Visit Us On the Mid-Coast of Maine In Round Pond

Yes, the mid-coast of Maine is a great destination, and especially during the summertime. We left the stifling heat and humidity behind years ago and transplanted ourselves here to the quaint fishing village of Round Pond in Bristol, Maine. This tranquil  little seaside destination was the perfect choice for a

Pemaquid Lighthouse

place to live AND house our maritime antiques and fine art business, Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery. Our new home is situated on Maine Route 32 in Bristol, just outside of the village. We are also located a few miles down the road from New Harbor where you catch the ferry to Monhegan Island and then can continue down route 130 to the  Pemaquid Lighthouse. Also nearby is the beautiful town of Damariscotta. We are also within a 40 minute drive to  Boothbay to our south and Rockland, Rockport and Camden to our north. We are also less than an hours drive to Freeport, Augusta and a little more than an hour to Portland. Of course the real destination for visitors and locals alike are the many waterside restaurants featuring fresh caught lobsters and other delicious seafood delights and they are open during the summertime just about everywhere. There are also numerous art galleries, primarily run by and/or featuring local and regional artists and their artwork.

Now that leads us to our nautical antiques and marine art gallery. Skipjack Nautical Wares is now housed in an early 19th century restored barn with two floors of showroom space filled with authentic maritime antiques, marine art as well as choice furniture and home furnishings selected for the coastal home owner. We also feature a wide variety of nautical lighting, from early lanterns to repurposed table lamps. Navigational chart lampshades are also made here in our lamp works studio. Custom furniture is produced using recycled ship grates and hatch covers and specialized tables housing brass ship portholes and windows. 

A view of Skipjack's first floor showroom
located in Round Pond, Maine.

Skipjack also carries a large collection of ship models and pond yachts, navigational instruments, telescopes and spyglasses, compasses, and all types of unique ship and yacht salvage. You can preview our wares by visiting our webstore 24/7 online at www.skipjacknauticalwares.com. 

We are open year-round by appointment with regular business hours from the month of June through early fall. So, if you are planning a trip to Maine's mid-coast you may want to plan a visit, do a little shopping, a lot of sightseeing and indulge in your favorite fresh seafood from one of our region's exceptional restaurants.

Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery 

1172 State Route 32,  Round Pond, Maine

The Best Way to Display Your Ship's Wheel in Your Home, Restaurant & Office

  One of the questions most asked from our customers throughout the years, is how to best display their ship's wheel in their home, seafood restaurant or professional office. Typically, one would drill screw holes through their wheel or hang them using large mounting hooks. Unfortunately, the first display idea damages the wheel. The second can work as long as you can find big enough hooks to fit the depth of the wheel. That also brings us to our resolve. About ten years ago, we approached a friend who was also a part-time blacksmith. We came up with the idea of large steel hooks, big enough in diameter to use for mounting ship's wheels, large ship's oars and other nautical, maritime, marine items that need a large hook for display.

A lifeboat oar is hung 
using a steel display
hook.

Our pair of large hand-forged wrought iron display hooks measures 4 inches high, 3.5 inches deep, with a 2.25 inch inside diameter. Black painted finish. They are sold as a pair. A single screw is needed for each hook. Make sure to mount them into wood or an vertical 2 X 4 to hold the weight.

Skipjack's steel display hooks for ship's
wheels, oars or other large hanging items.

                                                                                                                                

skipjack's custom made ship's wheel
display hub.

We then came up with a better mounting choice using our ship's wheel hub wall
mounting bracket. Welded steel ship's wheel mounting wall bracket with threaded rod and large fastening nut to secure the wheel on to the bracket. Four mounting holes on backplate. Minimum ship wheel hub opening 15/16" and larger. Accommodates maximum wheel thickness of 3-3/8".

Shown below are a few examples of ship's wheels mounted using our ship's wheel hub. This hub can also be used for mounting wagon wheels or other items with a center hole that you want to display. Interested? Here's the link to our ship's wheel category on  Skipjack's website.  

