Mike Cross Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 My Granddad brought back a brass matchbox cover engraved with various place names - Jolimetz, Ytres, Peronne - and the inscription France 1917-1919. The front face is pictured and has been assumed to relate in some way to either himself or his parents; but there is no consensus of what the letters actually are. Any engravers or experts out there who can offer an answer? MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 I would say that the letters are "C H C ". Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redbarchetta Posted 14 January , 2007 Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Definately concur with Tom on it being CHC. The style of the letters make it almost certainly a monogram, i.e. the initials of the owner. I take it CHC as initials don't tie up with the family. He could have been given it my someone, a keepsake... Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Cross Posted 14 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 14 January , 2007 Thanks for those thoughts. Is there a hint of a & between the (maybe)H and C? Granddad was WAC, his dad was CWC, his mum was HC, and he did not meet Grandma until after the war. After service with the OBLI he served with the Labour Corp (LC ?). The place names are all associated with his Labour Corp service. Been puzzling me for years. There does not appear to be a horizontal line for the middle character to be an 'H'. MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFayers Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 There does not appear to be a horizontal line for the middle character to be an 'H'. MC Agreed, so would CICC or CTCC mean anything? cheers Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Mike: When I looked at this, I thought CHC, got my Mum to look at it, she said CHC (she does the family genealogy, so I trust her to read old handwriting). I mentioned the lack of a cross on the "H", and she said it was implied by the lower curl of the left side of the H heading towards the upper curl on the right side, and looking closer, to my mind it looks like there is a now faint line crossing the two, making it an H for certain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Cross Posted 17 January , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 January , 2007 Thank you gentlemen for your contributions. I might have to concur with the "H" comment - yes there is a very faint line there. I am still wondering what the curls after the H and before the C might be. Could be a '&'. The real meaning of these initials might have to remain a mystery. I have always wondered if other soldiers from 166 Company of the Labour Corps could have brought similar souvenirs home. The name places relate to this service rather than with the OBLI. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 17 January , 2007 Share Posted 17 January , 2007 I'd go for just plain CHC. I think the letters just have a curled styling to the lower right of them, ending in a dot, which is fairly consistent and there is a faint trace of the bottom left and the top right of the H being connected to form the centre bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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