✅ SOLVED World War II Artillery Shell Case Ashtray ID?

vpnavy · Sep 2, 2016

My neighbor gave me this shell case ashtray today. He said his Dad brought it home from WWII. I tried looking up the numbers, etc. but really haven't had any success. It is about 3 & 5/8" across, 1 & 1/4" high and 6" across the the butt holders.

Can anyone tell me what all the markings mean?

drbecker · Sep 2, 2016

vpnavy said:
My neighbor gave me this shell case ashtray today. He said his Dad brought it home from WWII. I tried looking up the numbers, etc. but really haven't had any success. It is about 3 & 5/8" across, 1 & 1/4" high and 6" across the the butt holders.

Can anyone tell me what all the markings mean?

9
The casing is dated Showa 14 (1939) and made by Nagoya Arsenal, the primer is dated Showa 15 (1940) and appears to be marked to Tokyo arsenal. These ashtrays made from Japanese shells are pretty common.

vpnavy · Sep 2, 2016

drbecker said:
The casing is dated Showa 14 (1939) and made by Nagoya Arsenal, the primer is dated Showa 15 (1940) and appears to be marked to Tokyo arsenal. These ashtrays made from Japanese shells are pretty common.

Thanks a bunch!

NOLA_Ken · Sep 2, 2016

Hey that's really cool! I just found an American one. It's pretty neat to see another one turn up and yours being a Japanese shell makes it cooler in my mind!

vpnavy · Sep 3, 2016

NOLA_Ken said:
Hey that's really cool! I just found an American one. It's pretty neat to see another one turn up and yours being a Japanese shell makes it cooler in my mind!

Neat! I put mine in a bowl of Catsup over night and it cleaned up real nice!