selling model ships

[Bob Cleek]

I think the "gem-like" or precious quality of miniatures is most appealing, as well as most accessible. Easy to ship, carry and display.
Most appealing to impulse purchase. I also believe that, if well executed, the miniature "gem-like quality" adds to the impression of value.

I agree wholeheartedly. The catch for guys like us is that the ultra-miniatures done by guys like McNarry, Reed, McCaffery, Wilson, and Ough are mind-bogglingly detailed for the scales they work in. When you look at pictures of their models, often their size isn't fully appreciated because we're used to looking at pictures of much larger scales. I've closely examined a couple of McCaffery's models displayed in the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. He does fully rigged ships that are three to five inches long with all the detail you'd expect on a model at 1:48 scale and the workmanship is impeccable. These guys are in the "can-engrave-the-Lord's-Prayer-on-a-grain-of-rice" class. Their models aren't "gem-like," they are gems. We're talking the Faberge eggs of ship models.
Additionally, as Bill Wall notes in his articles cited above, these artists have developed names for themselves and have a following of collectors (and investors) who are standing in line to snatch up anything they build (or built, in the case of McNarry and Ough.)
McCaffery's recent build of the clipper Lightning (1854):









While the above pictures appear almost as photographs of a full-sized ship at sea under full sail, the model is actually only 9 and a half inches long, built to the scale of 1:384 (1"=32'). Priced at $75,000.00

(McCaffery's model of Prince holds the world's record for the highest auction price paid for a present-day ship model at $100,000.00)





For a fascinating read on McCaffery and his work with lots more pictures like those above, see: https://www.jrusselljinishiangallery.com/lloyd-mccaffery

 

[Novascotian]

A word of caution. It has been mentioned that a contribution to a museum is a way to get your model out to the public but many of these institutions will accept your excellent work but on condition that you pay for insurance on your masterpiece while on display.

 

[Bob Cleek]

A word of caution. It has been mentioned that a contribution to a museum is a way to get your model out to the public but many of these institutions will accept your excellent work but on condition that you pay for insurance on your masterpiece while on display.

These days it seems even this option varies greatly from museum to museum. The museum business is in a state of change today. In times past, museums were relatively eager to fill their storage facilities with donations, since the status of a museum often depended upon the size of its acquisition holdings. Museums often served as repositories for collections which were held for academic study, while only a fraction of the total holdings were ever on public exhibit at any one time. For a variety of reasons, the trend in museums now is a focus not on collections of things on hand, but the collection of admission fees at the turnstiles. In order to draw the attendance, many museums are transitioning to "interactive" exhibits and video presentations, to provide the public with an "experience," perhaps at the expense of providing an "education." We've seen the majority of the greatest museum ship models formerly on display be relegated to warehouses, or worse, "deaccessioned" to generate operating capital and create space for "dumbed down" "video game simulator" exhibits and the like. Short of a very small local historical society museum, which are often less sophisticated volunteer-curated operations, I would expect that few museums would be interested in accepting any ship model other than a high-quality scratch-built model of a vessel specifically relevant to the museum's scope of interest. The only exceptions being, perhaps, donations which a museum might wish for resale at a "silent auction" fundraiser or in a museum shop. Even at that, most museum shop managers will tell you that completed ship models are more floor display decorations than serious inventory because they are very slow sellers.