Lot 784
A FIRST WORLD WAR NAVAL SOUVENIR.
A desk ornament with central bullet shaped upright on a circular base engraved 'A PIECE Of 6" GUNSHIELD H.M.S. MERSEY RUFIJI 1915'. HMS Mersey was a Humber Class monitor built by Vickers for Brazilian Navy but purchased by the royal Navy in 1914, the ship fared well at the battle of Yser in 1914 and bombarded troops and artillery positions off the coast of Belgium in 1915. The Rufiji river in German East Africa saw HMS Mersey take part in the destruction of the German light cruiser Konigsberg.
