7cm (2.75in) x 20cm (8in)
Silver pouch flap adapted for use as a clothes brush, applied with the gilt crowned EVIIR cypher of King Edward VII (reigned 1902-1911), the engraved border decoration as worn by the 13th Hussars and the 19th (Princess of Wales’s) Hussars. The pouch flap bearing the maker’s mark of Joseph Jennens & Co, Hallmarked Birmingham 1903
Originally worn by cavalrymen as containers for carbine rifle ammunition, shoulder belt pouches assumed purely decorative usage in the mid nineteenth century. Late in the century the tradition of recycling the silver elements of an officer’s uniform after retirement for domestic use was developed with a number of prestigious silversmithing firms carrying out the bespoke work to order.