TO mark the centenary of the start of the First World War, the Royal British Legion has commissioned the design and creation of a beautiful Poppy Pin. The Centenary Flanders Fields poppy pin and cufflinks have been fashioned from the solid brass of original artillery shell fuses found on First World War battlefields.

The shells have been melted down and cast, using the traditional “lost wax” method in which each and every poppy requires a wax version, into a hand-sculpted poppy design. The designs are based on a 100-year-old dried and flattened real poppy from Private Len Smith’s diary. Private Smith, a veteran who lived until 1974, plucked the poppy from No Man’s Land in 1915 and preserved it in his illustrated diary.

Each pin is accompanied by a certificate of provenance and presented in a high-quality case, and all income raised from sales goes directly to The Royal British Legion to support British Armed Forces and their families, past, present and future.

Exclusively available from the Poppy Shop – poppyshop.org.uk – the pin costs £39.99, the cufflinks £79.99.