Lot 148, Auction 4/12/2026: Pair of WWI Brass Trench Art Vases – Alsace and Laffaux

$390.00

In stock

Europe, French and German, World War I, ca. 1914 to 1918 CE. A poignant paired ensemble of repurposed brass shell-casing vases, each painstakingly hand engraved with patriotic inscriptions and delicate foliate flourishes that transform battlefield materiel into intimate memoire. The cylindrical vessels, likely fashioned from spent artillery cases with rolled bases and polished surfaces, bear the legends Souvenir du Moulin de Laffaux 1917 and Souvenir Alsace / 1914 – 15 – 16 – 17. The first commemorates the bitter fighting at the Moulin de Laffaux on the Chemin des Dames in 1917 – actions tied to the Nivelle Offensive and subsequent September assaults when French troops contested and captured the shattered mill from entrenched German forces. The second inscription invokes Alsace, the border province annexed by the German Empire in 1871 and central to French war aims; its sequence of dates likely records years of service or remembrance on that contested front from the outbreak of war through 1917. Size (both the same): 3.1″ Diameter x 10.1″ H (7.9 cm x 25.7 cm)

Such trench art pieces were crafted by soldiers or local ateliers as keepsakes, presentation gifts, or domestic decor, and comparable engraved examples reside in the Imperial War Museum and the Musee de la Grande Guerre.

Condition: Both have light surface wear with a few small nicks to rims. Otherwise, both are intact and very nice with good remaining detail and light patina in areas.

Provenance: private Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA collection

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