brass French Artillery button beneath it. Flat copper handles are soldered to each side of the vase. The base of the shell is impressed, '75 DEC C872L 15 C'.

This vase is part of a collection of trench art made by 6756 Sapper Stanley Keith Pearl, a Tasmanian who served with 5 Field Company Engineers, AIF. He enlisted for service on 9 November 1915 and returned to Australia on 21 March 1919. Pearl subsequently moved to Canberra where he was employed as a carpenter at the Australian War Memorial. He supplied the following information about the chrysanthemum vase, 'Made at Thy-le-Chateau from a French 75mm shell-case and embellished with the Royal Artillery badge and a French artillery button. The shell-case was souvenired from a French battery south of Villers-Bretonneux, while the handles are 1-inch copper steam pipes split down and flattened out. The latter were purloined from a German locomotive which formed part of the Armistice indemnity and were removed at night with a hack saw in spite of a guard.'