WWII Recognition Model Ships

I have two wooden boxes containing model ships used by the US Navy during WWII for recognition training. The ships are all painted gray, the hulls are made of wood and have lead superstructures. There are about ten ships in each box. They range in type from destroyer escorts to aircraft carriers.

I'd like to know if these ship models are common, if there is any interest in them to collectors, what value they may have, etc. I have had no luck surfing the Web.

(*<~ I could be mistaken,but I believe that military I.D. vehicles (ships,planes,tanks,trucks ,etc.) were 'made to scale' by Comet (later Comet/Authenticast, SAE) and were completely made of lead. Perhaps what you have are models of ships that were moved around on 'plotting boards'. OR, maybe I'm just full of ship.

Anyone: I have two wooden boxes containing model ships used by the US Navy during WWII for recognition training. The ships are all painted gray, the hulls are made of wood and have lead superstructures. There are about ten ships in each box. They range in type from destroyer escorts to aircraft carriers. I'd like to know if these ship models are common, if there is any interest in them to collectors, what value they may have, etc. I have had no luck surfing the Web. Help?

Doug W. ~>*)))>< Big fish eat Little fish ><(((*<~

You might have better luck in alt.military.collecting. I'm not saying your post is inappropriate or anything like that, but when you have a specialty group for a particular area, you often can get more people with detailed knowledge of your particular item, where it would be more hit or miss here. At the very least I would post the question in that group as well as this one.

I've been in enough shops specializing in militaria to know that practically anything in that venue is collectible, but I've never seen the particular items you describe for sale.

As Doug mentioned,Authenticast is the likely maker - they had gov't contracts for such models (& produced some 10 MILLION during WW II!). Find a copy of Richard O'Brien's 'Collecting Toys' & 'Collecting Toy Soldiers' for more info. (Try the library) SMART folks, they were, as they made toy soldiers prior to the war, but seeing the way the winds were blowing, lined up the contracts & thus survived (to make toys) unlike most contemporaries. . .at least till plastic took over.

Yours in obsessive collecting - Bob

Sounds interesting, why don't you try http://www.bids.com ?

Thanx for the advice, Richard - I'll try there,too.

Mr. Smorg:

You're absolutely right. Under some of the bases the ships are mounted on, I can see 'Comet' on some and 'South Salem Studios' on others. Some of them might be all lead, too, but I'm not sure. I located a reference to Comet while surfing, and found that they made models long after WWII, which concerned me that I might have been misinformed about their age. So I did a little research on the ships themselves, and learned that they all were in service early in WWII and before, and weren't really 'famous' ships (like USS Missouri or USS Yorktown). That leads me to guess that they were recognition models, or used for plotting as you suggest, rather than for hobbyists after the war. Or perhaps I'm extrapolating when I shouldn't.

It was my grandfather who gave them to me, and he was the captain of a WWII sub chaser-turned-floating museum in Chicago, so I lend his opinion some credibility. On the other hand, I was about twelve when he explained to me what they were!!

Can you advise me how to find an appraiser who would be familiar with items such as these (am I on the right track)? I don't know what kind of value these have to collectors, or even what historical value they may have.

Thanx!

(*<~ I could be mistaken,but I believe that military I.D. vehicles (ships,planes,tanks,trucks ,etc.) were 'made to scale' by Comet (later Comet/Authenticast, SAE) and were completely made of lead. Perhaps what you have are models of ships that were moved around on 'plotting boards'. OR, maybe I'm just full of ship.

Anyone: I have two wooden boxes containing model ships used by the US Navy during WWII for recognition training. The ships are all painted gray, the hulls are made of wood and have lead superstructures. There are about ten ships in each box. They range in type from destroyer escorts to aircraft carriers. I'd like to know if these ship models are common, if there is any interest in them to collectors, what value they may have, etc. I have had no luck surfing the Web. Help?

Doug W. ~>*)))>< Big fish eat Little fish ><(((*<~

Michael, I believe that Comet produced military I.D. vehicles to scale and for identification purposes from the beginning of WW II and until their U.S. (N.J. I 'think' plant burned down. At this time their European plant took over production as Comet/Authenticast ( I believe that Authenticast was already in production making models. The chief designer/engineer named ( I 'think' ) Erickson went to Africa and either founded or went to work for S.A.E. (South African Engineers ' I think' and produced the lead military I.D. models. I have a mixture of ships,tanks and trucks made by Comet in the early 40s ( a total of 10, I 'think' that I've had in my display case for 7 years unsold ( I received them as 'toys' around 1950). O'briens Toy price guide list 'some' of the Comet ships at around $65-$75 each.... This is all from memory from some research that I did around 10 years ago and may not be 100% accurate (but, I think it is <g>. hope this helps,

Doug W. ~>*)))>< Big fish eat Little fish ><(((*<~

I would be interested in any information found re this subject as I have some of these models (all lead) that I know nothing about.

Ed

On Fri, 4 Jun 1999 19:16:26 -0500, 'Michael P. Weren'