Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. The United States lacked industry that could build artillery and was only able to do so in collaboration with European manufacturers. With the outbreak of the war in 1914, this collaboration came to an end as European manufacturers focused on equipping their home countries. When the United States entered the war in 1917, it was clear that their artillery would not be sufficient, so the USA mostly used French and British artillery.

The French 75 mm field gun was a quick-firing field artillery piece adopted in March 1898. The French 75 was designed as an anti-personnel weapon system for delivering large volumes of time-fused shrapnel shells on enemy troops advancing in the open. At the opening of World War I, in 1914, the French Army had about 4,000 of these field guns in service. By the end of the war about 12,000 had been produced. It was also in service with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), which had been supplied with about 2,000 French 75 field guns. It is a common sight that many of the American made trench art pieces were made from French 75mm shell casings.

This shell casing stands at 13 ¾” tall with a 3 ⅜” wide base. The artwork, which is darker in appearance than the photos (due to lighting), is very patriotic in nature with an American Doughboy soldier holding a French woman from behind, with the shields of the U.S.A. and France to their left and right. The French woman is holding a cigarette which has smoke emanating from it. There is a ribbon with a phrase in French underneath them, but it is very worn and we cannot discern what it says. A good research project.

The paint is very worn overall but still makes for a great display! This is a wonderful memento of a soldier’s hellacious time during this war and one that appears to have been displayed proudly for decades. Comes more than ready for display.