New This Week:

2.40  AMERICAN SHIP DIORAMA.   Wonderfully charming, 3rd quarter of the 19th century shadowbox of a full-rigged American clippership identified as the “Red Cloud.” in two places.  This exceptional folk art piece embodies all of the bells and whistles desired by collectors.  In addition to being identified, it is signed and dated on the back, “Made by Charles White, Weymouth, Mass. 1875.”  Rigged as a true clipper with six sails on each of her forward masts  and a spanker tri-sail at the bottom of her main, the sails are, top to bottom, Royals, Upper Topgallants, Lower Topgallants, Upper Topsails, Lower Topsails and Courses (Mainsails).  Standing rigging is in place.  From the top of the foremast flies the Union Jack.  The mizen carries the ship’s name flag “RC” and the main the house flag.  The American ensign flies from the spanker halyard aft.  The ship’s hull is realistically-carved from a solid block of wood with numerous details including the capstan and bitts on the focs’le, several deck houses, aft deck house with hatch and helmsman standing at the wheel, with railing and bitts on the poop.  The bow is adorned with a carved Indian warrior figurehead in elaborate headdress carrying a spear.  Above and aft is the nameboard reading “RED CLOUD” with another such board on the stern.  The bowsprit and dolphin striker are well formed and in place.  The sleek jib sails, trysails between masts and all square sails are of carved wood!  The ship is towed by an equally charming tugboat which belches black cotton smoke from its stack.  The tug captain is seen at the helm in the wheelhouse while a crewman attends the tow on the stern.  Many other delightful details defy description.  Approaching the ship on the far left is the pilot schooner under full sail, flying the “hotel” flag indicating pilot aboard.   The entire scene is cast on a choppy green putty sea with whitecaps.  Attesting to its age the backboard is formed of a single solid piece of pine, nicely painted with sky and clouds.  It is housed in its original Victorian wooden frame with ornate gilt liner under glass.   The glazed opening is 21 by 32 inches, with the entire presentation measuring 27 by 38 inches and 4 ½ inches deep.  Two stout eyehooks with copper wire are equipped on the back for hanging.  Excellent original condition throughout, showing good age, preservation and no want of repair.  A world class example.  2150 

Red Cloud (1822-1910) was chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe in the Powder River region of northern Wyoming and southwestern Montana.  He was considered one of the most formidable opponents the U.S. Army faced in the 3rd quarter of the 1800’s.  The Treaty of Fort Laramie Wyoming, signed in 1868, led the way to reservation life for many of the western Indians.  However, in Lakota War of 1876-1877, prosecuted by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, Red Cloud did not participate, true to his word in the treaty.  No doubt this act of honor and commitment engendered him in the hearts of many Easterners who eagerly followed the news of the Indian Wars coming from the Wild West.  At the time this diorama was made, Red Cloud had become legendary in the annals of Native American history.

Weymouth, Massachusetts is a small coastal town next to the shipbuilding port of Quincy, southeast of Boston.

4.07  CHARMING SCRIMSHAW CROCHET NEEDLE.  A very delicate, precisely-carved knitting/crochet needle fabricated from the dense panbone of a sperm whale.  This expertly carved specimen features a diminutively-carved hand at the top holding a hammer!  The hammer is individually carved and actually moves freely within the grasping hand!  Below, the body of the needle is copiously decorated with carvings and embellishments.  Interestingly, as an indication of age and environment, one side is darkly incised while the reverse is nearly pure white.  6 ½ inches long.  Outstanding original condition in all respects.  WAS $795 NOW! 295

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

14.41  WALL MIRROR.  Authentic 1800’s  decorative mirror with a distinctively nautical motif.  This handsome parlor mirror is carved and turned of rich, tight grain mahogany.  It features a period chromolithograph of a massive 4-masted full rigged ship under sail in a blue sea with white caps.  The detail of the ship is clear and crisp and is protected under its original old wavy glass.  Below the decorative inset is the mirror, free of occlusions, framed by the two tall columns carved in a rope twist fashion and crowned by bulbous caps.  On the top is a scalloped plinth adorned with 11 hanging “tear drop” ornaments, each of which was obviously hand-made, owing to slight differences in their size and shape.  The overall size is 25 ¼ inches high by 15 inches wide.   The mirror is 8 ¾ by 11 /2 inches and the lithograph is 8 ¾ inches wide by 6 ½ inches high.  There is a standard picture hanging bracket on the top back.  Perfect original condition throughout.  A very handsome as well as functional wall hanger.  499 

