Folk Art

[Ara Dedekian]

       Came across this today in an antique shop in Cornish, Maine. I congratulated the owner on being able to get that amount of money. Are our models, in the proper setting, now considered folk art?

       Ara

[John Park]

Over here in Britain, we've got a TV programme called Salvage Hunters, in which a very shrewd antiques dealer called Drew Pritchard goes round buying up all manner or weird stuff that you wouldn't think was worth twopence.  He pays next to nothing for it, but has such a huge and varied client base that he somehow manages to sell it for anything up to ten times what he paid for it in the first place.  He snaps up model cars, boats, trains and so on, but the only thing he never bothers with is the battered old flying model aircraft.  I imagine the one pictured above is going to stay in that glass case for a long time!

[Dan McEntee]

  Some people are of the opinion or idea that if something is old, it's worth a lot of money. The only thing of any use on that airplane is the engine, which looks like a Fox .35 ( and there are a few who would argue that point) and that will take some TLC. The rest is just a crusty old junk heap. Looks to be more beat up from laying around than from actual use. The elevator is falling off and it also looks like part of the vertical fin/rudder is broken off. I would give $14.50 for it, not $145!! That is a far cry from art, more like a victim of neglect.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[De Hill]

The airplane looks like a Guillows Rat Racer.

[john e. holliday]

Hey De, it does look like a Guillows Rat Racer.   Mine had a McCoy Redhead .35 and Mr. Brooks put the first flight on it.  Second flight he held my hand for two laps and the rest is history.  His son was just a baby and years later I helped him learn to fly.  I lost count how many times I would latch the gate to the barn yard to keep the nosy cows out so I could fly it.

[Dave Hull]

One market you guys may not be considering--commercial interior decorating.  I've seen where they decide to give a place, like a restaurant a "farmer's barn" look. Believe it or not I've seen the same thing in some department stores. So they need to go scrounge up a bunch of old looking stuff that customers would have fun looking at and commenting on. I'd bet that they buy the stuff in groups and bundles once someone has "picked it" for them. Trying to save $50 or $100 while taking a few more hours of looking just wastes their time and is more expensive.

On the other hand, if you never catch that decorator's eye, you're likely to just be decorating your antique or second-hand shop to your own taste, and seemingly, the scorn of all modelers?

The Divot

[John Park]

One market you guys may not be considering--commercial interior decorating.

Exactly!  Those people make up a significant proportion of Drew Pritchard's customers.

[Dan McEntee]

One market you guys may not be considering--commercial interior decorating.  I've seen where they decide to give a place, like a restaurant a "farmer's barn" look. Believe it or not I've seen the same thing in some department stores. So they need to go scrounge up a bunch of old looking stuff that customers would have fun looking at and commenting on. I'd bet that they buy the stuff in groups and bundles once someone has "picked it" for them. Trying to save $50 or $100 while taking a few more hours of looking just wastes their time and is more expensive.

On the other hand, if you never catch that decorator's eye, you're likely to just be decorating your antique or second-hand shop to your own taste, and seemingly, the scorn of all modelers?

The Divot

    Well a decent looking vintage model or one that is at least complete is one thing, but some thing that is dirty, falling apart, broken, and has the appearance that mice have been chewing on the wing is another. The average person that doesn't know a rat racer from a rat trap would probably turn their nose up from this example as just an old broken down toy airplane.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[EricV]

Dan, they call that patina, and the dosans, appraiser's and critics of collections get very upset that it lowers the value if you remove it by cleaning or refinishing! 

    Well a decent looking vintage model or one that is at least complete is one thing, but some thing that is dirty, falling apart, broken, and has the appearance that mice have been chewing on the wing is another. The average person that doesn't know a rat racer from a rat trap would probably turn their nose up from this example as just an old broken down toy airplane.
   Type at you later,
    Dan McEntee

[Dan McEntee]

Dan, they call that patina, and the dosans, appraiser's and critics of collections get very upset that it lowers the value if you remove it by cleaning or refinishing! 

     That may hold true for guns, coins, and certain other artifacts, but I would hardly call this patina!! I'll bet the AMA or Smithsonian Museums would turn it down unless there was some kind of proof or provenance that it belonged to some one of significance. I'll bet even Frank , Mike and Danielle would pas it up!! 

   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[Ara Dedekian]

One market you guys may not be considering--commercial interior decorating.
The Divot

     For as long as I can remember, my wife never had a problem with how to dispose of my seemingly useless airplanes. As Dave suggested, she'd go straight to the interior decorators. Mostly for the realization that she'd get WAY more money for the planes than any modeler would give up. Our sole concern is their condition and how they fly. The appeal to a decorator is so far outside our universe that $145 is inconceivable; the 'patina' of the rat racer is just what they're looking for. I'm sure the shop owner knows that, he had a ratty Buster/Fox 35 hanging from the ceiling a while back with a $125 price tag. It's no longer there.

     Ara

[John Rist]

This may be a good outlet for our junk.  Perhaps this guy would pay $50 for old Junkers. 

[Elwyn Aud]

I can almost see it decorating a wall amongst all the old ads and esoteric nick-nacks at a Cracker Barrel.

[GERALD WIMMER]

Hello
I have seen very different models attract high second hand prices. One example was the estate of a well known 'vintage' modeller who built mainly prewar free flight gas models, they were all beautiful finished models that he flew with RC assist.  When he passed the family sold them at an up market art gallery with very high set prices. The family either had contacts in the art world or they were carefully marketed but the collection sold for thousands of dollars at prices average modeller could not imagine! The other example is a specialist second hand dealer that deals in industrial art and design and the bizarre or quirky antiques who cannot get enough old clapped out model airplanes to decorate peoples garages/man caves or businesses. Old and grubby well used models with that patina of age are still treasures to some !

Regards Gerald