A Piece of History Saved!

Well here's my latest bit of treasure I gleaned off of eBay..............
I was looking through the bronze subset of the Collectables - Metalware category, and ran across this incredible trophy. The description read:

1939 BRONZE, INTERCLUB CHALLENGE WON BY SO. SHORE Y.C.

It was listed in an obscure category and made no reference to anything that had to do with what it actually was......... no yacht, boat, trophy, etc. in the description. I ended up with the only bid and basically bought it for the price of the shipping.

The trophy is from the Southern Shore Yacht Club, and a little research on the internet lead me to the Southern Shore Yacht Club of Chicago, on Lake Michigan. Here is a little history quote on the club from the club's history page:

"In 1912, eleven powerboat sailors ("stinkpotters"), finding little support from the sailing club in the outer harbor, organized a South Shore Power Boat Club (Changed to it's present name in 1930)"
The original clubhouse was actually a floating houseboat, but it later burned in 1934. The new clubhouse was built in the Cape Cod style and the yacht club is now one of the very exclusive yacht clubs in Chicago!


The trophy is made of bronze and the medallion features a power boat, very rare for this time period! All of the engraved letters were engraved by hand. The woman who sold me the trophy said that she had purchased a box of old trophies and plaques at a flea market, for her husband. He was going to remove the awards and use the wood plaques to mount arrowheads on. She said that this one was too beautiful to toss, so she kept it and put it on eBay......... I can only wonder what else was in the box..... She lives just outside of Chicago.

The cool thing about this is that it is a perfect match to all of the old 1930's and 1940's Great Lakes charts that I scored earlier in the month!

I'm sure that this piece is valuable, how valuable is yet to be determined, but in any case, it is a wonderful piece of early yachting history saved!

Kosmos Brenner Lamps

We have two very beautiful, vintage oil lamps sitting on our mantle right now.............. Another eBay score for the boat!

We managed to find a matching set of very old, vintage, Kosmos Brenner oil lamps that were being sold from the estate of an USMC Colonel. These lamps are in near perfect condition and may actually be in never used condition. The burners are in perfect shape and function flawlessly, and yes, we got a great deal!
These will be installed on the galley and salon bulkheads in the boat.
We haven't fired them up yet, but I'm sure they'll burn wonderfully.

Raleigh!

Yesterday I finally got around to checking out an old Canadian Raleigh, 10 speed road bike, that was given to me quite some time ago. This bike had been out in the weather for YEARS and I ended up salvaging only a handful of parts. The frame was an old cottered crank frame with tons of rust...... all the bearings were bad, wheels shot.......... I ended up with the front fork and head set, the brakes, and the head badge. I absolutely LOVE those old Raleigh head badges! That was my "pearl in the oyster" from this bike.

Love those old Raleighs!

Bronze, Bronze, Bronze

I stopped off at the local marine used and consignment shop down at the Boat Haven the other day to have a rummage through the piles of boat stuff , hoping to find a deck iron for the new Sardine wood stove. No success on the deck iron, but I did find the perfect piece of deck bronze to finish out the aft deck remodel. It's a very old deck fill plate that is unlike any I have ever run across. I'm guessing that it's a very old style that pre-dates the more usual "gas" and "diesel" labeled caps one normally sees. I asked the shop owner if he knew how old it was and he said that he didn't, but that it was "pretty old" and that he'd only seen a few of them. My guess is that it goes back to early 1900's, but that's only a guess. No maker's names or emblems anywhere on it.

This piece will be for the fuel filler and will nicely fit in with the bronze deck plate configuration that I've been envisioning. Here's a shot of the "Trio". The medium plate is for the emergency tiller.

Now I just have to build the deck!

Vintage Navy Anchors.......A new Uniform!

I finally tracked down a second collar tab anchor for my captain's jacket. The first anchor I found on eBay and snapped it right up.......... but I was short one anchor. A second anchor that matched my first one came up on eBay recently, but the price was WAY too high. I had asked a question about it and then let it go. It didn't sell. A few days later, the seller contacted me through my email and said if I wanted it, to make an offer (good thing I asked a question, they had my email from it!). I made a low offer and they came back with a low compromise, but one more acceptable to them.................
Long story short, this anchor was the left anchor to match my right, and it showed up in the mail yesterday.

These anchors are quite old, with very old "top hat" back clutches. I'm not certain as to how old they are, or from what service they were used in, but the recent seller said they were USN Reserve collar tabs.

So now, my Captain's jacket is finished out. You can't run a vintage yacht without a captain's jacket, can you? :)

Seattle Bike Swap Success!

Well the Seattle Bike Swap has come and gone.......... until next year.
We had a great time, as usual. Even if you you never buy a thing at the swap, just being there for the carnival atmosphere is entirely worth the entrance donation. Picture a hundred or more booths and tables, loaded with new and used parts and gear, bikes of every type every few steps........ messengers, mountain bikers, collectors, casual riders, the road racers, rasta dreaded counter-culture riders............ well you get the idea! This is a cross section of the entire Northwest cycling scene, and its way cool and FUN!

As usual, we showed up with empty hands and left with an armload of deals that we couldn't pass up. N8 ended up with a Bianchi road frame, I left with a new set of bars and some clothing, and Sweet Pea scored a trio of new pannier bags.

N8's frame was an absolute score, and a steal on the price............ and it sounds like he's already built it up!

I had been wanting a set of alt-mountain bike bars, like the type I had read a review on in Dirt-Rag Magazine awhile back. Just as we were taking the last loop through before leaving, I saw a pair! This pair of bars is already installed on the bike and they ROCK!!!!!
I don't think I'll be switching back to the old standards anytime soon...........
They were made by On-One of England. I've never heard of this company before, but they are definitely on my radar now! Can't wait to hit the trails and try them out properly.

http://www.on-one-shop.co.uk/?page_id=600

Here's the link for the info page on these bars. You've just gotta' check these out!

http://www.on-one.co.uk/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=6




Sweet Pea's pannier bags are something else as well. Two bags with dry-bag liners that are removable and a big shopping bag pannier that you can pop off of the bike and take into the store with you............ good stuff :)

Those are just the "high points"................. socks, socks, double-dinger-bell, shocks, jacket, brakes....... you get the idea :)

New life for a fishing float.

I've had an old aluminum fishing float that I beach combed off of the beach many years ago out at Ocean Shores, banging around the yard, just waiting for some important mission. Well that metal float's calling has arrived. It's now been commissioned as a anchor trip-line float for the Bernadine.
I used the same 1930's, art deco printing that I've used on the boat and life ring, for the boat name and registration number that is painted around the middle.

A light chain will be shackled on to the two float eyes and then this will be connected to a trip line that goes down to the anchor. This will serve as a visual locater for where the anchor is on the bottom and as a release to pull the anchor free if it gets hung up on the bottom.

Now it's back to Sharky's workshop...................