Seaside Collecting (reshown)

These aren’t your father’s nautical antiques like old ship’s lanterns, fishing nets or ships-in-a-bottle. I call these ‘seaside’ collectibles because they recall long ago times at the beach or that great old seafood dive, not tall ships and scrimshaw (although those things are great too).

Even though my home in Raleigh is just an hour and a half from the beach, I like reminders. Even if it’s of that cedar shake cottage that I never actually lived in or that mahogany Chris Craft run-about that I’ve never actually owned (but will one day!). Some examples include; weathered oars, outboard boating collectibles like oil cans, old yachting trophies or just things with nautical motifs like old drinking glasses with sailboats on them. Such items are scarce and highly coveted these days.



This beautiful stone lithograph poster was produced in the 1930s for Kinney’s Shoes. I bought it from a lady who sold shoes there for many decades and had it kept rolled up in the attic.

This Duplex outboard motor oil can from the 1930s is one of my favorite finds because I pulled it straight out of an ancient gas station in Washington DC. The gas station was legendary in the Glen Echo area and the owner was a big power boater on the Potomac for decades. –Oh, the cool stuff that was in that gas station!


I love this enameled steel thermometer from the 1940s. I found it in an antique store but it was completed coated in white house paint. I bought it, took it home and applied paint stripper to it. The paint came completely off revealing this awesome yachting finish advertising. –Only pull this trick on enameled steel (‘porcelain’) signs and try it on a small area first!

One of our most prized possessions is a watercolor of the New Hampshire coast painted by one of my Wife’s relatives in the 1940s. His name is Richard Epply and he was a lesser-known commercial artist in New England. Check out the great details like the woodie wagon and the weathered boathouse.