Remembrance: The 10,000 poppy pins made out of WW2 metal

Ten-thousand lapel poppy pins made out of Second World War metal are being sold to raise funds for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.

The aluminium pins are all handmade, using reclaimed metal from each branch of UK Armed Forces.

A mixture of Spitfire metal and mess tins represent the RAF and Army, whilst finding metal from the Royal Navy proved a lot more challenging.

Creator Chris Bennett, managing director of TMB Art Metal, said: "We couldn’t find anything aluminium from the Navy to mix in from a metal point of view, so what we ended up doing was using a bit of lateral thinking, and I managed to source some metal from a Royal Navy landing craft that was used on D-Day in 1944.

"It’s been restored and we grind little, kind of, iron filings from that steel and add it in to the red enamel.

"So, you don’t necessarily see the Navy metal but it is in there. It’s submerged within the red enamel."

It takes three weeks to make each batch and each pin is dedicated to a service person who lost their life in the war.

Similar projects have taken place in previous years but Mr Bennett said that this year, in particular, was extra special given the important history of the metals used.

"We’re always looking for a different angle, of course, the different back story, because it is all about the back story," he said.

"In my view, if these poppies were made of ordinary silver then there is no back story.

"Arguably, they’re financially worth more because of metallic value, but there’s no back story to it. 

"To me, the strongest bit about this is the fact they’re actually made of original World War Two metal."

It is hoped all 10,000 poppy pins will be sold by 11 November.