Sheperd Paine collection under the hammer?

[David Morrowq]

Hello all,

I am curious as to how much current modellers respect the past, those trailblazers who got us to where we are now.

In my humble opinion, and many others, Shep Paine sit's on top of the pile as the Grandfather of this hobby. Being a professional modeller from the 1960's to 2000 is an incredible feat. People may have had better painting skill or whatever, but none had his ability to innovate or create stories through diorama's especially his boxes.

Now we all have his bible "How to Build Diorama's - Second Edition". Chapter 15 of that book is solely dedicated to his one of a kind (as all his dios were) box diorama called 'The Meeting of the Admiralty Board", which has become famous given it's feature in his book.
I bring this up as I am the proud owner of this box diorama, as well as another box "The Shady Side of The Shire", along with several figures and AFV's. These are all the real deal, authentic one of a kind as Shep never reproduced his work. All works are signed by Shep, and authenticity can be proven.

My question is, what are they worth to you? Especially the Box Diorama's which are actually up for sale, so what would you pay to own a Sheperd Paine original diorama.

Feel free to PM me should you want to keep it confidential.

 

[Babelfish]

Techniques and the hobby in general have moved on in leaps & bounds since Shep's heyday, but that's not to say he wasn't/isn't an immensely talented modeller. All the more so because he was doing it all at a time long before the plethora of aftermarket stuff that we have at our disposal today, should we want to go that extra mile.

And although a lot of his work was - with hindsight - very 'samey" (endless tank crews loading endless Panzers with shells / shell cases scattered all over the shop / "magnetic stowage" on AFVs), much the same can be said for Francois Verlinden.

But we owe them both a great deal because without their pioneering work the hobby would not be what it is today, there is no doubt about that.

You are very lucky to own some genuine pieces of modelling history and to answer you question - what are they worth to me? Probably a lot more than I could afford!!

- Steve

 

[David Morrowq]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for replying.

What you say is true, though I think a lot of people forget that the majority of his work they see was for people like Monogram Models, or Tamiya etc where he was to produce either Tip Sheets or show display's and there was the rules he could only use products made by the given manufacturer and often he had as little as one week to design, build, paint and put it all together & in the case of tip sheets, write the sheet! So in these cases he was required to display as much of the manufacturers stock as he could.

Also as you also mention the products of today simply were not there in the 1970s.

When he had the time to build what he wanted that's when we saw work that is unsurpassed even today with his box diorama's such as "Gun Deck on the HMS Victory" and "In the Turret of the Monitor", "To a Fair Wind and Victory" etc etc. All those works were almost entirely scratch built to an unbelievable quality using techniques unheard of in his day, and again I go to the design aspect of the diorama's he built as his choice, and not an urgent heavily restricted build on an impossible timeline, they showed a composition that even today's best could well learn from.

As you correctly say we owe Shep, and some others, a great deal of gratitude for making the hobby what it is today.

I do consider myself lucky having been the owner of my collection, I do love sitting in my hobby room at night with the lights turned off, and only having on the lights of the box diorama's on which allows you to see in even more clearly. It's is a spectacular sight!

Dave

 

[Jimmy S]

Dave is there a link to this sale or is it a private sale by you?

 

[David Morrowq]

Hi Jimmy,

It's a private sale by me ... Fell free to PM me should you have any questions if you'd prefer.

Dave

 

[David Morrowq]

Hi again Jimmy,

Thought I'd let you know that I am heading off to bed so I won't see any posts or questions you may have for me for a few hours, so please don't think I am ignoring you!

Dave

 

[tonydawe]

Guys

Dave exhibited his collection of Shep Paine figures, tanks and boxed dioramas at Wasmex last year and I can assure you they are the genuine original pieces. It was a real honour to view these pieces, and while its fair to say that Shep's painting skills have since been surpassed, I don't think anyone has come close to equalling or bettering his inginuity or artistic vision as a diorama maker.

Good luck Dave. I hope whoever buys these pieces loves them as much as I know you do.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

Hi Dave - I envy you having had access to these as part of a private collection. Awesome. But I don't envy you trying to sell them. Hard to part with such old friends and the logistics of shipping them intact would boggle the mind. Best if the buyer is local and can pick them up I presume?

Good luck

Colin

 

[Jimdero]

Hi Dave -- I just posted the article you wrote to boxdioramas.com! (Sorry it took so long.) I'm surprised you're selling those pieces, and really surprised you're selling them to anyone besides Darryl Audette!

 

[David Morrowq]

Hi Jim,

I could not agree with you more, I have now officially sold the pieces to Darryl Audette, who was in fact the original owner for these pieces for those who are not aware. (And Darryl I and I have talked about a time share agreement to re-sell these pieces back and forth to each other every 5 years !!!!!! )

I would like to thank all of the Planeteers for their expression of appreciation for Shep Paine's astounding work and contribution to the model world!

Dave

 

[Babelfish]

Good luck Dave. All the best for the New Year.

- Steve

 

[David Morrowq]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the wishes mate, most appreciated...And also a big thanks to Tony D for his support of the authenticity of my collection and his best wishes along with his help during WASMEX, it was all much appreciated and helped make a success of the exhibition.

The good news is I am keeping some of it and selling the rest to the previous owner, Darryl Audette. he is one of the most knowledgeable people about Shep and a fantastic person....Jim you should speak to Darryl about how all of this went, I believe he will explain when he sees you next week.

So, again thanks to all of the Planeteers for their interest. This truly is a great website, so sorry guys but you can expect to see more of me!

Dave

 

[David Morrowq]

Sorry Colin I just realised I did not respond to your post about local pick ups .... The collection came to me from Canada, and that's where it's headed back to .... It's not that far away given I am in Western Australia!!!!

It will be totally mummified in about 200,000 tissues, and have a team of priests praying over the boxes they are packaged in!

Dave

 

[Gra30]

A dream David
I am glad they are going to a safe home and no doubt will live out all us lot.
I hope the cyber children of the future appreciate these pieces and others, although I am training my nephew who is 5.
I have Sheps books and with my sculpting work I am fortunate to know some of his US friends.
My best wishes to you, it is nice to see these offered openly and to see the follow up.
Happy new year to you, if you can post some pictures I know for a fact these will be admired as deserved
Thank you

 

[David Morrowq]

Thanks Graham,

As I open up the box dios for packing away I will take some photo's before I remove the figures. (I will be removing them and a lot of the scenery for safe travel - Shep pinned everything in place which makes this so much easier than letting the couriers destroy it with their package soccer).

Darryl and I have joked that we will be swapping the boxes back and forth between us every 5 years, so I will probably end up with them again! But for now it's right that they are with Darryl.

Making contact with Shep during the owning of my collection and swapping emails back and forth has been one of the biggest highlights for me. It's a hell of a nice thing to see that name in your contact list and even better when you see a new message from him in the inbox. Wow reading that last sentence back, I sound like a school girl at a boy band concert!

As consolation to saying goodbye to the boxes, I still have of Shep's several figures and AFV's, my favourite being the 90mm Lord Louis Mountbatten figure Shep did for the MMSI auction in 1980. That figure is a stunner.

Just like you have done with your nephew I have been working on my daughters for years to develop a love of this hobby and my 8 year old can already paint with acrylics, and has the patience for heavily diluted layers! What a proud Dad I was when I first saw her do that without complaint! She knows who Shep is, and I wont let her ever forget.

And of course a Happy New Year to yourself, and to all other posters here that I forgot to previously wish.

Dave

 

[Kevindunne]

Cannot seem to get a PM thru to you.
Am interested in Shady Side of the Shire.
Kevin Dunne
[email protected]