S.S. President Cleveland Paperweight
This is a cast metal paperweight model of the S.S. President Cleveland (Second). These were used aboard the ship as awards for various events and tournaments held aboard for cruise passengers. Dating from the late 1940s and the 1950s, these awards proved to be popular souvenirs of cruises.
S.S. President Cleveland (Second) was laid down 28 August 1944, as a U.S. Navy transport, the USS Admiral D.W. Taylor, but her acquisition by the navy was cancelled during the war and she was redesigned as a passenger liner for the American President Lines (APL). She was commissioned in 1947 and sailed the Pacific until 1974 when she was scrapped.
This S.S. President Cleveland was the second liner for the APL to bear this mane and should not be confused with her predecessor, a single stack liner which also plied the Pacific, but was chartered before WWII, in 1941, by the U.S. Army as and renamed USAT Tasker H. Bliss. In 1942 she was acquired by the U.S. Navy and rechristened the USS Tasker H. Bliss. See ZFC2258 for a trapunto from a 1939 cruise of the first S.S. President Cleveland.
This model is intricately detailed and clearly depicts the vessels twin smoke stacks, but the plaque which would have identified the event for which the paperweight was awarded has been lost. The paperweight Measures approximately 8.25 inches long by 2.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall.
Provenance:
Acquired by purchase.
Sources:
USS Tasker H. Bliss (AP-42), Wikipedia, 27 June 2012, from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_President_Cleveland_%281921%29
History - 1944-52 Vessel Statistics, American President Lines, 27 June 2012, from:
http://www.apl.com/history/timeline/stat7.htm
American President Lines, President Cleveland, Cabin Class Collectibles, 27 June 2012, from: http://www.cabinclass.com/items/steamship/giftshop/11988.htm
S.S. President Cleveland Paperweight, CollectorsNiche, 27 June 2012, from:
http://www.collectorsniche.com/p/203/s-s-president-cleveland-paperweight
Image Credits:
Zaricor Flag Collection
