Paper weight made from H.M.S. 'Queen Mary'

Paper weight, silver-plated with a brass knob handle. It was made from the keel plate of the battle-cruiser HMS 'Queen Mary'. The base is covered with blue baize. The paper weight is inscribed: 'HMS "QUEEN MARY" KEEL PLATE 1911'. Presumably it was made as a souvenir, perhaps for drawing office use, from a steel offcut from the keel-plate following its official laying down at Palmer's of Jarrow on 6 March 1911. The ship was launched on 20 March 1912 and completed that year. She blew up and sank with massive loss at the Battle of Jutland in 1916, the wreck being located in 1991 and now designated as an official war grave. Another example in private hands, without the brass knob, was reported to the Museum in February 2016.

Object Details

ID: REL0558
Collection: Relics
Type: Paper weight
Display location: Not on display
Vessels: Queen Mary (1912)
Date made: circa 1911
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Overall: 60 mm x 190 mm x 90 mm