This particular piece of trench art is a Cigar Holder Trench Art made during World War I to resemble an officers hat. This Cigar Holder Trench Art can be traced from the insignia on the front of the piece which appears to be a German “Reichsadler” Imperial Eagle, which also helps date it from between 1914 to 1918.
This piece is made of tin, copper, and brass; it includes holes on the top to hold cigars, a match box holder, a larger opening where a glass ashtray would have sat, as well as a mechanical cigar cutter in the front under which is operated by the knob on the top. It is possible that this piece was made either for a German officer or as a memorial of one.
Trench Art History
The stage is 1914 during the occupation of “The Great War”, World War 1. This type of warfare included what is known as trench warfare in which both sides dig in to trenches, gaining inches on the battlefield. Artillery caused enormous destruction during World War I and became one of the dominant weapons of the conflict. Armies fired millions of shells from field guns and heavy artillery pieces in an effort to destroy enemy fortifications, cut barbed wire, suppress troops, and prepare the way for infantry attacks.
The result was a battlefield littered with the remnants of industrial warfare. Empty brass shell casings, bullets, shell fragments, equipment, wood, aluminum, copper, and other discarded materials could sometimes be recovered from behind the lines or from abandoned battlefield positions.
To a resourceful soldier or craftsman, these materials represented more than military debris. They were raw materials; from here “Trench Art” emerged. Some objects were fashioned by soldiers during periods away from combat. Prisoners of war also produced decorative objects, sometimes as a means of occupying their time or acquiring goods through exchange.