U.S.N.A presentation box

[billn1956]

I found this presentation box from the class of 1922 U.S.N.A to LT.Commander A.E. Chapman. I am trying to find out more about Lt.commander chapman. I have found very little so far, all I have is that on Oct,1 1941 his signal # was 2272 and he was on U.S.S PE-48-PE ( A ) If any one could find out more, I would really like to know more about his carrer and this piece of history. Would any body know what this would be worth ? I have never seen one like it.. Thank you

 

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[tamrock]

Looks like a box for silverware. I'll bet what ever was in it originally was some wonderful sterling silver items of some kind. Definitely a very well made box that was made to case something wonderful at one time.

 

[billn1956]

I got to agree about the craftsman ship in the making of it.I just cannot tell what it held, hoping to find out and about what it would be worth.

 

[billn1956]

I just looked up the makers of the box. Bailey,Banks& Biddle company Philadelphia They were fine silver jewelers,They produced the 1 cent coin for the south. They made presintaion swords,They designed the medal of honor,silver star,bronze star.designed and made the Lincon medal,they also made silverware. The history of this company is amazing. And of course they also made this box in house. So Tamrock you may be right about what it was made for. Said maybe, because they also made serving ware,I may not ever know for sure what it was for,,but it could be used now for alot of things.

 

[BosnMate]

The Navy had 8 PE's, which stands for patrol craft, and apparently they only had numbers, no name, and they were called "Eagle Boats." One PE was lost to a German submarine
in WWII. All 8 PE's had been commissioned in 1919, and all were built by Ford Motor Company. They were all alike and had a displacement of 430 tons, length was 200'9" a beam of
25'9", and they had a draft of 13'6". The top speed of an Eagle Boat was 18 knots. They were crewed by 68 men, and the ship was armed with a single 4" 50 caliber gun. A sailor would
have called the gun a "four inch fifty." That simply means the bore was 4 inches, and the length of the barrel was 50 times 4, or 200 inches long.

This is a picture of PE 56, and she was sunk by a U Boat in April of 1945. Looking at the photo it looks like this one was armed with two guns, one gun fore and one aft.

I don't know where you got Chapman's rank as Lieut. Commander, in 1922 he was a Lieutenant, which is the same rank as a Captain in the army. The crest on the box is the
crest for the Naval Academy class of 1922. I couldn't find out anything on Chapman, but the boat was sold by the Navy in 1946. If Chapman was a Lieut. in 1922, he would
have had more than 20 years of service before WWII. If you have information that he was a Lieut. Commander serving aboard PE 48 in 1941, then he was very near retirement,
and may have been held over for the duration. As a Lieut. Commander he also would have been the Captain of a ship that size. That's about all I can come up with.

 

[billn1956]

All I have for sure is that in oct 1 1941 he was a Lt,commander at that time. And on the box the tag says he is a Lt,, I do know before the war it was quite hard to get promoted because nobody was getting out,,,and if he was a Lt when he was given the box Lt,commander is not much of a rank gain is it ? I was army and then air force so I am not familar with Navy rank,,some thing I need to learn I guess..But in 1941 he was in a destoryer, do not remember the number did not write that down guess I should have. As I find out more I will up date..This box and the ww2 history has got a hold of me. And it looks like he was from Massachuetts.

 

[tamrock]

I just looked up the makers of the box. Bailey,Banks& Biddle company Philadelphia They were fine silver jewelers,They produced the 1 cent coin for the south. They made presintaion swords,They designed the medal of honor,silver star,bronze star.designed and made the Lincon medal,they also made silverware. The history of this company is amazing. And of course they also made this box in house. So Tamrock you may be right about what it was made for. Said maybe, because they also made serving ware,I may not ever know for sure what it was for,,but it could be used now for alot of things.

If it was from B,B&B There no doubt in my mind there was a treasure of silver in it at one time. What I fear is someone took that box of silver to a precious metals buyer and that heartless scrapper said he only wanted the silver and has no need for the box. That why it's empty now. The stuff that was in it may very well all be melted down now. I go to a precious metals buyer who lets me inspect whats come in recently, before it goes to the refiners and he sells it to me for scrap + 15%. I have found some important signed jewelry in his stuff worth 10X or more over scrap price. He could care less how important the pieces he get are. He's a scrapper and that's how he runs his business. Maybe check ebay to see if any B,B&B silver is being sold or has been sold with a monogram Lieut Chapman or U.S.N.A on it?. Could be there's a B,B&B Tea service set out there broken up and the pieces are being sold individually, but I still have a hunch it's all gone to the fire of Mount Doom.

 

[BosnMate]

The talk about silver is interesting. I was outside looking in, but in the ward room the officers ate off china plates and had what I was sure at the time was plated silver utensils,
but from a distance it looked like sterling. I don't think a lot of people realize that Navy officers, I don't know about other branches, but Navy officers are required to go to knife
and fork school and learn proper etiquette in the Ward Room. As a young seaman apprentice at sea, one of the first watches I stood was "messenger of the watch." My watch station
was on the bridge, and one of my jobs to bring coffee up to the officer of the deck when he wanted a cup. The stewards mate would make up a tray, which was silver plated, and
had dainty china cups and saucers, silver pot with handle on the side, silver sugar and creamer, spoons etc. I'd go down to the ward room and bring the tray up to the bridge.
Looks to me like the Naval Academy class of '22 really thought a lot about this officer, so he must have been a good guy. I wonder if he was an instructor? Anyhow, keep in mind
that the contents could have been plated and not sterling. As a young sailor, standing lookout, or condition watches on a gun, freezing my buns off, I preferred the steaming white
heavy duty mugs of black coffee over the dainty china, stick your pinky finger out cups.

 

[Drmad7]

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