Esbjerg - Danish Shipping Memorabilia

A SHIPPING MEMORABILIA PIECE from the Danish town of Esbjerg. The writing on the side of the shell is in Danish "Hilsen fra Esbjerg" (Greetings from Esbjerg). Esbjerg is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. With a population of 71,618 (January 2014), it is the fifth-largest city in Denmark, and the largest in west Jutland.Once Denmark's principal fishing port, the Port of Esbjerg is still a driving force for the town's economy.There is no distinguishable name on the ship pictured on the piece but the vessel looks to date to the late 1800's or early part of the 1900's. The STAR showing on the anchor cross piece was the symbol for the Thingvalla Line. This shipping company was founded by the Danish Carl Frederik Tietgen in 1879 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It maintained a route between Copenhagen and New York City calling at Kristiania (present day Oslo) and Kristiansand on the way. It had 10 ships in its fleet. In 1898 the company was bought by DFDS, another Danish shipping company, and the name was changed to Scandinavian America Line.