Thomas Hunt and the America 1852 Gold Plated Banner Ornament

The Thomas Hunt and the America by 1852 James bard Two famous vessels by a leading New York-based painter of steamboats and sailing vessels on the New York City waterways. Thomas Hunt is rendered in the draftsman style of James Bard. The white vessel with a black-painted smokestack is ornamented with carved paddlebox lunette, a gilded pilot house eagle, a flag on the bow mast "T.H.," a larger flag from the stern reads "Thomas Hunt," The vessel, sailing in a choppy sea, is heading towards a coastline that may depict the Highlands of the Navesink. The Young America was built by William H. Webb of New York. She was launched in 1853, at the height of the clipper construction boom. She sailed in the California trade, on transatlantic routes, and made voyages to Australia and the Far East.