Antique 1927 Copper Ship Relic USS Constitution Tray + Letter Holder + Lamp RARE

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Antique 1927 Copper Ship Relic USS Constitution Tray + Letter Holder + Lamp RARE:
$282.77

Antique 1927 Era Copper Ship Relic USS Constitution Tray + Letter Holder + Lamp RARE. I had a big collection of Old Ironsides restoration relics and have been selling them on the past couple years, I always felt this group was the best of my collection. I acquired this set from a local antique sale house who sold great local estates filled with treasures. This came from the South Shore area of Boston MA. and the prior owner told me her grandfather worked at the old Navy yard in Charlestown Mass. and obtained it when he worked on the famous ship. Everything looks to be pure copper - includes tray that measures 12 3/4\" x 17\" with well center 7 1/2\" x 11 1/4\"; napkin or more likely desktop letter file that measures 6 3/4\" long and has reticulated cut-out ship pattern; and best of all wonderful copper desktop lamp with loop frame and reticulated shade. Lamp measures 5 1/2\" square base and is about 9 1/4\" tall; it has a flower petal bulb socket and all parts are old original and it works fine. The lamp has a very Arts & Crafts style and I have never seen another one like it. The top of the tray has a bronze medallion showing information about USS Constitution embedded in the center. The bottom of the tray has an old taped card with some faded information - name of family was Connors and it mentions the 1927 restoration. All 3 pieces are in excellent condition with no damage and the copper has a fine aged patina. The only thing to mention is it appears the shade to the lamp probably had paper or tissue panels which are now long disintegrated but I think it probably looks better just with the cut-out pattern exposing the light. All the parts and copper are fine guaranteed. A very rare and special set for certain.

Old Ironsides 1925 restoration:

Admiral Edward Walter Eberle, Chief of Naval Operations, ordered the Board of Inspection and Survey to compile a report on her condition, and the inspection of 19 February 1924 found her in grave condition. Water had to be pumped out of her hold on a daily basis just to keep her afloat, and her stern was in danger of falling off. Almost all deck areas and structural components were filled with rot, and she was considered to be on the verge of ruin. Yet the Board recommended that she be thoroughly repaired in order to preserve her as long as possible. The estimated cost of repairs was $400,000. Secretary of the Navy Curtis D. Wilbur proposed to Congress that the required funds be raised privately, and he was authorized to assemble the committee charged with her restoration.

The first effort was sponsored by the national Elks Lodge. Programs presented to schoolchildren about \"Old Ironsides\" encouraged them to donate pennies towards her restoration, eventually raising $148,000. In the meantime, the estimates for repair began to climb, eventually reaching over $745,000 after costs of materials were realized. In September 1926, Wilbur began to sell copies of a painting of Constitution at 50 cents per copy. The silent film Old Ironsides, which portrayed Constitution during the First Barbary War, premiered in December and helped spur more contributions to her restoration fund. The final campaign allowed memorabilia to be made of her discarded planking and metal. Among the items sold were ashtrays, bookends and picture frames. The committee eventually raised over $600,000 after expenses—still short of the required amount—and Congress approved up to $300,000 to complete the restoration. The final cost of the restoration was $946,000.

Lieutenant John A. Lord was selected to oversee the reconstruction project, and work began while efforts to raise funds were still underway. Materials were difficult to find, especially the live oak needed; Lord uncovered a long-forgotten stash of live oak (some 1,500 short tons [1,400 t]) at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida that had been cut sometime in the 1850s for a ship building program that never began. By the mid-1920s even the tools needed for the restoration were difficult to find, and some came from as far away as Maine. Constitution entered dry dock with a crowd of 10,000 observers on 16 June 1927. Meanwhile, Charles Francis Adams had been appointed as the Secretary of the Navy, and he proposed that Constitution make a tour of the United States upon her completion as a gift to the nation for its efforts to help restore her. She emerged from dry dock on 15 March 1930, and many amenities were installed to prepare her for the three-year tour of the country, including water piping throughout, modern toilet and shower facilities, electric lighting to make the interior visible for visitors, and several peloruses for ease of navigation.

No stranger to controversy, Constitution experienced another episode when Assistant Secretary of the Navy Ernest Jahncke made comments doubting the ability of the modern US Navy to still sail a vessel of her type. Veterans groups from around the country had proposed that she should make the tour under sail, but due to the schedule of visits on her itinerary she was towed by the minesweeper Grebe.[195] Nevertheless, she was recommissioned on 1 July 1931 under the command of Louis J. Gulliver with a crew of sixty officers and sailors, fifteen Marines, and their mascot, a pet monkey named Rosie. Setting out with much celebration and a 21-gun salute, the tour of 90 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts began at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She went as far north as Bar Harbor, Maine, on the Atlantic coast, south through the Panama Canal Zone, and north again to Bellingham, Washington, on the Pacific Coast. Constitution returned to her home port of Boston in May 1934 after more than 4.6 million people visited her during the three-year tour.