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Desk Set

A dullened desk set made from many metals. It has a hand grenade in the middle surrounded by shell casings as pen holders.

Collection of Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario, CWM 19830078-025

various metals, 9.5 x 25.5 x 16.5 cm, 1918

Ernest Edwin Davis was a gunsmith when he enlisted as a private in the First World War. He served in the Canadian Ordnance Corps until
1919. He then rejoined the military and served as the Chief Armourer for the Army in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He continued to serve in this
capacity in Halifax during the Second World War and retired as a Captain in December 1945. He made this desk ornament in 1918 from a No. 5 Mills bomb (or hand-grenade) with bullets and rifle casings screwed into a metal plate. It sat on his desk for many years as a reminder of his military experiences.