New This Week:

4.05  LARGE EXQUISITE CROCHET NEEDLE.  Amazing carved sailor’s work embodied in a very detailed crochet knitting needle made from the solid, very dense bone of a sperm whale’s jaw.  This lovely example of 19th century sailor folk art could be confused with ivory, it so dense and pure.  It consists of a delicately-carved hand at the top holding a rose.  Below are several tiers of architectural carvings including 2 sets of capture balls within fluted columns.   The bottom third exhibits several more carvings and intricate cross hatchings terminating in a tapered tip with a very fine crochet hook.  Workmanship is of the highest order.  8 1/8 inches long.  Outstanding original condition with a nice age patina.  One of the best!  A $1500 value.  695

Not available or for sale in California.  Shipped from Massachusetts.

6.51  MASSIVE FLARE GUN.  Impressive World War II flare gun with a very heavy solid bronze chamber and grip.  This authentic signaling device is embossed on the handle "INTERNATIONAL FLARE SIGNAL CO. TIPPECANOE CITY OHIO."   The body is stamped "D 67" on both sides.  The handle is cross hatched to assure a firm grip.  The large trigger activates the firing pin properly.  There is a suspension loop on the butt which attaches to a sailor-made cotton lanyard.  The barrel tips forward for breech loading by means of a spring-loaded lever just forward of the hammer.  The steel barrel has a bore of 1 3/8 inches.  The action is tight and smooth.  Approximately 11 ½ inches long by 8 ½ inches high.  Excellent original condition.  495

9.37  18TH C. COMPASS.  Splendid early 1700’s traveler’s pocket compass of English manufacture.  This especially nice example of a diptych (2 leaves or tablets in the form of a book) compass is made of rich mahogany hinged together with inlaid diamond-shaped brass fasteners.  The very early style compass rose is engraved on paper with a starburst with the Cardinal and Intercardinal points of the compass identified.  All 32 points of the compass rose are indicated.  In an amazing feat of precision, the periphery is calibrated in single degrees of the compass marked by 10’s!  And, in an unusual departure from the norm, North is depicted by a classic fleur de-lis on the right side of the compass body, rather than at the top.  The designations “NE, E, SE, W, and NW” clearly indicate this compass was made for the English speaking market.  The rose is ornately decorated with floral and linear elements.  Also speaking to its age is the early type of compass needle which has an ornate, “horned” pivot.  The card is protected under old wavy glass secured by a finely-turned brass bezel.  This form of ring is identical to the objective ends of 17th and18th century telescopes!  Exemplary of its quality this compass is equipped with a caging device which safely locks the needle when the lid is closed.   A quality brass hook closure in the form of the number “7” assures the lid is tightly secured.  2 inches square by a mere ¾ of an inch thick.  Amazing, actually unbelievably fine original condition!  395

12.17  WHALEBONE DOMINOS.  Complete set of 28 “sixes” dominos made entirely of dense whalebone.  This full, ivory-like set is housed in its original rich mahogany box with sliding lid and ivory knob.  Each domino measures 1 5/8 long by ¾ inches wide and 3/16 inches thick.  The box is 6 ¼ inches long by 2 inches wide and is 1 ½ inches thick.  This handsome box has an unusually rich-grained sliding cover with ivory knob.  Typical high end antique domino sets are laminated wood and bone.  This unusual set is solid bone!  A rare, totally original, pristine set from the 1800’s.  349

Not available or for sale in California.  Shipped from Massachusetts.

12.13  PIRATE BOOK ENDS.   Matched pair of antique bookends in the form of swashbuckling pirates.  This set is in its original antique bronze finish depicting the marauding pair in classic poses.  Each carries a naval cutlass on his right resting in front of a treasure chest.  Their left hands are poised on flintlock pistols tucked into their waist bands.  The salty pair wear capes attached with a medallion on their chests.  Their oversize seamen’s hats are embellished with a skull and crossed bones.  The figures stand 7 inches tall, 4 inches side, 2 /34 inches deep and weigh a hefty 3  ½ pounds each.  Perfect original condition showing good age.  295

Pirate memorabilia, especially from the actual era, is avidly sought after by collectors.

