My First Maritime Antiques

A beautiful ships wheel that stands a little over four feet tall was my very first piece of something in the maritime antiques category.  I inherited this beauty from my grandfather who at one time owned a large boat that serviced oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.  Hurricane Camille sunk his aging boat.  But during salvage they recovered many items.  Among them was this glorious ships wheel, truly my most meaningful of all my maritime antiques.  You see, he named the boat for one of his children who just so happens to be my mother.  And my daughter was named for her, too.  So, we have this maritime antiques delight that is the wheel from a boat that bore the name of my mother and daughter.  What fun!

 Why Maritime Antiques

I think all the interest in maritime antiques over the last decade can actually be attributed to a couple of things.  Plenty might argue with me on this point, but the interest was kindled in the general population by the movie Titanic.  And when people realized there was a legitimate salvage operation going on, not too few wanted a piece of that history.  Remember the craze?  How about some of the bizarre prices for items that went to auction?  I've recently learned that one of the original buyers of auction items whose maritime antiques collection from the Titanic was appraised at $189 million a few years ago is putting it all up for sale this year.  Yes, there are lots of interested buyers.

Motives for collecting maritime antiques vary.  For some it is unequivocally driven by profit.  However, others simply want a piece of history.  Still others desire to use items to decorate their homes and offices that has a story -- sort of a talking point of interest.  Whatever the motive, it is hard to walk past something that visibly says "I have a story" when you simply look at it.  I know I always get the question from new guests in my home: "What is the story behind this ships wheel?"

Decorating, Displaying, & Using Maritime Antiques

My ships wheel is obviously not functional as it is in my home.  Rather than hang it high on a wall (the wood and brass is extremely heavy), I opted to put it lower at hand's reach similarly to how it would be on the boat.  I did not mount it where you could actually turn it, but that is still a thought and might be fun to do sometime in from of a window perhaps.

China that I've purchased that was once used on ships several hundred years ago, I keep in a glass display case.  I also have cut glass highball or whiskey glasses that were used aboard a luxury liner.  On special occasions we actually use these at small more intimate cocktail parties making sure our guests know the story so they handle these personal treasures with extra care.

My take is that why have these things if you're not going to either share by showing them to others or use them.  Interior design friends of mine might take a piece or two of some maritime antiques item and use it as a focal point in a room.  The Internet sure has made it easy to search for these treasures.  I do strongly recommend that you do business with people and operations with established reputations.

 

Trinity Marine- Warehouses Full of Marine Antiques & Decor

If you have a love of the water and the sea, you might want to think about adding maritime antiques to your list of things to look into.