Cool and Hip Rand McNally elf book on the mighty SSUS. The interior renderings by AK Bilder are just great … colorful and cartoony … somewhat like the famous early Aylward picture of the SSUS. Lovely “take a ride story with Frank and Judy (Maybe cousins of Dick and Jane?) as they cross the Atlantic on the great ship . Even the “come on in the water is fine ” flags in the pool are shown correctly. The front cover has split form the spine, but is held securely in place by the added plastic cover protector. Great renderings and a fun read.

I’m glad to offer yet another copy of this great book! SS Unites States: The story of America’s Greatest Ocean Liner by Bill Miller. This is one of the best books ever written on the ship … and packed with great photos from her birth till her departure to Turkey in the early 1990’s. I can’t say enough about this book … truly one of Bill’s masterpieces! This copy is in great condition with a small tear to the rear dustcover and other DC edge rumples. An exceptional and essential reference book … grab it while you can. Please help save the SS United States @ www.savetheunitedstates.org.

Captain Ridington was in command of the vessel the day of this worship service … which was conducted by Lt Col. Richard Gear. this was held in the First Class theater …must have been a fairly large crowd.

Printed in textured stock … in good condition with tape marks and a few silverfish nibbles on one corner.

Lovely Paris shopping and activity guide that was handed out to passengers onboard the SSUS and SS America. Lovely embossed front cover and filled with info for shopping and activities around Paris. The back cover has a lovely ad for the SS America. Dated April 1956.

Excellent little quiz that would have been handed out to passengers as a fun little activity. Printed on green mimeograph paper on board the ship … In excellent condition.

Great little set of cards for the SSUS includes: a First Class Berthing card, Landing Card for Cannes, Travel Office Card and Cruise Berthing Card. Unused condition … plan your voyage today!

This is just one of those iconic on board items for Big U … the giant sized stateroom vase! Of course these are made out of lightweight Aluminum .. WFG would have it no other way (… and no one dared to question him!) This has all the typical marks, dents, pings and dings from on board use … almost 20 years worth of bon voyage bouquets! Lovely item to have and practical to use! One of the best items for the ship!

Lovely Lamberton Bullion cup from the SSUS or America. This is some of the most durable ship china ever made … your modern dishwasher basically won’t hurt it a bit (the shipboard machines were more aggressive and super-heated). This cup is in excellent condition and ready for some hot soup to be served on your USL table! Several available

Oh here is a rare one indeed .. and onboard clock from the SS United States. These clocks were used all over the ship … from public rooms to staterooms. The design is very simple .. and of course executed in aluminum. The clock is not currently working and needs some technical TLC ..someone along the way painted the Aluminum arms and hour markers (but least this was done in red, white and blue). Pretty wonderful item for a SSUS lover! These clocks do not surface very often and typically sell for over $1000 when they do. Shipping to be quoted. Distinctly SSUS!

You just cant beat the simple “Grey Star” design that Both Mayer and Lamberton supplied to the USL fleet post WW2. All of these pieces are marked “expressively for US Lines” and are in great shape with minimal signs of daily use. Very Durable quality construction. Lovely!!!

COOL COOL COOL … Lovely chair form cabin U122 on the great SSUS. The green checkered upholstery on this chair is in outstanding condition, no holes or wear that I can find … he arms are a little faded though as seen in the picture. The foam in the seat also is a little soft and needs to be reworked. Of course the structure of this chair is all metal and mostly aluminum … Gibbs of course saw to that! Great contitions. Shipping will have to be calculated and quoted by me, the calculator will not be accurate.

Perfect Upper berth reading lamp shroud/shade from the ship. If you need one of these as a part to complete your light at home …now is your chance!. Of course, these were all made from aluminum … light weight and fireproof! Excellent condition!

OHHH MYYYYY WOW … here is another one of those rare and unique items. I brought this back from a recent trip out West … One of the Coffee Urns from the ships galley. I believe this came from the galley that served First and Cabin class dining rooms… and is pictured in the SS Guernsey’s auction catalogue (Wednesday 10/03/84). This was of course steam driven (manufactured by RUDSCO) and is complete as far as I can tell! It comes with various glass replacement parts as well. I was told this can make 144 cups of coffee at a time … great for your SSUS bashes! Solid construction and expected condition from preparing a lot of coffee … still has a faint and rich percolator smell.
This will require a shipping quote… the site shipping calculator will not be accurate. Ask me about delivery options =)

Wonderful pristine and famed cutaway for the SSUS. There were several versions of these … this one appears to be from the mid-1950’s. One side is all cutaway … the flip side has b/w interior and “activity aboard” photos. Lots of fun facts about the ship … and a small info section on the famed Hales Trophy! You could not ask for a better overall item about the ship!

