Why are modellers anonymous?

Just returned from holiday in Norfolk.  During this time I visited a number of museums, country houses, churches, cathederals and libraries.  There were many models of different subjects, shapes and sizes on view, all lovingly created by someone.

Who those ‘someones’ were will remain a mystery as in the majority of cases there was no information.  It seems that as a breed modellers are most reluctant to leave their mark on their work for posterity.  The details of the builder become even more obscure the more times the model changes hands.

The number of Auctions I attend which have unloved models up for sale and no one knows who built them.  Often all the Auctioneer can say is that it has come from ‘a house clearance’.  So one assumes that the proud builder has died and the family are no longer interested in it.  You can pretty much bet that the model will not have any details of the builder on it.

Take as another example the case of a model galleon which at one time was exhibited in the Science Museum from 1921 to 1925 and a black and white image of which appears on the internet if you google ‘Elizabethan Galleon Model’.  Contacting the Science Museum elicits the information that it was built by a gentleman by the name of Freke Field.  Who Freke Field was, why he built the Galleon and what happened to it are, it seems, unknown.

Artists it seems are much prouder of their work and they put their name on it.  Surely a modeller is also an artist?

So if I have a plea, please at least put your name on the model and the date you built it.