WWI Trench Art Field Gun Artillery 75 MM Shell Battle of the Somme

UsedExcellent condition.French WWI trench art sugar scoop or coal scuttle. Heavy 75 millimeter shell marked PDPs 6931, presumably "Pouderies de Paris." The shell is French, but the piece could have been made by either a French or German solider. Some additional illegible markings on the end of the shell. The side is hand engraved "Somme 1915," with a flower. It is fashioned as a scoop, with a brass handle, and two bullets as "feet." About 3 3/8 inches in diameter, 4 3/4 inches long.   While the main Battle of the Somme commenced in 1916, the Germans, British and French occupied the area earlier. According to Greatwar.co.uk:  "During 1915 the German Second Army carried out an intensive programme of construction on its Front Line and Second Line from its northern right flank at Monchy-au-Bois, south across the Ancre river valley and over the gently rolling chalk hills to the Somme river. (In June 1915) there was a diversionary attack by regiments of the French Second Army on La Toutve