Military memorabilia - Princess Mary 1914 Cartridge and silver topped pencil
This is an amazing military memorabilia and very collectible .
Condition: Used but well loved. May need a little cleaning.
Pencil top is marked with sterling silver and the bullet 2024 is marked with a letter 'M' Mary with a small crown. base marked with : KN 14 VII
As British colonialism spread in Africa, the industry of battlefield souvenirs boomed. Opportunistic scavengers-turned-entrepreneurs picked over battlefields, stepping around the bodies of fallen soldiers, in order to retrieve the bullet casings. They were then sent back to England in bulk to be cleaned up, manufactured into cheap writing instruments, and sold to anyone who wanted their very own piece of the action.
The early models were made by inserting a pencil and propelling mechanism into the bullet casing. The user could advance the graphite in increments in a method similar to modern mechanical pencils. The next generation of bullet pencils, included in Christmas care packages to soldiers from Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary in 1914, were much simpler and contained no moving parts. They were essentially a short pencil inserted into a sterling silver top then stuck into a bullet casing. Casing marked with M under a crown. They were also smaller and ideal for carrying in a pocket on a battlefield.
Ref. 4128
Product code: Military memorabilia - Princess Mary 1914 Cartridge 2024 and silver topped pencil