DATE: Art Deco, c.1935

A wooden barrel paperweight/desk/inkwell ornament carved "from the decking of the Mauretania, The Old Lady of the Atlantic". The RMS Mauritania (1906-1935) was an ocean liner built for the Cunard Line, capturing the Blue Riband on the return leg of her maiden voyage in 1907. She was built during the golden age of Atlantic seafaring, a time when Cunard and the White Star line were continuously trying to outdo each other by ordering bigger and, crucially, faster liners. And that's ocean liners, not cruise ships (the former travel from point A to point B directly, and as fast as possible, the latter tend to leisurely follow a circular route stopping at multiple ports along the way). I believe the Queen Mary 2 is the world's last and only remaining ocean liner... The Mauretania, along with her running mate the Lusitania, was named after a Roman province, and was eventually broken up - having survived two world wars - in Rosyth in 1935, by which time she was affectionately known as the Old Lady of the Atlantic. She also claimed the westbound Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1909 season, holding both speed records for 20 years. My understanding is that a portion of her teak decking (and potentially other components) were kept aside to be made into souvenirs - such as this one. No idea where they would have been sold in the mid-1930s.

MEASUREMENTS 

5.2 x 4.9cm

WEIGHT 

34.4g

MARKS 

N/A

CONDITION 

Excellent