98th Auction
2018/11/10
Lot 204
Robert Molyneux, 30 Southampton Row, London, Movement No. 2630, 195 x 210 x 195 mm, circa 1850
A ship's chronometer with 8 days power reserve made for Samuel Hammond & Co., 41 William St, New York
Case: rose wood. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, chain/fusee, applied platform with spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, bimetallic chronometer balance with 2 screws and 2 weights.
The brass plaque on the fine chronometer box shows where this large 8-day chronometer was put to use decades after its creation: onboard the 34 m luxury yacht Stella Polaris, owned by American industrialist Livingston L. Short, president of General Exchange Insurance.
However, the elegant life onboard the Stella Polaris would not last very long; the threats of World War II led to many private vessels being commandeered by the US Navy - "serving the nation instead of serving individuals", as stated by the Yachtsmen's Magazine Motor Boating in February 1943. The paper describes how small ocean liners with entertainment decks and swimming pools as well as large sailing ships were not only allocated to the US Navy but also to the Royal Canadian and the Royal British Navy and converted to military use. Among their owners were J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Thompson and Woolworth.
And of course Livingston L. Short. His yacht Stella Polaris was launched in 1930 under the name Arminia in Camden in New Jersey and acquired by the Navy on October 27, 1940. Immediately afterwards the vessel was converted for its service as minesweeper and named USS Goldcrest. However, only a few weeks later it was decided to convert the yacht to a coastal patrol boat by the name of Agate (PYc 4) and the ship began its new service on January 31, 1941. After the war the yacht was sold and remodelled several times; it appears that it is still operating today under the name Vallarta Alegre.
There is not much information on Livingston L. Short; he donated a painting by an old Dutch master to the Metropolitan Museum in New York and when he died on November 1, 1963, the New York Times wrote: "Livingston L. Short, former president of General Exchange Insurance Corporation and of the Motors Insurance Corporation, subsidiaries of General Motors, passed away yesterday at the New York Hospital after a short illness. He was 72 years of age and lived at 1 East 66th Street."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Goldcrest_(AM-78)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/1404.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/1963/11/02/archives/livingston-l-short-of-gm-subsidiaries.html
A ship's chronometer with 8 days power reserve made for Samuel Hammond & Co., 41 William St, New York
Case: rose wood. Dial: silvered. Movm.: brass movement, chain/fusee, applied platform with spring detent escapement according to Thomas Earnshaw, bimetallic chronometer balance with 2 screws and 2 weights.
The brass plaque on the fine chronometer box shows where this large 8-day chronometer was put to use decades after its creation: onboard the 34 m luxury yacht Stella Polaris, owned by American industrialist Livingston L. Short, president of General Exchange Insurance.
However, the elegant life onboard the Stella Polaris would not last very long; the threats of World War II led to many private vessels being commandeered by the US Navy - "serving the nation instead of serving individuals", as stated by the Yachtsmen's Magazine Motor Boating in February 1943. The paper describes how small ocean liners with entertainment decks and swimming pools as well as large sailing ships were not only allocated to the US Navy but also to the Royal Canadian and the Royal British Navy and converted to military use. Among their owners were J.P. Morgan, Vanderbilt, Thompson and Woolworth.
And of course Livingston L. Short. His yacht Stella Polaris was launched in 1930 under the name Arminia in Camden in New Jersey and acquired by the Navy on October 27, 1940. Immediately afterwards the vessel was converted for its service as minesweeper and named USS Goldcrest. However, only a few weeks later it was decided to convert the yacht to a coastal patrol boat by the name of Agate (PYc 4) and the ship began its new service on January 31, 1941. After the war the yacht was sold and remodelled several times; it appears that it is still operating today under the name Vallarta Alegre.
There is not much information on Livingston L. Short; he donated a painting by an old Dutch master to the Metropolitan Museum in New York and when he died on November 1, 1963, the New York Times wrote: "Livingston L. Short, former president of General Exchange Insurance Corporation and of the Motors Insurance Corporation, subsidiaries of General Motors, passed away yesterday at the New York Hospital after a short illness. He was 72 years of age and lived at 1 East 66th Street."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Goldcrest_(AM-78)
http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/1404.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/1963/11/02/archives/livingston-l-short-of-gm-subsidiaries.html
Sold
estimated
3.500—8.000 €
Price realized
4.000 €