What Makes a Ship Model Valuable to Others?

[dockattner]

Part of the art world is driven by speculation. People buy it because they believe that it will increase in value. Believe it or not, art can be included as a “non-traditional” part of a self directed retirement account. Here in the USA referred to as an IRA. Supposedly in this case artistic appreciation of the artwork is secondary. For this to work, the investment must be liquid. There must be a ready market for the artwork when the owner wants to sell it.

I doubt if model ships, regardless of who built them have or will ever reach the point where they will have offer the liquidity to be a good investment.

Roger

Thank you, Roger.

 

[dockattner]

turn the table from seller to buyer i do have a collection of Harold Hahn's work. None of his ship models but his art.
I had an appraiser give me a value of the collection and it is worth in the thousands mind you not enough to sell and buy myself a private island or even retire on. But as an investment it increased in value a lot. Why i purchased his work was more because Harold was a personal friend and mentor of mine. In the early days i was working as a graphic/commercial artist so i was drawn to his work as an artist to artist. His work inspired me and to this day some 40 years later his work in ship modeling still inspires ship model builders. A model built from Hahn plans when well done will sell in the thousands. Then there is the connection and i do not quite know how to put it into words but here goes. Standing in an art gallery with a group of people looking at a work by Hahn i mention "oh i have a collection of his work" as all eyes turn to you really! are you a Patron of the Arts? a rich dude that collects art did you know him? yes i was his student. Oh my!
maybe like a sports fan who cheers on a team, he is not part of the team but feels a connection to it. I may of not done that work hanging on the wall but i relate to it, understand it, being a little part of it.
Last summer on vacation the wife and i were in an art gallery and i saw a piece that just caught my attention we walked out without it. We did continue are travels and after 50 miles away i could not let it go so we drove back and i bought it. So there is a connection between a buyer and a piece of artwork an appreciation a burning desire of "i got to have that!"
ship models you cannot relate to it, a kit model or scratch-built model look the same but if you're a part of it understand the artistic value of it have an appreciation for it then that sets the value for you and you alone.
a part of the collection

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Thank you for sharing your personal experience of being a part of the HH legacy, Dave.

 

[Bob Cleek]

I doubt if model ships, regardless of who built them have or will ever reach the point where they will have offer the liquidity to be a good investment.

Don't say that to the good Drs. Kreigstein! (I suppose you could buy a Navy Board model somewhere as an investment, but for the moment, I'm holding onto my Nvidia stock. )

 

[Bob Cleek]

ship models you cannot relate to it, a kit model or scratch-built model look the same but if you're a part of it understand the artistic value of it have an appreciation for it then that sets the value for you and you alone.
a part of the collection

I'd have to say that Harold's model for his naked lady etching is a bit too hairy for my taste. To each his own, I suppose.

I think one of the biggest problems with ship models in the fine arts market is their size, shape, and fragility. You can't just bring them home in the trunk of your car and hang them on the wall. Despite the rich getting richer these days, there just aren't that many mansions with huge rooms that can accommodate something like a 1:48 period warship without causing the interior decorator indigestion.

 

[18Lyman]

This is a very interesting post, Jim. You have effectively shifted the driver of value away from the model itself to the interests of the collector. That certainly aligns with my (hopefully respectful) review of the model that prompted this thread. Personally, I value precision of execution
(how 'well' the model has been made) over-against other standards of 'collectability'. In other words, my perception of the value of this model has been biased by what I think a model should be - but my measure is understandably not the only measure.

There are some 'drivers' that occur with ordinary folks that I'm not hearing much about in these discussions. Not to take away from collector or academic interest in ship and boat models, but the variety of reasons that people would want a model is wide. For starters, I don't think I've seen many ship models
in people's homes or offices that didn't have some specific connection to the owner. Here are some examples. This model is of the shrimp boat my father in-law named for me and my wife. I like this J-boat model because my uncle let me crew for him on his big sailboat. My great grandfather helped build this giant speedboat in Michigan. I built 300 boats like this one for Montgomery Ward. My favorite novel when I was a kid was Sailing Around the World Alone. I always wanted a boat just like this, so I built a model of it.
And then, there are these. I'm starting this model because the other one wasn't much of a challenge. I buy from this kit producer because I like working with my hands and would like to do several of them. I like the sense of accomplishment. What I don't hear from people about boat and ship models is how much they might be worth.

 

[Bob Cleek]

There are some 'drivers' that occur with ordinary folks that I'm not hearing much about in these discussions. Not to take away from collector or academic interest in ship and boat models, but the variety of reasons that people would want a model is wide. For starters, I don't think I've seen many ship models
in people's homes or offices that didn't have some specific connection to the owner. Here are some examples. This model is of the shrimp boat my father in-law named for me and my wife. I like this J-boat model because my uncle let me crew for him on his big sailboat. My great grandfather helped build this giant speedboat in Michigan. I built 300 boats like this one for Montgomery Ward. My favorite novel when I was a kid was Sailing Around the World Alone. I always wanted a boat just like this, so I built a model of it.
And then, there are these. I'm starting this model because the other one wasn't much of a challenge. I buy from this kit producer because I like working with my hands and would like to do several of them. I like the sense of accomplishment. What I don't hear from people about boat and ship models is how much they might be worth.

What you say is entirely true if the concept of "others" as in "What makes a ship model valuable to others?" is interpreted broadly. In fact, just about anything could make a ship model valued by somebody. God knows, a look at some of the ship modeling sites on Instagram, FaceBook, and Reddit, etc., compels that conclusion. Construing the question sensibly, however, compels the conclusion that the essential consistently reliable determinant of the value of a scale ship model is the degree of its quality as Napier enunciates it:

"A high-quality scale ship model provides a compelling impression of an actual vessel within the constraints of historical accuracy."

Each model speaks for itself and stands alone upon its own merits. The higher the quality as defined, i.e., the more a model provides a compelling impression of an actual vessel within the constraints of historical accuracy, the more it will be valued by knowledgeable people. That's it in a nutshell. Higher quality scale ship models are worth more than lower quality scale ship models. Simple as that.