WWI German matchbox case from USS Mount Vernon officer

[Bob Hudson]

I found this in a box the other day: it's copper matchbox holder from Imperial Germany. It had a box of matches in it and it wasn't until I took the matchbox out that I realized the copper holder has provenance. It was brought home after WWI by a Warrant Officer Pharmacist stationed on the USS Mount Vernon. The provenance was written on a small piece of paper that seems to be glued inside the holder:

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I got this from the estate of the son of the Warrant Officer. The son was a 30-year destroyer officer beginning in WWII and he is the one who wrote out the provenance for his father's match holder. I wonder if the son carried it with him in WWII?

 

Here's the son:

 

 

And here's the father, the WWI Navy vet:

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I had previously found another item with provenance written by the son: it was the flag flown by his ship during the Battle of Casablanca in WWII. He wrote that out on a plastic grocery bag the flag was stored in:

 

 

You can see the same hand in the writing style:

 

[Bob Hudson]

This WWI Warrant Officer had three sons in the Navy in WWII: one of them was a Navy pilot killed during a training flight in Florida.

 

He joined the Navy in May 1917 and was still with the Mount Vernon when he got married in June 1919:

 

 

His bride died at the home in Coronado where I purchased the estate items.