Copper Chronicles: How a shipyard worker hammered artillery shells into art

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So where does the copper come from? I thought artillery shells were all brass.

Yes, the shells were made of brass, but he was a coppersmith all his subsequent decorative work was in copper. And if you read newspaper accounts of his shell vases back in the 1900s, they are referred to as “copperware” even though they were made out of brass. The term is used imprecisely when it includes brass.

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My grandfather had a shell that was cut to look like a parade dress cap. I think it had his years of service (WWI) engraved on the inside as well.

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