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This is an exceptional scene of Columbus' ships, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria sailing on a sea of deep blue with whitecaps past an island with a castle. The maker name was Klaus von Goldmann and he was a Hochseekapitain in the former GDR. All three ships share many common traits. All 3 ship's hulls and decks are in natural wood and each have many pieces of vertical and horizontal wood strips added to the hull just as the original ships would have had. The same is true for the decks. The Santa Maria, a Nao, is in the center and the vessel has three masts, a mainmast, a foremast, and a mizzenmast. There are 4 sails altogether were attached to these masts. Each mast carried one large sail. The foresail and mainsail are square with a large Portuguese red cross in the center. The sail on the mizzen is a triangular sail known as a lateen mizzen. The ship has a smaller topsail on the mainmast above the mainsail. In addition, the ship carries a small square sail, a spritsail, on the bowsprit. Each sail is attached to a long wooden pole, a yard, which spread the sail out across the top and held it open. It has a raised stern. A flag flies from the top of each mast and a long banner flies from the mizzenmast. The deck shows hatches, stairs and cabins with doors. Both standing and running rigging is present and the rigging is exceptional. The Pinta, a Caravel, is the front ship. The description for the Pinta is the same as for the Santa Maria above since it is built nearly identical to the Santa Maria, only slightly smaller and with minor variances. The Nina, a Caravel, is the rear ship and is also built very much like the other ships except that it is considerably smaller and had a totally different sail configuration. There are 3 masts and a single large triangular sail on each mast. The island in the background is a small raised area with a castle painted to show it was made from stone. There are 3 well detailed square towers joined by stone walls . The tower in the center is much larger and has a large red and white stripped flag flying high. The castle walls have ivy and other vegetation painted on and there are several tall shrubs and trees around the castle walls. The bottle is sealed with a cork and the neck and top are painted red. The bottle rests on a large plinth with upright wood cradles for the bottle to rest in. This bottle was made by the same individual who made the model in record number 44. Another one made by this individual was sold and is in the sold list, record number 36. Santa Maria The Santa Maria was Christopher Columbus' flagship in his fatefull voyage in 1492. On this voyage he also sailed with two caravels, the Nina and Pinta. The ship grounded off the coast of Haiti shortly after the discovery of the new world. Pinta The Pinta was captained by Martín Alonso Pinzón, a leading mariner from the town of Moguer in Andalucia. Pinta was a caravel, a smaller, lighter, and faster ship than the tubby Santa Maria. We don't know much about Pinta, but it probably was about 70 tons. Carla Rahn Philips puts the length of Pinta at 17 meters, keel length 13 meters, beam 5 meters, and depth 2 meters. She probably had three masts, and most likely carried sails like those of Santa Maria, except for the topsail, and perhaps the spritsail. Nina Smallest of the fleet was the Niña, captained by Vicente Añes Pinzón, brother of Martín. The Niña was another caravel of probably 50 or 60 tons, and started from Spain with lateen sails on all masts; but she was refitted in the Canary Islands with square sails on the fore and main masts. Unlike most ships of the period, Niña may have carried four masts, including a small counter-mizzen at the stern with another lateen sail. This would have made Niña the best of the three ships at sailing upwind. Carla Rahn Phili