'Souvenir'

This photograph is a souvenir of a visit to HMS Victory at Portsmouth. I know it's mine because I've had it for years and years, but otherwise, as a 'souvenir', it's absolutely useless as I cannot remember ever visiting either Portsmouth or Victory.

The picture, mounted on thin board, is 4" across by 3" high. At the top there used to be a small metal loop enabling it to be hung on a wall.

On the back, amid the signs of travel and wear, it has a sticker which gives some details about the ship....

....and the information that the plaque was made by Gale & Polden, a firm of printers based, originally, in Chatham.

The Antiques Centre in York has a 'roundel' including this photograph of Victory for sale at £96 - link here - from which I learn that the picture must have been taken pre-1922 as this was the year when she was moved into dry dock.

So, is a souvenir that reminds me of nothing of any use or value? The answer is an emphatic 'No' but I couldn't part with it. Perhaps, on the other hand, it's there to remind me that, as I get older and the events of the past fade, I must get used to a growing number of souvenirs which remind me of.... nothing.

As if to hammer the point home, I now discover the I've already written a blog entry about this picture back in 2022.