Rare Queen Mary tableware, furniture and fixtures which were auctioned in the late '90s. The pictures and documents below depict some of these treasures, now lost forever.

One-hundred and eleven items were up for bid at the October 3, 1998 auction. Items 79 through 111 were Queen Mary reprints, fortunately—still, many fine artifacts were sold.

A sample page from a Queen Mary auction list can be viewed by clicking the picture below. The most recent public auctions took place June 1, 1996, November 9, 1996, May 4, 1997 and June 7, 1997.

This depletion of the ship's archives is lamented by the editor of the Turbine Tribune. It is a logical fallacy to claim these items were sold to fund restoration. However, this is exactly what the Department of Community Development, City Council and Joseph Prevratil purport.

Several beautiful items of original furniture have been rescued from dumpsters such as this throughout the years. A Long Beach furniture restorer claims his home is furnished with pieces fished from such dumpsters!

DOCUMENT COLLECTION SUMMARY

Long Beach deputy city attorney James McCabe, responded to the Turbine Tribune's query regarding the Queen Mary auctions. Persons cc'd in this document are city attorney Robert Shannon, department of community development administrator (which then oversaw the lease of the Queen Mary) Ron Walker, and office head of the president (of the ship) Travis Montgomery.

Also below, is correspondence from then assistant city manager, Henry Taboada, granting RMS permission to sell Long Beach's assets. According to Long Beach's own city charter, this is illegal. As an aside, Henry Taboada since became city manager and was subsequently fired by the Long Beach city council, September, 2002.

Enjoy the insightful comments about the Queen Mary auctions and operator by Long Beach Press-Telegram columnist, Tom Hennessy.

Finally, you can read what Joseph Prevratil's former business partner and litigant had to share about the auctions. (Dr. Robert Gumbiner, founder of FHP Healthcare was the financier of Prevratil's non-profit corporation, RMS Foundation, Inc.) In this same collection, the ship's former historian Bill Cwiklo, compared the Queen Mary's fixtures to the treasures of King Tut's tomb. Both of these fine letters were published by the Press-Telegram in April, 1996.

 

HOW TO GET THROWN OFF THE QUEEN MARY:
Click on security truck for story!

More images of auctioned items unique and original to the Queen Mary.

Below decks on the Queen Mary were once as full of riches as the mythological vaults of the Titans.

Before the many recent Queen Mary artifact auctions, the decks around cargo hold 1 were filled with fittings such as those pictured above. Notice the five red- and cream-colored lamp domes from the Observation Bar.

'...Land of song,' cried the warrior bard, 'though all the world betrays thee— One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, one faithful harp shall praise thee!' —Irish lyricist, Thomas Moore

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