1957 CHRIS-CRAFT CONSTELLATION/ COMMANDER MOTOR YACHT- HANDPAINTED PLATE VINTAGE

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1957 CHRIS-CRAFT CONSTELLATION/ COMMANDER MOTOR YACHT- HANDPAINTED PLATE VINTAGE:
$29.00

This listing is for a very rare collector\'s plate.

I mail items fast, with insured shipping.

This is from a non-smoking home.

Rare, hand-painted plate

CHRIS-CRAFT MOTOR YACHT

\"SILVER KING V\"

CABIN CRUISER - MOTORYACHT

Circa 1954-1957

CONSTELLATION?

COMMANDER?

Chris-Craft? I did a lot of search in books on classic wooden motor-yachts & cabin cruisers, and image searches on-line and this seems to be a Chris-Craft, rather than yachts from other similar boatworks.

My image searches show several years & models of Commodores that look very similar, same portholes, same number of portholes, though variations on the windows and some of the mahogany trim and Chris logo placement. Not all had a Chris logo on the sides, neither port nor starboard. Any comments helping to clarify, confirm or deny my estimations are certainly welcome.

Markings: The back has the pre-kiln stamped logo

\"BOB WILLIAMS MUGS - MT. VERNON WA.\"

Mt. Vernon is in Skagit county.

To the west of Mt. Vernon is the port of Anacortes, the gateway to the San Juan Islands and neighboring Gulf Islands.

Please see all photos.

Questions welcome.

I\'m uncertain of the exact year, length and model name of this Chris Craft. I did several searches to find photos or written information about the \"Silver King V\", but no solid leads. Several yachts have variations on the name \"Silver King\".

Sighting: I recall seeing this yacht when I was a kid while visiting the Newport Beach CA marina. My family was there to see John Wayne\'s Wild Goose yacht. We knew his yacht from seeing it anchored years prior in Olas Altas Bay, Mazatlan (Mexico). John Wayne kept a leased hotel room for many years on the shore there, Hotel Belmar. His small suite there served as Plan B lodging when too tired or too celebratory to motor back out to the Wild Goose. The late gossip writer Liz Smith once stated that the Belmar Hotel hotel suite allowed Wayne to provide lodging on land to visitors he didn\'t want overnighting on his yacht. The late Herb Caen also mentioned that in his own daily column back then.

The Silver King V was docked near Wayne\'s Wild Goose in Newport Beach. I\'m not sure where the Silver King V is these days, hopefully it still exists, perhaps just renamed? The Wild Goose currently docks in Newport Beach, available for sunset cruises, managed by Hornblower Yachts, I believe.

Side bar celebrity Chris-Craft: Long ago, actor-singer Dean Martin owned a Chris motor yacht that looks quite similar to Silver King V, though Dean\'s was perhaps 8 to 12 feet longer. Martin\'s 56-foot Chris-Craft is a Salon Motoryacht, built in 1956.The last I heard of Innamorata, she is working as a commercial sunset dinner cruiser on Lake Chelan, in Washington state.

I\'m offering this information in relation to the similar design of Martin\'s yacht and the Silver King V.

I reached the artist who painted it, he\'s in his late 80s. He doesn\'t remember the yacht owner\'s name that commissioned the plates.

He did mention that actor-musician Burl Ives lived in Anacortes for a few decades and had owned a Chris-Craft or two..

The artist, Bob Williams, said that he only painted 12 of these for the yacht owner back in about 1963*. The boat design in the painting was not generic, but specific to that yacht owner\'s vessel. During his era of painting nautical plates, he never produced \"name droppers\". A name dropper is an item like a plate, cup or bowl that has a design on it, like a boat, a palm tree, etc. People could pay to have their family name, boat name of a place name painted onto the object before before glazing and firing. A more common example of name droppers is when you see a t-shirt with Beach and palm trees with \"Puerto Vallarta\" lettered below. Then you se the identical palm tree design in San Diego, Miami, and Santa Barbara with that city\'s name lettered on it. ...and that PV or Miami t-shirt were likely made in Southeast Asia. Ah, tourism...

The artists recalls the yacht was in Anacortes, WA or possibly out at Friday Harbor, San Juan Island. He hand-painted each plate, then glazed & fired them. At the time, the artist had his own company that made custom plates, cups and bowls for private and commercial clients. He said this design was never mass produced.

The artist said these were designed to be luncheon or appetizer plates. This plate is not part of a larger set of dinnerware.

* Note regarding the year plate was painted:

I see a sonar or other more modern device mounted to the flying bridge of the yacht, located directly above the life ring. Perhaps the artist\'s dating is off a bit. Comments?

Note: I have 2 of these plates. Comparing them side-by-side I see very minor variations and brush stroke marks confirming they were individually hand-painted.

If you are interested in both of them, send an Message to me.

I can re-list them together them as a pair, double in price.

They could be also shipped together by Priority Mail.

The plate measures 9 1/4\" in diameter.

The blue circle in the design is 6 3/8\" in diameter.

The ring base on back measures 6\" in diameter.

This is not a standard flat dinner plate.

The plate has a subtle dish curve for better food plating and easier consumption. (See photo depicting the rim and curve of plate.)

Though better as a wall or shelf display piece, would be nice for a special meal built around small plates or tapas.

Machine dishwashing not recommended.

Condition: This plate is in excellent shape, looks like it was never used for meals. Looks like it was never washed in a dishwasher.

The plate is thick high-quality china.

No chips, no cracks, no hair lines, no glaze bubbles,

no major scratches, no stains.

This plate is from a non-smoking home.

PRICE: $29.00 BUY IT NOW.

SHIPPING: $10.00 USPS PRIORITY MAIL,

WITH INSURANCE & TRACKING.

I CAN ONLY SHIP TO USA 50 STATES.

PAYMENT: PAYPAL ONLY.