Value of a Marine Model?

Marc.

I have established a data base on ship model kits, (not  all) that have sold on e-bay over the past 2.5 years. Here is what I have on the Marine Model Ch W Morgan #1089; There have been 17 sold, the average price is $120.47. The most costly was $177 and the cheapest $87. One caveat is that you need to back out the shipping cost to get what the kit is worth to you.

Hope this helps,

Yankee Clipper 

One thing I'd always bear in mind when buying or selling one of those old wood kits is the condition of the fittings.  Until fairly recently, Marine Models, Model Shipways, A.J. Fisher, Scentific, Sterling, and virtually all the other American companies cast their fittings in lead (or lead alloy), which is an extremely unstable substance - but inconsistently so.  I've seen lead fittings that have turned to powder in the space of months.  (In the hobby shop where I used to work, I occasionally found lead components of model railroad kits that had started to disintegrate in the boxes, before they were sold.)  On the other hand, I've got some old Model Shipways lead parts knocking around in my workshop that are at least forty years old, and look as good as new.  The effects of "lead disease" seem to be utterly unpredictable.

Bluejacket (formerly Boucher Models) led the way in the switch to britannia metal (aka britannia pewter), which looks almost exactly like the old stuff but is much more stable.  (It's an alloy of tin and copper.)  I'm not sure exactly when Bluejacket made the changeover, but it was at least thirty-five years ago.  Since then all (so far as I know) of the other firms have followed suit - as have the manufacturers of other hobby items that used to contain lead, such as model railroad stuff and military miniatures.  (Part of the reason was consumer dissatisfaction with deteriorating lead parts; another was federal regulation.  Lead has now, so far as I know, disappeared from the American hobby industry.) 

I don't remember just when Marine Models went out of business, but I think it was at least forty years ago - before the change to britannia started.  So far as I know, the cast-metal fittings in any Marine Models kit can be assumed to be lead.

If I were in the market to buy an old MM kit (or one from any other manufacturer of the pre-Britannia period), I'd insist on looking at the cast fittings before forking over any money.  (If the kit was forty or fifty years old and the fittings were in good shape, I'd figure they were "safe.")  And if I were trying to sell one, I'd make a point of advertising that the fittings were in like-new condition. 

Wow - Yankee Clipper - Sounds like quite a database you've built up there.  May I also ask for your input?

I just bought a Marine Models Co. kit of the "Red Jacket" with a Mahogony 1-pc wooden hull.  There is some correspondence enclosed from 1974 between the original owner of this kit (now deceased) and Victor Pugliosi (- the owner of Marine Model Co who just passed away last year) - which resulted in obtaining a missing piece - so I think I can presume the kit to be complete.  The box and papers all look to be in good condition.  I just got it from the original owner's widow and would like to learn what value eBay might likely place on it without having to auction it away to find out.  Can you please tell me what similar Red Jacket kits have sold for?

great info here learn something.

Ron

I recently acquired a Marine Models Co. wooden model ship kit of the Clipper "Red Jacket".  I thought it was complete but I'm confused by some of the parts... plus it seems to have a few extra parts in the box that likely came from an airplane kit (unless the Red Jacket kit included some balsa sheet stock, long rubber strips and piano wires). 

If anyone else has a Red Jacket kit, I'd appreciate the opportunity to compare notes on how many white dowels (main-masts?)  came in your kit (mine has only two) and a few other questions...

I would like to find a old Marine Model Company kit, the Bomb Ketch, kit # 1119.  Have you any suggestions?