AUTHENTIC LIGHTHOUSE. The ultimate! This was an exceptional opportunity to own a very historic relic of America’s rich maritime heritage embodied in the original lamp room from the famous Ballast Point Lighthouse, which served its sentinel duties in the channel of San Diego Bay from 1890 until 1960. This incredibly well-preserved piece of history was built according to specifications laid out by the U.S. Lighthouse Service in 1885. A copy of the original specifications are included as are much printed references and photographs. Erected in 1890, the 5th Order lighthouse was a significant aid to navigation in conjunction with the Point Loma Lighthouse (1850) poised at the entrance to San Diego Bay. Ballast Point Light was situated further inside the massive bay on a point which jutted into the seaway which posed a hazard to shipping. 135 years old! SOLD

HISTORY

On October 2, 1888, recognizing the need for a harbor light in the increasingly congested channel of San Diego Bay, Congress authorized $25,000 for the construction of a lighthouse to be built on Ballast Point. Fashioned in the late Victorian style, the entire structure took 3 months to build beginning in March 1890. The light was first lit on August 1st. It was a sister of the lights at San Luis Obispo and Table Bluff, south of Humboldt Bay. All were wood framed structures with attached living quarters. The ironwork for the lantern was forged in San Francisco and carried south to San Diego by ship. The French firm of Sautter, Lemmonier, & Cie. manufactured the Freznel lens for the Ballast Point Light in 1886. The fixed 5th Order lens was visible for a distance of at least 11 miles.

When California was still part of Mexico the peninsula jutting into San Diego Bay was known as Punta del los Guijarros or “Pebble Point.” For centuries cobblestones washed down by the San Diego River had been deposited on the point. When California gained statehood in 1850 the point was renamed Middle Ground Shoal. As time went on and merchant traffic in the harbor increased, many sailing ships found it convenient to load or discharge the stones as ballast. The practice continued and eventually the name “Ballast Point” stuck.

Accompanying the Ballast Point lighthouse was a huge 2,000 pound fog bell in a wooden tower. In 1928 it was supplanted by a single tone electric diaphone horn.

The first keeper of the light was John M. Nilsson, assigned duty on July 15, 1890. The second was Henry Hall, who took the job on December 1, 1892. Perhaps the most famous keeper was Irish born David R. Splaine, a Civil War veteran and veteran lighthouse keeper, who assumed the post in 1894, having served at Point Conception, the Farallons and San Diego’s own Point Loma light from 1886-1889.

In 1913 the original old kerosene lamp was replaced with an acetylene burner. Acetylene gave way to electricity in 1928. In 1938 a filter was fitted inside the 5th Order Freznel lens giving the light a distinctive green hue for recognition. One of the last keepers of the light was Radford Franke who recalled receiving the order to “douse the light” upon the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

By early 1960 the light was deemed to be of no further service, so in June of that year the lantern room was removed to a salvage yard. The wooden tower and its brick and mortar foundation remained a couple of years later until they too were declared structurally unsafe and demolished. The bell tower continued to survive, mounted with a 375 mm high intensity lamp on its roof. However the value of maintaining any light on Ballast Point diminished with the installation of harbor entrance range lights. In the late 1960’s the bell and its tower were dismantled. The tower found its way to a private residence in Lakeside, California. The bell had a more circuitous later life. It was purchased from a San Diego area junk yard in 1969 for its scrap value of 5 cents per pound! The one ton bell remained on local private property until 1991, when it was put on loan to the San Diego Maritime Museum. In 1999 the bell was transported to the son of the original buyer, living in Colorado. Then in 2002, the bell finally found its way to the home of the owner’s granddaughter living in Vermont, where it rests to this day.

The story of the lantern’s later life is even more fascinating. The nation was just recovering from the Cuban Missile Crisis between JFK and Khrushchev, when in 1964 the Cuban government cut off the fresh water supply to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay. By that time, an experimental desalinization plant had been in operation at Point Loma for 2 years. The Navy hastily ordered it to be disassembled and shipped through the Panama Canal to Cuba. A gentleman working as a crane operator during the process noted the shabby lantern room in a trash heap nearby. He inquired as to the fate of the relic and was told it was salvage. Asking if he could purchase it, the yard foreman told him he could “have it” if he would haul it away. With that, for the next 34 years the lantern room served as a gazebo in the backyard of the man’s residence in Bonita, California. It was purchased by the present owners in 1998, fully refurbished, and then placed on public display ever since. Now it is time for it to find its next new home. According to the crane operator who delivered the lamp room it weighs approximately 5 tons. It will require a crane and a flat bed truck for removal.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F. Ross Holland, “The Old Point Loma Lighthouse,” 1978, Cabrillo Historical Association, San Diego, California

Jim Gibbs, “The Twilight of Lighthouses,” 1996, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA.

Kin Fahlen and Karen Scanlon, “Lighthouse of San Diego,” 2008, Arcadia Publishing, San Francisco

Kraig Anderson, “Forgotten Ballast Point “Lighthouse” Seeks New Home,” article in “Lighthouse Digest,” East Machias, Maine, September – October 2011, Vol. XX, no. 5 pages 34 – 37.

“Mains’l Haul,” a periodic publication of the San Diego Maritime Association, Summer 1990, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, pp. 11-12.