Spear holder - howitzer trench art
 

Just got this piece of trench art at a local antiques fair. It is made from a howitzer shell. about 6 inches in diameter and the shell itself is about 24" long.

The base is solid brass or bronze. Very heavy. Just the thing to display some of my spears. Most of the spears you see are from Papua New Guinea. They are about nine feet long or more.

I had them more evenly arranged until I pulled it out for photos.

Maybe we could have some pictures of interesting displays that other Forum members have?

Careful Bill
 

G'day Bill,

Another nice item for the Marsh museum, be careful though, I too have an old shell that size and it was unstable with weapons half that length, I'd hate to see it crash down on some other treasures you may be hiding, though the added legs seem like they add some stability to it. My old shell just holds antique walking and sword canes now.

I am currently reviving an old Chinese cupboard, reducing the width as parts of it were so far gone, the cupboard will house my swords within and the Hudiedao collection on the inside of doors when all is complete.

Gav

Howdy Gav,

The big heavy brass plate and legs offer a very secure stable platform. As you can see in the pictures, several of my heavy wooden spears have shifted to the left and it is still solid.

Would like to see your cupboard when you get it ready.

A call to arms.
 

Hard not to see the rather stunning Kudu head. I have a kudu horn trumpet. No idea if it is old or not but still looks cool with some weapons. Get the blow right and it makes a great sound. They were used to raise alarm call to arms as well as other calls. I have a feeling the axe here may be a throwing axe.

Hi Bill,
".............." (speachless)

Wonderful decor....... :cool: :cool: :cool:

In extreme envy

David

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Hi Bill,
Not a fan of the Kudu, but the room is pretty darn amazing!
What a great use for your Shell stand for spears too! I also would worry that it might topple though, do you normally have it in a corner?
The quality of the stand is much better than the norm as well which is nice, love the heavy tripod legs! Have you looked to see if any of the other parts are reuses and id'd them? Is there a date on the underside of the shell?
Is the central part another shell case? I wondered if the round plate was a reused inspection cover or similar because of the bolts?

Regards
Gene

P.S. Who does the dusting? ;)

Bill

I like it :cool: but the stand looks awfully top heavy to me. It might be safer against a wall or in a corner? How heavy is the stand?


Lew

I have a few shells around.
It seems as you can either fix a solid decor to the base of these things, like the one Bill is showing, or widen their area with some material; either one having to be increased in proportion to the objects (weapons) height you intend to display in there. You can 'feel' how steady they are, by pushing them aside and test their resistance. Naturaly is a high risk to display a full size halberd or the like in a shell without any stability device.
When i fear the thing is not safe, i glue a square of acrilic (transparent) material to its bottom. It looks as if the shell is in its self balance.
Also not a bad idea to place them in corners ... specially when you have pets around :eek:
Fernando

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Hi Lew and others,

The piece weighs about 40 pounds. It is quite stable.

The acorn nuts seem to be decoration as they just go through the plate. Possibly it was some part of something else, but it looks like it just looks like a big machined piece of brass. The four legs are about 14 inches tip-to-tip wide.

Someone went to a lot of work to make this, even to flaring the top edge of the shell.

Normally I do have it back against the wall, in a corner. The spears you see do not seem to be tipping it, but I would not leave it out in the hallway.


Gene,

A guy I knew needed a loan and left the kudu as collateral. That was about 20 years ago. I am not a hunter though I have several big game animals (I did not shoot).

If you look carefully in the "room" picture, you will see a blue wildebeest shoulder mount. Actually my two favorite mounts are a full body Tsavo Lion (the last one legally taken) and a cape buffalo shoulder mount.

"Dusting?" Just adds to the patina!


Fernando,

Great idea with the acrylic glued to the base.

You must have a huge house mate! I'm definately a 'break for bunnies' type of chap myself, but when I was a kid I lived in a huge 'stately home' sized house for a time while my father had the job of cataloguing the contents, and I still remember that within the endless badly lit corridors there was a huge stuffed Bear with arms outstretched which i ALWAYS gave a wide berth to! It was quite a place, suits of armour, swords and shields on the walls, tigerskin rug :( even an alleged ghost!
I've seen your lion, he's certainly a magnificent creature! Why was the poor chap shot? was he a maneater?

God I hate dusting! I have a couple of rather large 'exhibits' in my collection and I can honestly say I dread the twice yearly clean they need.


I do have a rather beautiful african antelope myself ;)
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c5...a/IM000158.jpg