These days we remember the end of WW1

During WW1 Soltau was a camp for ca 10.000 Belgium prisoners.

In contrast to the initials , the name Soltau and date are upside down inscipted.

here some pics of the camp.....

hi benten
hope this e mail finds you doing well this belt buckle type ring is nicely created has all the aspics of the prisioner art great piece of ww1 soldiers who has nothing but time to kill great item thanks again god bless andy militarynut

WOW, Nice!! Looks like its actually a strip and made into the belt / ring,,, and it is!..

I've seen a couple ,,but not with the engraving like that. Never had one..

Super piece of craftsmanship!! Good catch!...,G.

Hi Andy, yes to kill the time, in this camp without nothing around, comfortless . One can be glad to be busy with making rings .

Hi Gaspare, Yes you are right, craftmanship; One has to be carefull, because the aluminium can break . It is not done in a hurry


Thanks for the complement.

I found an old German ad from 1908. This ring in the ad hasn't been made of aluminium. It was a golden one, with 2 brilliants.

So this type of ring was already known .

you referring to the 'belt & buckle 'ring? , or the Snake? Guess the B&B ring as thats what started the topic [and red line]...

- 1908, you could probably get a ring / jewelry in just about any material out there as there was no real strict conservation of metals.. Brass/bronze was always in need one way or another for pots/pans,, and bullets/ shells!!!! - These B&B [belt & buckle] rings were some like the one shown in the beginning which my opinion is still of a 'trench type' which must have been unbelievable hard to do in the field even a small workshop. The maker had talent ,,and patience! I've also seen some silver examples that were equally works of art and the detail , workmanship was just super..

- I've had a few snake rings go thru mu hands over the years too.. Never felt comfortable on adding one to my collection. Don't have a good reason,,just felt weird to me.. Now,, there was plenty of snake rings such as this for womens and mens rings both pre war and wartime!, Plenty of adverts and even saw a 'in wear' photo.
Now days, wouldn't mind adding one to top off the collection!

Great adbvertisement!

Gas
You are right, it would be very hard for some of the so called "Trench Art" to have been made in the field.
The BB ring was made in a prison camp, even harder. Looks too good for that.
I'm into US WW11 fighting knives. the Trench made ones are very popular now, and there are millions of them for sale.
There must have been a lot of trench machine shops in the field during that time.
It was World War Two, how did these guys have soo much time on there hands to make knives?/
It's part of the intrigue, we will really never know about some things.

Ed,

I agree. I've always thought most 'trench art' was more 'theater made' at best. The only exceptions are the occasional scribbed brass shell casing or carved wood piece from WW1.

G. Yes, I was referring to the belt ring .