ESCI

ESCI was a well-known Italian scale model manufacturer, which is no longer in business.

"Ente Scambi Coloniali Italiani" (E.S.C.I.) was an Italian company of scale model kits, active until 1991. It was founded in the 1930s by an Italian merchant of Jewish descent, named Agiman. Initially, the company dealt in import/export between Italy and its African colonies. The advent of racial laws during World War II forced the owner to move to Switzerland with his family until the end of the conflict. Returning to Italy, he resumed business activities undertaken previously and expanded, thanks to the economic boom of the 1960s. In the mid-1960s, Agiman entered the static model market with the first imports of kits from Japan. The business expanded, and at the end of the 1960s, alongside the founder's son, Daniel Agiman (successor of his father), joined two new partners: Dino Coppola and Franco Baldrighi. E.S.C.I. became "ESCI Modellistica snc.", located in the industrial area of Via Torino in Cernusco sul Naviglio (MI).