The Little World

The scale market’s answer to Madoff and Ponzi.

In case you are wondering what the answer should be, ” No ” is safest. Anyone who has seen a pyramid or junk bond scheme in operation will recognise the game as it develops. We’re after a better class of broker here.

I have disposed of many collections of model items in my time – my mother disposed of my childhood one by leaving models behind every time we moved. In my time I collected ship plans, 1/1200-scale waterline ships, toy soldiers, garden railway trains, die-cast cars, and large scale diorama buildings. Each gave joy for a long while, then became old hat as new interests or life experiences took over.

In the first case the goods were removed by a borrower who never returned them – but I will encounter him one day, Perth being what it is. It will be interesting to see if he has retained any of them.

The other collections went to people who gave value – either in trade goods or cash. Two of the individuals seem to have been local dealers who then parcelled out what they paid for to on-sell to shops or other collectors. I approved of this – after I was paid, it was good to see the items being valued by others.

That is what we need for the scale model kits – not just the stash models that can be traded like tinned gefilte fish, but the built-up kits that show the final vision of the builder. The one is potential, but the other is art. Or craft, if you will.

They’ll need to be computer and website-savvy to produce commerce these days, but it need not be at the level of eBay or other giant works. And they need to be stable and fixed in the community to be a viable trading entity.

Sellers will always want more money than buyers want to pay, but a good broker should be able to publish a price guide that is logical. There would need to be a fund of cash to pay for the transactions as well, and not just deferred promises of reimbursement after on-sales occur. That is not business – that is gambling. If there is any risk to be undertaken it should fall on the broker.

I have a suspicion that there would be a good deal of work and a decent margin of profit for anyone who would undertake it on a business-like basis.