Antique ship's wheel displayed on a
wooden wall using the wheel hub.

A WWII era ship's wheel is displayed
on a helm station pedestal using a wheel hub.

Skipjack Nautical Wares and Marine Art Gallery is located in the quaint fishing village of Round Pond, Maine. They are open year round by appointment. You can schedule a visit by calling us at 207-219-0897 or by emailing us at www.skipjacknauticalwares.com. visit our website 24/7 at www.skipjacknauticalwares.com. Have a great day. Hope to see you soon!

Pair of Antique Cast Brass Fisherman Style Anchor Andirons

Today we are featuring a pair of antique sand-casted brass anchor fireplace andirons. These rare anchor fronts differ slightly due to casting imperfections during the sand casting process. These nautical fisherman style anchor andirons stand 16 inches tall and11 1/2 inches wide. 

The original shanks were gone, so we had short black-painted iron shanks custom made as replacements. They measure 7 inches deep from front of andiron to back of shank. (designed to stand in front of a fire gate or in a shallow firebox). Beautiful early nautical andirons that will certainly adorn your fireplace! 

Here's the link to these antique brass anchor andirons on Skipjack's website: 

Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery is open year round by appointment. Give us a call at 207-219-0897 0r email us at skipjacknauticalwares@gmail.com for scheduling a visit. 

Skipjack's New Showroom in Round Pond, Bristol Maine

Okay. So it's been quite some time since I have sat at my desk and wrote a blog on Skipjack's Nautical Living. That is because so much has happened over the course of the last two years for us to deal with, that it seemed to me to be a waste of time to write. Nothing in our lives was as usual (the typical status quo). So let's start today, in the now, and I will create a blog that is current, and then I'll work on getting you caught up on the restfulness past.

Yesterday, I went on a road trip here in Maine...yes, here in Maine, to purchase a vintage cupola for our Skipjack barn renovation, our new showroom here in Bristol, Maine. It's the icing on the cake, the cherry topping to top off the ongoing renovations of the early 19th century barn. After many months of hunting for the right cupola, this one finally showed up on Facebook's Marketplace. The cupola was removed from a building somewhere in the vicinity of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and then moved to a Maine property where we purchased it. Though a bit weathered from years of outdoor use, this one was the right scale and proportion for our project, had a copper roof, and was fitting for our planned alterations. Basically, we plan to keep the side vents for summertime airflow and heat exhaust, but replace the front and rear vents with retractable windows for barn-top outer view... somewhat like a lighthouse with an authentic 360 degree Fresnel lens interior light source. It will be functional with a wood floor and wood ladder, with access through a hinged hatch door for standing and personal viewing of the surrounding landscape.

Cupola to top Skipjack's barn showroom.

So, this is where we are today. Renovations of both our new mid-coast, Round Pond Maine residents and barn showroom continue. I'll try to get us all caught up through numerous blogs, outlining what has happened in that last few years here. Cheers. Joe Elder. Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery.

Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery is Everything Nautical

A vignette inside Skipjack's nautical showroom.

Welcome to the world's most unique and diversified nautical store. Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery is an upscale retail store located in historic Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia. The store offers a focused collection of authentic maritime antiques, fine marine paintings, prints, sculpture and carvings, custom nautical furniture and furnishings, lamps, lighting and lampshades, most re-purposed from retired vintage and antique ships salvage. We also carry maritime instruments such as telescopes, sextants, octants, compasses, clocks and barometers.

Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery showroom
window display, spring 2018. Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA.

Our ship model gallery offers a varied selection of antique, vintage and newly made models of boats and sailing ships, half-hulls and ships-in-bottles.

Authentic nautical antiques, marine art, maritime instruments, nautical decor
can be found at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art gallery

Skipjack also creates their own line of boating apparel, jewelry and other custom nautical/coastal inspired products and gifts too!

