Description:

PEARL HARBOR: CLOCK FACE FROM THE USS VESTAL
A rare relic from United States Collier Vessel #1, later Repair Ship #4, AR-4, the USS VESTAL. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Vestal was moored alongside the battleship Arizona. She was hit by two bombs and further damaged when Arizona's forward magazines exploded, the impact so intense that more than one hundred of her crewmen were thrown into the air, many landing in the flame-engulfed harbor. After mooring lines to the doomed Arizona were cut, Vestal, taking on water, ran aground on a coral reef off of Aiea. Repaired over the next few months, Vestal was transferred to the South Pacific in August, 1942 where she mended many combat-damaged ships throughout the rest of the war. In August 1946, Vestal was decommissioned and subsequently sold for scrap in July 1950. Outstanding and excessively rare relic, the original brass clock face, 8 1/2" in diameter, machine engraved: "C.P.O. (Chief Petty Officer) Mess, U.S.S. Vestal" with "V-" and a smaller dial as well. This clock face was undoubtedly present on the vessel during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, later salvaged when the Vestal was scrapped in 1950. Sold with a loose leaf binder containing biographical data and reproduction photographs of the Vestal and Arizona during the actual attack on Pearl Harbor. Fine condition. From the personal collection of World War II and Civil War historian Michael Miner. Miner's thirty-year collection was built through an extensive system of contacts he developed with artifact hunters and diggers in Europe and the Far East, and he maintained careful records of the items he amassed.

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January 21, 2010 10:00 AM EST
Stamford, CT, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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