Cast aluminum crew signs for the ship like this seems to be pretty hard to find …. Probably because the other signs were much easier to locate and a little more “glamorous”. This is a cast molded piece .. of course out of lightweight Aluminum. This particular crew cabin would have been certified as being large enough for 21 seamen to occupy (who would have slept in Aluminum standee type bunks). Can you image all those seamen crammed into one room? Pretty rare to find these!

An Alarm Bell removed from the beloved SSUS. Gibbs had an absolute creed for Safety … and this bell was part of the ships emergency warning system.. These Bells were placed throughout the ship and can be seen in various photographs ..Holy Cow is this darn thing loud and HEAVY!! … When these went off, they could wake the dead (watch out for SSUS Zombies!!). Excellent condition! I may have to quote shipping … this is heavy! Use this as a doorbell… and you’ll never miss another caller.

Another hard to find item for the great SSUS … a pair of porthole lugs. I know there were at least 2 kinds of lugs on the ship … chrome covered ones like these that were in passenger/ public areas .. and brass lugs used in crew parts of the mighty ship! I remember last time I was on the Big U most of the portholes on the ship were locked so tight you would could never get them open (remember she was sealed tight by MARAD when she was laid up). On the QM today, they have welded a little dot-stop to the end of the porthole screws to keep souvenir scavengers from removing her solid brass lugs. A gem of an item … and a set that made every single service crossing!

Ok … this has to be a RARE one …. A replacement piece of porthole glass! I am sure there are stories it could tell! This could have been kept onboard in the “maintenance’ supply area to be used if there was a porthole that needed replacing.. but it sure looks like it could have been installed at one time as well. This baby is HEAVY .. and parts of the edges are “chipped” .. they almost look scalloped on purpose. The SSUS had pretty small portholes .. I am sure they were Navy standard for safety!  There can’t be too many of these around! This may require special packaging and shipping and I dare say will be too heavy and fragile to ship internationally.

These are lovely examples of just how detailed items designed and made for the ship were. First they were of course we made out of Aluminum … so they were light , fire resistant and required no real cleaning etc. Also ingenious was the “toothed” bar … which kept towels for falling off with the various movements of the ship.  These were customized and  “cut down” as dictated by the individual bathroom space. Approx 12″ long. Comes with some cabin paint marks too!

Oh to have been a child aboard the Big U … the whole ship certainly would have been a playground … but the children in all classes were pampered even further with their own playrooms! This is a lovely chair from the sports deck FC playroom. The “vinyl” blue seating upholstery is in excellent shape (one little seam seperation on a top corner) . .. and the red frame shows a few scratches and dingys: Overall it is a GEM! *** Shipping calculator probably will not be accurate for this item .. I will need to quote manually*** Please help save the SS United States, visit www.savetheunitedstates.org.

PS: If any one has images and photo’s of this particular playroom … I’d love to see them.

I have to admit, I am not a tableware collector … but I do like the greystar china that was designed for the USL ships. These are nice oval bowls … used to serve smaller side dishes. Since they are stamped Lamberton … they date from the 1960’s (Mayer china dates from the maiden voyage and through the 50’s). Excellent condition!

Pristine Art Onboard Mimeo for the SSUS. I found a locker full of these babies when I was onboard in 1991 … and a few of them are now available here on GLL. I was so lucky at 21 and 22 to be able to roam the Big U’s innards and explore her glory. I will never forget those lucky summer days! These 5 page mimeos cover most of the art onboard the SSUS … and are in great shape. The dehumidification units installed by MARAD were chugging when I was onboard … and they did their job well.

Oh my … here is a rare one! A paper breakfast menu from the 2 day of the Big U’s trial trip sponsored by NNSBDD. All sorts of folks (certainly mostly men) were aboard running the ship through the paces of the Virginia coast. Based on her outstanding performance, Gibb’s would have had a smile on his face the entire time. Nice shape … certainly rare… and probably best shown framed. Please help save the SS United States, visit www.savetheunitedstates.org.

Another item I was allowed to have on my last visit to the SSUS in the summer of 1991 were these Pursers cards. I remember finding them stacked neatly in a file drawer in the pursers office … while the floor of the office was covered with multitudes of other paper products. These cards were used to communicate with passengers for things like landing arrangements, radoitelephone account , and other daily requirements. Looks like these were printed in August of 1969 … close to the end! Please help save the SS United States, visit www.savetheunitedstates.org.