Trench Art

[Eugen]

I visited an antique store this past weekend and encountered this little gem and just had to buy it ($75). This thing is so cool. I appreciate the work it took to make it. The 'bullet' part was apparently machined from billet aluminum

The tag listed it simply as "Trench Art". While it is art, it is a very creative lighter. Most probably some vet who had machinist skills crafted this lighter from a brass shell and another mystery component. In my imagination this aluminum part appears to be the detonator/business end of a mortar or small bomb shell. Am I correct?

I am sure there are some ordinance experts on the forum that can also identify the shell, that only shows "L C 43" on the bottom.

Any help would be appreciated.

Lastly, yes, I just had to polish it. It was really cruddy.

[rhuff]

I may be wrong(happens often), but I believe that the L C 43 is for Lake City ammo plant, and the cartridge/shell was manufactured in 1943.

[Eugen]

Originally Posted by rhuff

I may be wrong(happens often), but I believe that the L C 43 is for Lake City ammo plant, and the cartridge/shell was manufactured in 1943.

Correct! I Googled Lake City Ammo and found their website. They actually had a photo of the identical (1943) headstamp on a 50 cal. shell casing on the Wikipedia main page. That made for a quick and easy i.d. . Thank you.