Skipjack Nautical Wares

& Marine Art Gallery

620 High Street ~ Portsmouth, VA 23704 ~ 757-399-5012

www,SkipjackNauticalWares.com

Virginia Artist Herb Jones Personal Maritime Collection

Herb Jones (1923-1998 ) marine artist Herb Jones, a native of Norfolk, Virginia was known for his

Marine and wildlife artist
 Herb Jones

paintings that reflected his intense love of nature, geese in flight and the Back Bay of Virginia.

He sold over 500,000 of his limited edition prints during his lifetime. His works were selected for permanent collections in museums and exhibits throughout the world. Before his life's end, he received worldwide recognition as an artist, listing among 'Who's Who in American Art' and various international catalogs of artistic and intellectual notables.

Lionel US Navy Ship's Binnacle is part of
the Herb Jones Maritime Collection

Herb Jones was also an avid outdoorsmen, fisherman and hunter. The inspiration for his paintings was a direct reflection of the life that he lived and the places he visited.

An authentic 8-spoke brass ship's wheel.

The Herb Jones Maritime Collection is composed of vintage and antique nautical items that the artist owned for years in his Norfolk, Virginia residence and art studio. Here is a rare opportunity to own an item once cherished by this world-renowned artist!

An original egg tempera painting by Norfolk Virginia
artist Herb Jones titled "Backbay Blizzard".

We also just received two original paintings by Herb Jones. Here's the link: Herb Jones

Dealers of nautical antiques and collectibles, marine art, lamps, lighting, ship salvage and hardware, Skipjack sells quality nautical furniture and furnishings, marine instruments, model boats, nautical gifts and decor. Skipjack’s Marine Art Gallery features marine paintings, sculptures, ship models and folk art featuring mermaids, whales, fish and fowl.

Please visit our online store again soon or if in the Hampton Roads (Tidewater) coastal region of Virginia, visit our marine gallery in historic Olde Towne Portsmouth. We're just a short distance from Virginia Beach, Colonial Williamsburg and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and just across the river from downtown Norfolk. By boat, we're located at mile marker "0" of the Atlantic Intra-coastal Waterway!

Nautical Collection to Be Sold as Fundraiser for the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation

The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery -- re-creations of the three vessels that brought America’s first permanent English colonists to Virginia in 1607 -- are the backbone of the Jamestown Settlement sailing program and have been designated “the official fleet of the Commonwealth” by the Virginia General Assembly. The donation of nautical items stipulated that proceeds would support the Jamestown Settlement sailing program. Private funding has an essential role in supporting the largely volunteer nature of this effort. Along with three paid staff members, up to 35 individuals volunteer 10,000 hours each year to maintain and sail these historic ships.

Exceptional quality "Husun" sextant made by “Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd.,
 59 Fenchurch Street, London E.C.”

Each year one of the three ships sails on a goodwill cruise to other ports to participate in commemorative and community events and host educational programs for students. Sailing program volunteer crew assists visitors and students in exploring the ships and learning about the 1607 voyage and 17th-century shipboard activities. For more information on Jamestown Settlement or the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, visit www.historyisfun.org.

Cased dry card compass by F.W. Lincoln, Jr., Boston, circa 1855.

Skipjack Nautical Wares is proud to be selected as this collection's marketing agent to raise funds for the Jamestown Settlement sailing program. There are 30 plus items in this collection ranging from ship models to early nautical navigational instruments. Also, please, donate generously to the Jamestown Settlement to help keep this important piece of our American history flourishing!

Highest quality commemorative/memorial bell, early to mid 20th century

Visit our web store at http://www.skipjackmarinegallery.com/ or go directly to the collection at Jamestown Yorktown Foundation Nautical Collection. 

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Skipjack Nautical Wares

& Marine Art Gallery

620 High Street Portsmouth, VA 23704  ~ 757-399-5012

www.SkipjackNauticalWares.com