Ceylon Mounted Rifles, a silver place card holder.

An attractive silver place card holder of the Ceylon Mounted Rifles measuring 2 x 1½ in and 1¾ ins in height [5.3 x 4 x 4,3 cm]. The rectangular base is marked at the back SILVER with some other marks, probably of local maker. The regiment, the only cavalry in Ceylon, was formed in 1906 and it was disbanded in the 1930s. The regiment’s badge of the Prince of Wales’s crest is perhaps connected with the fact that it was raised in the year of the visit of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales [later King Emperor George V]. The regiment, composed entirely of British troops certainly took part as escorts during royal visits to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka. These holders are often descibed as menu holders, as which they could be used, but their size indicates that it is much more likely they were used as place markers.we have come across ones in the past that were made for a specific dinner during a royal visit.    jan30/1