THE SS BREMEN "BLUE RIBAND" TROPHY GLOBE
Sunday, June 6th 2021
by Paul Räth for the Norddeutscher Lloyd, ca. 1929
Paul RÄTH (Leipzig, 1881-1929),for the NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD
« Bremen » Trophy Globe, ca. 1929.A mechanical, illuminated globe manufactured by Paul Räth for the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line in honor of the SS Bremen ocean liner's west- and eastbound transatlantic crossing speed records ("Blue Riband"). Ca. 1929.
Signed and inscribed: "Herstellung u. Verlag Paul Räth Lehrmittel u. Feinmechanik Leipzig".
Height: 110 cm.
Base width: 61.5 cm.
Globe diameter: about 65 cm.
Operational revolving and lighting systems.
(Accidents, some lamps are missing, switch to be replaced, one plate is partly erased).
Provenance: an Île-de-France Castle.
THE SS BREMEN "BLUE RIBAND" TROPHY GLOBE
The SS Bremen was a transatlantic ship built for the Norddeutscher Lloyd line, a German shipping company, in 1928. At 286 meters long and 51,600 tons, she could accommodate 2,200 passengers and 990 crew members. The SS Bremen set out on her maiden voyage to New York City in the summer of 1929, sailing at a speed of nearly 28 knots (or an average of 50 km/h), which allowed her to make the crossing in four days. She broke the speed record for crossings between Europe and the United States, thus capturing the Blue Riband. She held the westbound record for one year (1929-1930, losing it to her sister SS Europa) and the eastbound one for six years (1929-1935, losing it to SS Rex, sailing under the Italian flag). A flagship of the German commercial fleet, SS Bremen cruised to Baltimore, Latin America, South Asia and even Australia.
The transatlantic race exacerbated rivalries between European nations. The competing ships were not only speedy but also true floating palaces such as the SS Normandie (France, 1935) and RMS Queen Mary (United Kingdom, 1936). During WWII, the SS Bremen was requisitioned and turned into a troop carrier intended to serve during the invasion of England. However, she was gutted by fire in 1941 and her wreckage dismantled in 1946. Her tragic end is remarkably close to that of the SS Normandie that caught fire in 1942 and was scrapped in 1946.
Our spectacular globe, made in Leipzig by Paul Räth, would probably have been kept in the German transatlantic company's headquarters or inside its flagship. An author turned publisher, Räth founded a publishing house for educational material in 1917. Together with the Berliner Paul Oestergaard, he is one of the most famous manufacturers of terrestrial globes in Germany. An important collection of globes where Paul Räth’s hold a predominant place, is housed in the Ethnological Museum in Leipzig.
Paul Räth also made another globe depicting the Bremen, albeit in a smaller size and without any mechanism nor lights (Christie's auction, London, November 19, 2003, number 2003). Our specimen, unmatched by any of the globes we know of, was probably ordered by the transatlantic company as a trophy for the fastest ship in the world. Historically speaking, it is also one of the first kinetic works of art of the 20th century.