Original Austro-Hungarian WWI Trench Raiding Mace Club - Personal Collection David Machnicki Author of At Arm's Length Series

Original Item: One-of-a-kind. Purchased directly from David F. Machnicki, the author of At Arm's Length Trench Club book Series. We were told that this club will be featured in the upcoming Volume three of the series This is a gruesome example of a Great War Austrian Trench Club comprised of a simple yet effective design. It measures 16 inches in overall length and weighs just under 1 lb. It is of all wooden construction, shaped somewhat like a baseball bag, and 14 pyramidal shaped spikes have been hammered in place around the circumference. We can see that originally there were 20 spikes, so 6 are missing, and they were originally in in a concentric pattern of two's and three's. The design is similar to others in the book series, as shown in the pictures (book pages are not included). The wood haft tapers gradually towards a grooved grip area, with a wide groove near the bottom where a carrying strap / thong was probably attached originally. This well-designed example must have been q