Original Items: One-of-a-Kind. Here we have a very interesting West German Navy Brass & Wood Souvenir plaque, which shows the brass silhouette of a small ship, probably well below destroyer size, with a smaller brass plate marked KM-Boot Völklingen, for Küsten-Minensuchboot (Coastal Minesweeper) Völklingen.
We were not able to find any records of this boat on our searches, however a customer was able to locate a picture of a period postcard of Schiff Marine Minensuchboot Völklingen M1087 (Naval Ship Minesweeper Völklingen M1087), and the silhouette on the plaque is a nearly EXACT MATCH for the design of the ship! They were also able to locate records of the ship indicating it was commissioned in 1960, and decommissioned in 1992: M 1087 Völklingen. It is most likely named after the industrial city of Völklingen on the Saar River near the German French border.
The brass “ship” measures 10 3/8 long, and is mounted to a wooden plaque measuring 5 3/4″H x 11″W. There is a small brass hanger on the back, and it also looks like there may have been paper attached to the back at one point, which may have given more information about the placque.
A very interesting piece of West German Cold War Navy material! Ready to display.