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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

identification of objects


Andrew Core

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Hi

I've just returned from The Somme and found the below items near the Serre sector Sheffiled Park.and found these items. I'm wondering whether they can be identified as part of shells.

The final picture I think is a cigarette tin. Not too sure the date or whether it is of the age.

post-124114-0-53086700-1442600921_thumb.

post-124114-0-76504300-1442600922_thumb.

post-124114-0-38726400-1442600973_thumb.

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We need bigger pictures, but items 1 and 2 look like fired HE shell fuzes, I'd take a further loose guess that item 1 is a German HE fuze that was partly made of aluminium which has corroded away in the ground.

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Well, the word 'Tabak' certainly makes it likely it was a tobacco container of some kind, but it would be nice to know what came before what looks to be 'Lieferant' = 'supplier'

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Hello, Andrew - The first two photos are indeed of ordnance-related items. The brass piece is part of a German howitzer or minenwerfer fuse. The steel piece is the "collar" (my term) of a British shell; it is a section that screwed into the top of a British shell (probably a large-caliber shrapnel shell) and the fuse would be screwed into the top of your piece. The purpose of the section of shell usually was to allow the steel shrapnel disc to be placed into the shell and then the gap to the smaller-diameter fuse to be closed, Regards, Torrey

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Hi all,

A quick reminder of a point I have raised before. If you do not know what something is then DON'T Pick it up!

If you don't know what it is then how do you know if it's dangerous. Being in close proximity to explosions is not pleasent, (I can vouch for this) and causes all sorts of medical problems like DEATH!

Please do not create work for my colleagues and I, I would be happy never to have to deal with the results of inappropriate curiosity ever again.

Rod

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  • 4 weeks later...

I found this in a field in front of Sheffield Park. I've cleaned it up and appears brass.

Has anyone any idea what it could appear from.

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Hi all,

A quick reminder of a point I have raised before. If you do not know what something is then DON'T Pick it up!

If you don't know what it is then how do you know if it's dangerous. Being in close proximity to explosions is not pleasent, (I can vouch for this) and causes all sorts of medical problems like DEATH!

Please do not create work for my colleagues and I, I would be happy never to have to deal with the results of inappropriate curiosity ever again.

Rod

I can only agree with this. Especially German fuzes can still have active and very nasty detonators! The friction of cleaning these can have very serious consequences.

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