Hungerford Arcade have many talented stallholders. Robert Ritter is one such talent. He and his wife Henrietta, have been at the Arcade for quite some time now and stock many interesting items. Robert has kindly written an article for our Blog page which I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did.
We have a matched pair of brass trench-art artillery shells that came from a French market. They’re very good examples, finely executed, with repoussé ivy tendrils and two blank cartouches. We liked them because they have the added interest of being from the legendary French 75 mm field gun (the Canon de 75 modèle 1897), known as the “Soixante-Quinze”. This artillery piece has an iconic status in France, similar to the Spitfire in Britain: it first saw action in 
1898, and it’s still used today to offer salutes during ceremonies. Throughout the First World War the 75 was known for its accuracy and vicious rate of fire, and gained such a reputation among the general population that it was the subject of many propaganda postcards.
Even more interesting, perhaps, is the fact that it gave its name to a famous postwar cocktail, which was thought to have a punch like an incoming round. The classic version mixes gin and champagne with a dash of fresh lemon juice and simple syrup or superfine sugar. Supposedly invented in 1925 by Harry MacElhone at Harry’s American Bar in Paris, it was a favourite of the Lost Generation. However, similar versions were around even earlier: switch the gin for brandy or cognac and you have a “King’s Peg”, as drunk by Dickens. (Switch the gin for absinthe and you have Hemingway’s lethal invention, “Death in the Afternoon”.) There’s no truth to the rumour that soldiers used to mix up this drink in empty 75 shell casings: even if you could find champagne in the trenches, one 75 shell would hold two bottles (we checked), and lemons were in rather short supply.
Robert Ritter
http://www.oxfordstyleantiques.com/
