From the builder of the
Revenue Cutter Bear

A wonderful 1871 envelope to Alexander Stephen & Sons, Shipbuilders, Linthouse, Govan, near Glasgow, Scotland.

The cover was sent from Crieff, and has Glasgow and Govan postmarks on the back. In 1870 Alexander Stephen & Sons moved its headquarters to Linthouse, Govan, and from there oversaw the building of their sailing ships at their Dundee yard, where they made the famous Dundee whalers and sealers. Alexander Stephen & Sons ships that would later become important in Alaska history include the Confederate raider Shenandoah, the Revenue Cutter Bear, and the Thetis.

A nice cover for the Alaska maritime collector, from just a couple of years before the Bear was built. 

$95 plus $3.00 postage & insurance (international orders extra). Credit cards not accepted. [shelf locator: Ephemera Notebook: steamship]  To order this item email dick@AlaskaWanted.com   
Foe sale: original Alexander Stephen & Sons shipbuilders cover.



"From His Brother Officers
U.S.S. Bear 1905"

Lovely presentation sterling silver ship's decanter stopper. Marked sterling 925/1000.

One of the finest pieces of antique historical Alaskana I've had the pleasure to offer.

The decanter is lost (probably broken long ago); the sterling silver stopper is original.
Perhaps the original decanter was smashed during a storm at sea.
Ship's decanters are designed to not be top heavy,
maybe the Bering Sea was just too rough for a piece of glass.

In 1905 the Bear, under Captain O. C. Hamlet, visited Dutch Harbor, Unalaska, Nome, Teller,
Diomede Island, St. Lawrence Island, Siberia, Kivalina, Shismareff, Deering, Hotham Inlet,
 Point Hope, Cape Lisbon, Wales, Sedarook (Sedaru, Point Belcher), Barrow, Wainright,
 Port Clarence, Kotzebue, Tin City, Golovin, Bluff City, Kodiak, Sitka and other locations.

See Bixby: Track of the Bear, pp 194-199, for an interesting
day-to-day account of the Bear in Alaskan waters in 1905.

The two photos on top show the stopper which has engraved on the top
"From his brother Officers USS Bear 1905."
The two photos on the bottom show what the ship's decanter may have looked like.
The decanter on the left has a nearly identical stopper.

Imagine this fine, historically significant, antique residing on your bar. Wow!

You will need to find a replacement glass decanter.


$3500.00  Credit cards not accepted. [shelf locator: Glass Case]
To order this item email dick@AlaskaWanted.com 

 
For sale: original antique ship's decanter sterling silver stopper from the Revenue Cutter Bear in 1905.


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