Made by E. Blyde of Sheffield, this knife has mother-of-pearl sides with silver inlays.

Ballpoint Pen

These pens and propelling-pencils almost became a kind of status-symbol. The bubble had a tiny model of Caronia floating in oil. After the 1966 Spring Mediterranean Cruise the ballpoints became available to the crew at a discounted price.

From memory, there were two types of this souvenir pen / pencil - one had a 3D model like those shown above, the other had a flatter image that slid within a thinner and longer section of oil, down just one side of the pen.

Propelling Pencil # 2

Made by Ritepoint, this propelling-pencil was quite a lot classier, with a mother-of-pearl body and silver-plated ends.

Butterfly-Wing Souvenirs

An intriguing and quite beautiful range of souvenirs were made with a decoration of butterfly wings, although to date I have only recently seen two of these. One is a small wall-plaque, the other a small ashtray, with a silver-plated body.

The Souvenir Range

The full range of Butterfly Wing souvenirs was…

Souvenir Lighters

Quite a few items were made for sale as souvenirs of specific cruises. Hand-made silver cigarette-boxes, as seen on the next page, were complemented by souvenir lighters. The one seen below came in a presentation box, and is engraved for the fateful Great World Cruise of 1958.

It's also possible that these were presented as gifts, either on direction from Cunard shore-staff or by appointed Officers, like the Chief Purser. Certainly, there were silver items, seen on the next page that distinctly fell into this category of souvenir.

Another beautifully made Caronia souvenir item was this Stratton Powder Compact. It's just over 3½ inches in diameter, and for its size, it is quite heavy.

Apparently, as is often the case in fashion, the powder compact has come full circle and is once again seen as a high-fashion item. This was a late 1940s design with a screen printed picture of Caronia adorning a highly lacquered brass case.

With several of Stratton's factories having been damaged or destroyed during WWII, it was a prestige item manufactured just two years after production, away from munitions, recommenced.

The Caronia souvenir compact was also one of the first to be fitted with a self-opening inner lid, a design patented by Strattons in 1948. A gentle twist of the outer shells being all that was required for it to open.

My researches have revealed that this was a one-off production run, manufactured only for Caronia's maiden voyage in 1949. Once they were all sold, that was it! Today they are highly prized items and will fetch an incredible price.

Unlike most of the manufacturers of Caronia souvenirs, the Stratton Compact name still exists today, however, the firm was taken over in 1997 and their products are no longer made in England.