Original British WWI Pair of Howitzer Trench Art Shells with Flowers & Lion’s Head – 1917 Dated Original Items

Original Items. Only One Pair Available. This is a great matching set of Trench Art decorated shell casings. They are both marked 4.5 How(itze)r II on the bottom, indicating they are for the British QF 4.5-inch howitzer.

The shells are cut down to nearly 3½” tall with a base diameter of 5¼”. The initials L.F. are stamped into one and R.M. on the other. One of the two has a lion’s head with a ring in its mouth akin to a knocker doorbell attached to the side, while the other just has the floral pattern.

This is a great set of trench art shells ready for further research and display!  

The Ordnance QF 4.5-inch howitzer was the standard British Empire field (or “light”) howitzer of the First World War era. It replaced the BL 5-inch howitzer and equipped some 25% of the field artillery. It entered service in 1910 and remained in service through the interwar period and was last used in the field by British forces in early 1942. It was generally horse drawn until mechanisation in the 1930s.

The QF 4.5-inch (110 mm) howitzer was used by British and Commonwealth forces in most theatres, by Russia and by British troops in Russia in 1919. Its calibre (114 mm) and hence shell weight were greater than those of the equivalent German field howitzer (105 mm); France did not have an equivalent. In the Second World War it equipped some units of the British Expeditionary Force in France and British, Australian, New Zealand and South African batteries in East Africa and the Middle East and Far East.