Two Hamburg-America Line Items

Hamburg-America Line Launching of the S.S New York Commemorative Medal 1926 (bronze gilt and enamels, maker marked "DIEGES & CLUST" with the company's eagle insignia on the reverse, obverse illustrating the bow of the S.S. New York, the coats-of-arms of the cities of Hamburg and New York above, flanked by the German flag on the left and the American flag on the right, inscribed "GREETINGS FROM THE CITY OF NEW YORK / HON. JAMES J. WALKER MAYOR" above arms, the Hamburg-America Line insignia below the ship flanked by branches of oak leaves at the left and laurel leaves at the right, 39 mm x 51 mm, original tri-colour ribbon suspended from a 22.7 mm x 46.7 mm bronze gilt hanger with pinback, the hanger inscribed "COMMEMORATING THE LAUNCHING OF THE NEW S.S. NEW YORK / OCT. 20 1926"); and Hamburg-America Line Forty Years' Service Badge, Named (HAPAG) (silver gilt and enamels, marked "800" (silver) on the reverse, illustrating the Hamburg-America Line flag inside a full wreath of oak leaves with "40" at the top of the wreath, 25 mm, buttonhole attachment engraved "WILHELM WITT / 14.12.1940", in its hardshelled case of issue, HAPAG flag insignia on the inside lid, raised recessed medal bed). Intact enamels, extremely fine. Footnote: S.S. New York was a German ocean liner owned by the Hamburg America Line, built by the Blohm & Voss of Hamburg, Germany and launched in 1926. She had a sister ship, S.S. Hamburg, which was launched in 1925. The Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG for short, often referred to in English as the Hamburg America Line, was a transatlantic shipping enterprise established in Hamburg, Germany in 1847. Among the founders were prominent citizens such as Albert Ballin (Director General), Adolph Godeffroy, Ferdinand Laeisz, Carl Woermann, August Bolten and others, and its main financial backers were Berenberg Bank and H. J. Merck & Co. It soon developed into the largest German, and at times the world's largest, shipping company, serving the market created by the German immigration to the United States and later immigration from Eastern Europe. On September 1, 1970, after 123 years of independent existence, HAPAG merged with the Bremen-based North German Lloyd to form Hapag-Lloyd AG.