New This Week:

4.78  SCRIMSHAW BUSK.  Very nice mid-19th century lady's corset busk profusely engraved with floral and geometric designs.  This classic example of the whaleman's artistry is done on a section of dense sperm whale panbone.  At the top is a symbolic vase with leafy contents.  Below is a heart with sweeping artistic arcs, followed by a compass rose surrounded by leafy sprays.  Below it is a charming image of a bird returning to its nest attending to its hungry chicks.  It is followed by a large diamond shape design and then a classic sailor pinwheel with 6 points.   Below it are more leafy sprays, an elongated diamond, and finally another compass rose which appears to be a nocturnal time telling dial with draped flags above 6 crab legs.  The entire busk is bordered by meticulously-engraved floral vines top to bottom.   It measures 13 ¾ inches long by 1 ½ inches wide and less than 1/8 inch thick.  Outstanding original condition.  Just as sturdy and pristine as it was when made around 170 years ago!  995

Current auction results indicate that period whalebone busks of this type are very much in demand by collectors, with the best examples selling for 5 figures.  While this busk is certainly not the all time best, it is definitely worthy of a mid to high-range collection.  Very reasonably priced!

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

4.11   SCRIMSHAW LETTER OPENER.  Good 19th century whaleman-made letter opener fashioned from whalebone.  This distinctively-carved piece features a clenched fist on the handle followed by helical carving terminating in a flat bladed knife edge with pointed tip and sharp edges.  It measures 7 ½ inches long by 5/8 inches wide on the blade. Excellent original condition.   A real bargain!  139

5.07/13.99   U.S.L.H. SERVICE CLOCK.  Genuine, early 1900’s clock made by the prestigious Chelsea Clock Company of Boston, Massachusetts marked “CHELSEA BOSTON” at the bottom of the silvered brass dial. The dial is encircled by a minute chapter ring and is marked with bold Roman numerals swept by blued steel spade hands.  The Fast/Slow adjustment and the subsidiary seconds bit are below the XII.  The bit shows single seconds marked in increments of 10.  The clock retains its original silvered reflector ring surrounding the periphery of the dial. The high quality jeweled movement is marked “BOSTON CLOCK CO. BOSTON U.S.A. with the serial number 278XX B* dating it to 7/29/1932.  This is Chelsea’s innovative Boston movement which featured a miniaturized 7 jewel timekeeper with non-corrosive nickel plates. It is mounted in its very heavy nickel-plated brass case with classic flared screw-on bezel containing its original wavy crystal glass and retaining wire. The back of the case is stamped with the much earlier case number “1304XX”* which dates to April 1919!  The clock measures 5 5/8 inches in diameter and is 2 ½ inches deep.  Outstanding original condition keeping excellent time after more than 90 years.  The case is remarkably pristine!  Complete with original old “bat wing” Chelsea winding key.  2700

* For the privacy of the ultimate owner the complete serial number is being withheld. 

According to Andy Demeter in his groundbreaking reference book “Chelsea Clock Company, The First Hundred Years,“ 2001, Demeter Publications, Chelsea, Massachusetts, the Chelsea Company produced Boston Clock movements from about 1914 through 1930’s and dated this clock to circa May 10, 1922, more in keeping with the date of its clock case.. But in his 2nd Edition Demeter indicates this exact clock, serial “278XXB,” was delivered to the U.S. Lighthouse Service on July 29, 1932. We cannot account for the discrepancy in dates, but the 10 year timeframe is certainly consistent within the date of the Lighthouse Service and the lighthouse in which it served.

In 1789 Congress passed an Act creating the United States Lighthouse Establishment (USLHE) which was operated by the Department of the Treasury. The Act also transferred ownership of all existing private American lighthouses to the U.S. government. In 1852, the United States Lighthouse Board was created. The Act dissolved the prior administration of lighthouses under the Treasury Department's Lighthouse Establishment. The board consisted of six senior Naval officers governing 12 lighthouse districts, each having a Naval inspector who was charged with building lighthouses and maintaining their good working order. The Lighthouse Board immediately set to installing state-of-the-art Freznel lenses in all newly-built lighthouses. The Board also oversaw the construction of the first lighthouses on the West Coast. By the Civil War, all U.S. lighthouses had Freznel lenses. In 1886, electricity was tested to illuminate the Statue of Liberty. Thereafter the lighting of the statue was the Lighthouse Board's responsibility. It remained such until 1902, when the "modern age in lighthouse illumination" began. In 1900, the Lighthouse Board started converting lighthouses to electric service. 

In 1910, the Board was changed in favor of a civilian run "Lighthouse Service." It is uncertain as to exactly when the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment became the U.S. Lighthouse Service. Both terms for the agency appear to have been used interchangeably in the second half of the 19th century. 

In 1939 the U.S. Lighthouse Service itself was disbanded and merged with the U.S. Coast Guard.

8.54 SHIP’s VOICE TUBE. Very, very scarce late 1800’s flexible sound-powered voice tube. Every aspect indicates it is British. This very well-made device has a heavy solid brass “telephone” receiver and mouthpiece, both encircled by thick rubber rings. The brass handle is insulated with hand-stitched leather. It is attached by means of a wire coupling to a canvas-covered corrugated tube containing an inner spiral ribbing which provides complete flexibility with extreme durability. At the opposite end is a knurled brass coupling, secured by multiple wire turnings attached by wires, which connected it to the ship’s internal hard-mounted voice tube network. Of great significance is the fact that this early device is sound powered, accomplished by thin diaphragms of mica in the handset, which picked up and amplified the vibrations of the user’s voice. This clever system is similar in time and function to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone using such oscillations augmented with electricity. However, on shipboard, a simplistic system sans electricity was the preferred fail safe method of interior communication. This was true whether the ship lost power, or of course if it was pre-electric. In either case the system provided a very effective means of reliable interior communication. 73 ½ inches long overall. The handset measures 11 ½ inches long by 6 inches wide. This rare shipboard relic is the first of its type we have ever seen. It is in an outstanding state of original preservation showing good use, but remarkably no abuse or damage. Without question, this is a precious survivor from the age of steam/sail, the likes of which was little valued and summarily discarded at the time of the ship’s demise. Price Request

12.72  IVORY MARLINSPIKE/AWL.  Professionally-made punch/bodkin/marlinspike/awl with a steel working end, a silver collar and a lovely octagonally faceted ivory handle.  This working tool is signed "J.S. CHEVALIER" as stamped into the steel.  One can assume this instrument was made in 19th century France.  The contours of the instrument are continuous facets terminating in a very sharp point.  Overall length 5 ¼ inches.  Minor age checks in the ivory handle, otherwise perfect original condition showing good age.  195

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 placed on public display in Old Twon, San Diego. In late 2025 it found its next enduring home on the shores of the Great Lakes in Wisconsin.

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.