16.42  PADLOCK.   Massive vintage padlock.  This industrial quality portable lock is made of solid brass with a thick steel shackle.  The side is engraved “Rama, Gupta & Co., ALIGARH.”  The key hole has a thick sliding cover marked “6 LEVER.”  Complete with its original skeleton key, the lock opens, closes and securely locks properly.  5 inches long, 3 inches wide by 1 5/8 inches thick and weighs an impressive 2 ½ pounds!  150

The R.N. Gupta Co., Ltd. was founded in India in 1948.  They were, and still are producers of heavy equipment, steel forging and general engineering.

17.70 CRUISE TROPHY. High quality, silverplate loving cup with applied, high relief brass emblem reading "Awarded on Holland-America Line Cruises" depicting the line's house flag. This handsome cruise memento is said to have come from the famous pre-War liner NIEUW AMSTERDAM. It stands 6 1/2 inches tall and slightly more than 5 1/2 inches wide. Excellent original condition. 195

The Nederlands-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart-Maatschappij, popularly known as the Holland-American Line, was founded in 1873 and based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Neutral registry in World War I brought large profits to the company and it was in a position to expand. However American immigration restrictions following the War delayed construction of the company's flagship the NIEUW AMSTERDAM until 1938. When the Germans invaded Holland in May of 1940, they seized the OLENDAM while the STATEMDAM was destroyed in the fighting. The remainder of the company's fleet was chartered by the Allies for the war effort. The NIEUW AMESTERDAM in particular had a spectacular war career, performing troop carrying duties throughout the world until her triumphant return to her home port in April 1946.

22.61  IDENTIFIED SHIP’s BAROMETER/THERMOMETER.  Truly exceptional 19th century ship’s barometer/thermometer of large size.  Indicative of its Victorian origins, this impressive instrument has a very ornate silvered brass dial with a deeply engraved barometric scale reading from 27.8 to 31.2 inches of atmospheric pressure, calibrated in 2/100th increments marked by 10ths.  Whole inches are identified, as are the standard weather indications “Stormy RAIN Change FAIR and Very Dry” in fancy script.  The lower half of the dial bears a very large curved mercury thermometer reading in single degrees Fahrenheit from 5 to 115 marked by 10s.   The center of the dial is beautifully hand-engraved in a starburst, snow flake pattern of amazing complexity and detail.  Seeing is believing under magnification.  The top of the dial bears the registered serial number “50992.”  The barometric reading is indicated by an incredibly fine blued steel indicator needle which is overlaid by a similar very delicate brass set needle attached to a knurled knob.  The knob is rove through the thick beveled glass crystal set in the heavy brass bezel with silvered reflector ring.  The stout, solid brass case is of classic British form with a broad mounting flange 8 inches in diameter.  The center back of the case is stamped with the maker’s mark “T.A.R.S. & W. LONDON” and matching serial number “50992” stamped above.  Etched into the back is the identifier “CHART RM PATEENA.”  The barometer dial is 6 inches in diameter and the case is 3 ¾ inches deep.  Outstanding original condition.  Both the barometer and thermometer functions are very precise and accurate.  This is the finest of perhaps 3 identified ship barometers which we have handled in our 40+ years.  Absolutely a museum piece of the first order!  1095

The S.S. PATEENA was a passenger/cargo vessel of 1212 gross tons built on the Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland for the Tasmanian Steam Navigation Company in 1883.   She was noted for her trim lines and graceful appearance.  In 1891 she was purchased by the Union Steamship Company for use in the inter-island ferry service out of New South Wales, Australia.  After nearly 30 years of open ocean sailing, she was laid up in 1920, then broken up in 1924.

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.