Need help with this

[mlayers]

I found this silver looking piece and I need help IDing it. on one side it has 1918 BOUOC NE the other side it has a plant and a cross and on the bottom it says OCT HORNTON hope the pics turns out.....Matt

 

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[Retired Sarge]

It might read O C Thornton. Wondering if the cross has anything to do with WWI, and the date of 1918 is when the war ended.

Added I found this so far:

U.S. WWI Soldier:

Name: Thornton, Oliver Clifton
Birth Date: 15 Oct 1881
City/County: Rankin
State: MS
Ethnicity: W

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[Old_Okie]

Agree with Mike on the name. Probably a WWI souveneir from the Netherlands. (NE)

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Shot you a reply on todays finds..... It's a match case, It looks to be German and likely WW1. The German Army issued match cases, but they had a raised crown and the slogan "Gott Mit Uns" on them, Yours could be trench art, judging by the roughness of the engraving. This pic is of the Army version, It's possible yours started out like this and was modified, or could have been made from scratch, I'm not sure.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Just not finding anything for BOUOC NE, this is the stumper for me.

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Just not finding anything for BOUOC NE, this is the stumper for me.

Mike
USAF Retired

that's tripping me up too, I wonder if it's a misspelling of boulogne? That would make sense since there wa a lot of action there in both world wars....

 

[Retired Sarge]

Could be, I have googled myself stupid with no luck!

Found another one

US WWI Soldier.

Name: Oliver C Thornton
Birth Date:
City/County: Bryan
State: OK
Ethnicity:

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[allan]

One hundred seventy seven Americans of the Expeditionary Force, including the commanding officer General Pershing and Lieutenant Patton, arrived at Boulogne-sur-Mer on June 13, 1917. http://ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article476 very interesting piece ,wonder if anyone can come up with a unit for this guy if his unit was there at that time

 

[mlayers]

Thanks guys. I will also do some more checking on this. I also was wondering what do you think I should use on it to clean it up some more......Matt

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I agree its one-of-a-kind; handmade; trench art. BOUOGNE ?

I wonder if it's a misspelling of boulogne? That would make sense since there wa a lot of action there in both world wars....

That seems likely. I cant spell it either.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

It might read O C Thornton. Wondering if the cross has anything to do with WWI, and the date of 1918 is when the war ended.

Added I found this so far:

U.S. WWI Soldier:

Name: Thornton, Oliver Clifton
Birth Date: 15 Oct 1881
City/County: Rankin
State: MS
Ethnicity: W

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Shot you a reply on todays finds..... It's a match case, It looks to be German and likely WW1. The German Army issued match cases, but they had a raised crown and the slogan "Gott Mit Uns" on them, Yours could be trench art, judging by the roughness of the engraving. This pic is of the Army version, It's possible yours started out like this and was modified, or could have been made from scratch, I'm not sure.

Yea it appears to be the German Iron Cross. http://gb.ioffer.com/i/wwi-german-matchbox-holder-1914-iron-cross-gesc-stamp-382006572

 

[Zephyr]

"Bouogne billancourt" seems to be a place....

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

"Bouogne billancourt" seems to be a place....

I think its "Boulogne Billancourt". Its easy to mispell. Even the internet has mispelled it.

 

[Retired Sarge]

So we have a WWI match case, with trench art on it, that belong to or was picked up my a WWI US soldier by the name of O. C. Thornton. BOUOCNE possibly being either a misspelling of Boulogne Billancourt or Boulogne. The match case also having a German Iron Cross insignia on it, either put there by Thornton if the original owner or by a German soldier who then lost it. The possible O. C. Thornton could be one of the following soldiers.

Is there anything else we can come up with on this?

Name: Thornton, Oliver Clifton
Birth Date: 15 Oct 1881
City/County: Rankin
State: MS
Ethnicity: W

Name: Thornton, Oliver C
Birth Date:
City/County: Bryan
State: OK
Ethnicity:

Mike
USAF Retired

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Thanks guys. I will also do some more checking on this. I also was wondering what do you think I should use on it to clean it up some more......Matt

I would just use soapy water and a soft toothbrush, don't lose any of the patina. If you can, compare the engraving of the name with the rest of the engraving, does it all appear to have been done by the same hand or tool? It could be that a soldier found it and added his name to it later. I can't imagine an allied soldier carving iron crosses on anything.