Tall Tale Small Scale
A colossus of porcelain towers four meters towards the ceiling: the Empire State Building of New York. The work, entitled House 83.5, exists out of hundreds of relief tiles which Jill Magid made at De Porseleyne Fles in Delft. Displayed on a shelf alongside the Delft Blue tower is the complete collection of KLM miniature houses, numbered 1 - 83. The miniatures are modelled after characteristic Old Dutch Houses, filled with the Bols Royal Jenever alcohol, and given away to First Class passengers on KLM airplanes. Both the scale of Magid's tower and the miniatures are 1:100 proportion to the original buildings. In a desire to make a work of Dutch Royalty, Jill Magid asked KLM to grant her permission to name her porcelain Empire State Building House #83.5 and to introduce the House to passengers in their in-flight magazine, The Flying Dutchman. They agreed; she also convinced them to pay for it.
Serving Trays of Houses at the Official Presentation of House #83.
They are highly collectible.
Official Presentation of House 83. KLM CEO gives House #83 to the owner of the real house it is modelled after.
Having a miniature KLM house modeled after your house
increases your property value and is a mark of Dutch social status.
Left: First-class flyer with his collection. Right: Invitation Tall Tale small scale.
House 83.5 is my official half-way addition to the collection. It is made in Royal Delft porcelain, contains royal alcohol, and stands 1/100th the size of its original house- the Empire State Building in New Amsterdam. It has been collected by First Class Flyer Lex van Hessen who now has over 1250.5 miniatures- inlcuding mine - in his collection.
Leaflet designed for House 83.5