Trench Art

Although at one stage Trench Art was hugely popular, this popularity has waned over the past few decades as people loose touch with the significance of these items.

Broadly speaking, Trench Art can be defined as one of the following: items produced by soldiers during the war, items produced by civilians during the war and items produced commercially from surplus war materials between the wars. The first type is usually of most interest to collectors as the story behind their creation can add historical and emotional significance to the piece. However, as it is often difficult to tell the difference between pieces produced by soldiers and pieces produced by civilians there are no set rules for what is and isn’t collectible.

As the Trench Art artist was only limited by their imagination when it came to what to create there are a wide range of pieces available. Among the most common are letter openers (usually made from a shell casing and a small piece of metal) sweetheart items (rings, bracelets and trinkets intended to send home to loved ones) and decorated shell casings which are arguably the most common and most collectible. The amount of work that went into some of these pieces and their aesthetic appeal often makes them appealing to people with no interest in Trench Art who are just after a nice decorative object.

Although there are people who collect Trench Art in general, the most common field for specialization is decorated shell casings made into flower vases. Other aspects that appeal to collectors are pieces that commemorate battles or identify their makers (pieces are rarely signed) pieces with engravings or information about their creation and of course pieces that are just nice to look at.

Given the amount of work that goes into these pieces and the material from which they are created forgeries are not really a big problem in the Trench Art market. Besides, the concept of Trench Art is art made from wartime debris and hence anything made out of wartime debris (regardless of when) could be deemed Trench Art. Although, if you are buying a piece that is reporting to be old you may want to check it out to make sure before you commit to buy.

More than just one off objects of beauty, Trench Art offers collectors a window into a dramatic period in the world’s history and as such can provide many avenues for further research and discovery.

For more information on these items please contact us.