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21.5x25.5" framed/matted artboard has 14.5x20" image area in acrylic paint, original art cover and interior page of Sea Classics Magazine July 1972 issue showing the 1930s Coast Guard CG-161 intercepting a rum-runner ship as crew dumps cargo into water. Art was by Otto Kuhni (1927-2017), who started doing freelance work in 1962, including some projects for Mattel that predate his involvement w/Hot Wheels (for which he is predominantly known) in 1967. Kuhni also produced freelance work for Lockheed, McDonald Douglas, Max Factor, L.M. Cox, Challenge Publications, Galoob and Tyco among others. Lt. aging/wear. Exc. Comes w/reading copy of the magazine this art was produced for. Ship history: Commissioned in the 1920s and early 1930s, boats in this class were colloquially referred to as "100-footers." Built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey (just across the river from Philadelphia), these vessels were specifically designed to patrol offshore for extended periods and intercept smuggling operations. The CG-161 is documented in historical State Department records and contemporary news archives for active patrol and seizure operations. Most notably, the vessel, along with the CG-180 and USCGC Sebago, took part in the seizure of French and foreign liquor-carrying vessels off the East Coast.