15/09/2023
It all started with a gift. A six year old boy in Hamburg had the flu and his mother brought him a little present to cheer him up. It was a 1:1250 scale miniature of a coastal freighter, made by the modelling company Wiking. The child could see ships like that one every day in the river Elbe, and now he could have one in the palm of his hand. He started collecting miniature ships and decided he wanted to become an admiral. He never became an admiral, but he made the worldwide largest private maritime collection. That child grew to become Prof. Peter Tamm, founder of the International Maritime Museum Hamburg. After over 80 years of collecting passion, he passed away almost six years ago. But, in a way, he has not stopped collecting. The team of the museum continues his work. The general display of 1:1250 scale miniatures on deck 9 of the museum shows over 50.000 single ships and other vessels.
Be careful about the gifts you make. You never know what you can start.
This picture is but a detail of the section of special and working ships of our general display of 1:1250 miniatures on deck 9 of the museum.
