Germany, Third Reich. A POW Camp Art Relief by a Captive Mariner Employed with the Erie Peat Company

(Grabenkunst Plakette). An interesting prisoner of war (POW) camp art relief, constructed of hand-carved wood with lacquer and multi-coloured paint, depicting a stag in a traditional alpine forest scene, situated within a border of stylized oak leaves, the reverse retaining a wire hanger and period label bearing a handwritten inscription indicating that the relief was carved by a captured German merchant mariner who was among the 60 employed from 1943 until 1945 as an employee in good faith with the Erie Peat Company in Wainfleet, Ontario (not as traditional POWs, although five who absconded from these positions were subsequently captured and sent to POW camps), measuring 41.5 cm (w) x 32 cm (h), an interesting example of camp art crafted and sold by a captive merchant mariner to supplement pay in extremely fine condition.