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Est. Portofino · MMXXVI

The wooden boats of summer, in the palm of a hand.

Every replica is turned, planked and lacquered by the same atelier that restores their full-scale sisters on Lake Iseo. Numbered, signed, meant to be handled.

Model scale model — view 1 of 8, rotating 0 degrees around the hull
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A three-hundred-and-sixty degree study

Materia

Honduran mahogany, chromed brass, hand-stitched leather.

Metodo

Nineteen coats of marine lacquer, sanded between each by hand.

Provenienza

Numbered, signed, delivered in a linen-lined walnut case.

The Collection

Currently in the atelier

Collecting

Investment-Grade Collectible Model Boats: Fine Art That Holds Value

Discover why limited production discipline, signed provenance, and hand-built artisan rigor define the pinnacle of maritime collecting.

Provenance

Limited Production & Provenance

Every collectible model boat leaves the atelier as an individually numbered edition, entered in the signed atelier journal and accompanied by its certificate of authenticity. That unbroken paper trail — hull number, build dates, the hand that varnished it — is what anchors a piece's investment narrative decades later.

Material

Material Rigor vs. Mass Production

Hand-cut solid walnut presentation casings, museum-grade joinery cut without filler, and rigging laid to scale in brass and linen thread. A moulded resin replica is finished in an afternoon; a plank-on-frame hull under nineteen hand-sanded coats of marine lacquer takes months, and ages like furniture rather than plastic.

Value

Tangible Assets That Hold Value

Artisan maritime models belong to the same family of collectibles that hold value as fine timepieces and hand-stitched leather: scarce, documented, repairable, and desirable to a collector base larger than the supply. Our capacity is bounded by the pace of the hand, so editions close and never reopen — the mechanism that has preserved resale value in every serious craft market.

Anatomy of provenance

What arrives in the case

Three documents of record, delivered with every numbered edition.

01

The Signed Certificate of Authenticity

Letterpressed, countersigned by the master builder, stating hull, scale and edition.

02

The Numbered Edition Brass Plate

Engraved and pinned to the walnut base — the piece's permanent identity.

03

The Atelier Build Journal

Dated notes and photographs from first plank to final coat, in the builder's hand.

Further Reading

The longer story