Vicki

Years ago when my grandfather was an Admiral's Aide in the Spanish-American War, he was assigned the task of creating an object upon which paper clips could be placed. Magnetic containers were not in use, and paperclips were extremely rare. The Admiral was adamant about developing a holder for paperclips which, when not in use, could be folded up. Because paper clips were so scarce, the Admiral wanted to be able to quickly see if he actually had paperclips on his desk when he walked into his tent--without actually having to go to the desk itself. When the top was unfolded ('open'), paperclips were neatly put on the wood, between the two screws, parallel to the open wood flap. The Admiral could glance from across the room and see that he had clips. If the clips were gone, the top would be folded back over the wood. Woe to the person who took paperclips and didn't fold the wood !
###My grandfather was actually in three wars (Spanish-American, WWI, and WWII), but he is best known for his invention of the paperclip holder. It was easy to make, and stored neatly on desks. Paperclips became far more common in the next wars, and this unit was not nearly large enough to hold all that were needed. It went out of use by WWI, but a few are still around--as you have discovered!