He is holding out three Beesons until 8 April when finescale models will
He is holding out three Beesons until 8 April, when finescale models will be presented for the first time in South Kensington ’s annual auction of “exceptional scientific and engineering works of art, instruments and models”.The first such sale was held in London last April, after the 48 lots had been put on show in Park Avenue, New York. In next week’s sale you will not find any models by the Faberge of finescale, Stanley Beeson, who died aged 82 in 1990. Tom Rose, South Kensington’s models specialist, says: “They are disgracefully underpriced and have been for years. It appals me that these gems can sell for as little as 50p for every hour’s work that went into them.”Mr Rose plans to put them before a more appreciative and wealthier audience. They are the product of a peculiarly British tradition of spare-time, garden-shed craftsmanship founded by professional engineers in the inter-war years. The tiny exhibition-standard locomotives, exact to the last rivet, carry no childhood memories.
They have fetched up to pounds 42,000 – an example of how boyhood nostalgia coupled with the wealth of middle-age can be a more powerful market driver than appreciation of true craftsmanship.Finescale is not kids’ stuff. The handful of investors who bought “finescale” locomotives and put them in their bank vault have got it right. By this time next year, prices will have soared for these jewel-like, individually crafted models, which can take up to 3,500 hours to make, but have been selling at auction for less than half their price off the workbench John Windsor takes us on a journey
The word “finescale” may not ring many bells. But if you have ever watched films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes or the original Murder on the Orient Express, you have probably been fooled by the realism of miniature finescale locomotives filmed hurtling into collisions or explosions.
The last chance to buy finescale locomotives before Christie’s South Kensington’s marketing machine puts its weight behind one of the last genuinely underpriced collectables, is at its Trains Galore sale on Monday (2pm), when seven finescales – electrically powered, about 18ins long, scaled 7mm to the foot – will be on offer at estimates ranging from pounds 500- pounds 700 to pounds 1,600-pounds 1,800.If those estimates sound high, compare them with the prices fetched by pre-war tinplate trains factory-made by the German company Marklin.
By contrast, the Nasdaq site begins with a welcome page offering information on the best way of viewing the site depending on which version of browser software, and even which computer system, you are using.However, if you are unwilling to take a chance on the real markets, why not try your hand at two new on-line stock market games, Global Best Six and Global Trader, from Global Stock Games?The games are based on the daily developments in a selection of companies from 12 international stock markets. Each game will cost you about pounds 2.95 ($5) to play and the entrance money provides the revenue for prizes.London Stock Exchange: www.londonstockex.co.ukFTSE International: www.ftse Nasdaq: www.nasdaq Global Stock Games: www.stockgames . The accountants Ernst & Young monitor and audit the game results and payouts, and market information comes from Dow Jones and Reuters. Companies contained in the new IT sector show average share-price gains of 87 per cent in the past three years, compared with a rise of 57 per cent in the FTSE 100 index.One reason London has woken up to the need for a separate sector for IT stocks is the steady march of UK companies across the Atlantic, seeking listings on the US Nasdaq market. Nasdaq is the market of choice for US hi-tech and IT companies US investors are more attuned to such investments. Many are looking for the next Microsoft and are more receptive to new IT stocks.This difference in attitude carries over into websites. The London Stock Exchange’s site offers only a basic guide to how the market works and has no current or even historical price data, although there are links to the FTSE, Liffe and Crest websites.
Most IT companies already have very high price/earnings ratios. The likes of Logica, Sema, Misys and Sage all have p/e ratios higher than the market average, in some cases more than double the p/e for the market as a whole of between 17 and 18.However, optimists can point to the fact that the European software and services market has been growing at an annual rate of around 20 per cent for most of the 1990s. The London Stock Exchange has not really known how to deal with information technology (IT) stocks. In the past it has lumped some in itssupport services category, along with employment agencies and cleaners, while others have sat alongside makers of washing machines and irons. Now, at last, FTSE International, which manages the London share indices, is creating a separate sector for IT stocks, although it may not be until the end of 1998 that a new sub-index covering the sector will be regularly quoted.
Shares in the five biggest London-quoted IT companies rose after the decision to launch the sector was made public Whether they will continue higher is a moot point.
Secondly, it can be used to back a mortgage, or be put in trust by your child for the benefit of your grandchildren. Finally, if you go with a mutual, and it converts to PLC status, windfalls may result.. The company will accept children aged from three months and a monthly premium of pounds 20. Over 50 years, in return for premiums invested of pounds 12,000, a policy of this type could have a surrender value of pounds 72,000.This long-term approach has distinct advantages. Firstly, premiums are not inflation- linked but fixed at the outset Maintaining the policy should not be difficult. Friendly societies offer baby bonds; low premium saving plans with tax-free status These run for between 10 and 25 years.