Thursday, November 1, 2007

USA - Vintage Mahogany speed boats

Location - Caribbean - 15 52 N, 077 43 W

Though this sheet does not really fit into any of my collections, but I wanted to show you these stamps because I picked them up on this visit to the US post office, and because they are beautiful.

This miniature is about the Vintage mahogany speedboats made in the US. As the Miniature explains in the back, "From the Mid 1920's through the 1930's, American craftsmen raised the design & construction of wooden pleasure boats to an art form.
Influenced by rapid advances in the look and performance of contemporary automobiles, boat manufacturers combined their passion for detail, with sleek hulls, chrome hardware, & powerful engines. The result was an incomparably beautiful marriage of speed and grace.

The high-quality, low-cost crafts of this period made recreational boating attractive and widely affordable. with a promise of luxury, affordability, easy handling and comfort, these stylish boats became the floating pieces of the American Dream.

The golden age of the Vintage mahogany speedboats lasted through the 1950's, when material like fiber glass & aluminium changed the nature of American boat building. Yet their unmatched charm continues to fire the imagination of both novices & lifelong boating enthusiasts. Symbolic of a bygone era, elegant wooden boats remind us not only that boating that fun can be simple & wholesome, but also that freedom is within our grasp."

The four boats featured in the sheet are (from left to right) the 1915 hutchison, 1954 Chris-craft, 1939 Hacker-Craft , 1931 Gar wood.

These boats certainly look amazing & the picture of the boat speeding through the water is sheer poetry. It must be great to ride one of these, but years of sailing on the sea's has made me a cynic & I can't help but wonder how much it must cost to maintain one of these. I have a hard time keeping my steel bucket in shape. I can only shudder thinking about sailing on a wooden ship!


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