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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Anyone read Cyrillic...?


redbarchetta

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Below is a photo of the wording painted on the side of an empty shell. Looks Eastern European to me, but never got around to definitively identifying it.... until now. Am preparing an exhibition at Compton Verney in Warwickshire and one theme we have chosen is to highlight how global the conflict was, and I'm providing trench art from as many different countries as I can muster, so knowing which country this shell is from suddenly becomes important, as it will hopefully add another country to the display!!

Any opinions, folks?

Thanks

James

post-2897-0-45986300-1394280742_thumb.jp

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It's Bulgarian, prior to the spelling reform of 1945 when the letter Ѣ (and others) was removed.

СПОМЕНЪ ОТЪ ВСЕСВѢТСКАТА ВОЙНА = A SOUVENIR OF THE WORLD WAR

Adrian

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Beat me to it, Adrian - well done. Oh, those happy days of studying the Warsaw Pact...

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I thought it was Bulgarian and was waiting for my Bulgarian neighbour to come back and confirm! Mind you, she was born substantially post 1945 and may not have been able to help - she has problems with the stamps on the Bulgarian Mannlicher bayonet frogs that I have!

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Adrian, Phil & Trajan, thank you for this - Bulgarian works for me!!

Much appreciated

James

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Didn't do much there James, but happy to help in any way. Pieces of trench art re-using shell cases do occasionally appear over here and I'll keep a look out for anything that might be of interest.

Julian

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Thanks, Julian - yes do look out. I'm doing an exhibition later this year with a theme of the global nature of the war, so using trench art from as many different countries as I can muster. It is only when you come to do something like this that you suddenly realise where the gaps are, and Turkey is one! Several items made from copper from the lighthouse at Helles Point (which will go in the 'significant materials' section), lots of POW stuff (for the POW/internee section), but no decorated shell cases for the 'global war' section, strangely... I guess the post-war tourist trade on Gallipoli was vastly smaller that in France, so without the market, the products didn't get made...

Let me know if you come across anything!

James

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I also agree about the unreformed Bulgarian, but I would enter a note of caution as to the actual date of the inscription. I very much doubt whether the Bulgarian equivalent of the description as a "world" war would have been used during the war itself. The inscription was probably added for display purposes afterwards, and any present caption should make this clear

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Noted, MB - I think it most likely decorated in the 1920s or even 30s, but it remains 'trench art' nonetheless as it is created as a direct result of the war, from the detritus. Most large pieces are post-war - no Tommy would have wanted to lug this thing around in their pack as a souvenir!!

Thanks

James

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I also agree about the unreformed Bulgarian, but I would enter a note of caution as to the actual date of the inscription. I very much doubt whether the Bulgarian equivalent of the description as a "world" war would have been used during the war itself. The inscription was probably added fro display purposes afterwards, and any present caption should make this clear

Point taken, but there are a few contemporary references to the GW being a World War - bound to be a thread on this somewhere on GWF. So, scenario c/would be, end of hostilities, ending of the GW, and a bit of memorabilia made and possibly decorated to celebrate the end of the damn thing!

Doubtless a lot of 'trench art' was made post-eventum. But nonetheless it was made from the detritus of the relevant war to commemorate that conflict, and so is - as some might say! - 'period'!

Edit: Redbarchetta, just saw your piece which came in as I was doing mine, and clearly I agree

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