Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Another Winning Sunday

As I mentioned before, this past Sunday’s flea market was another winner. It wasn’t as mind-blowing as last week’s spend-a-rama, but any day with cheap Breyers, Hartlands and Hagen-Renakers in it is most definitely not a loser:


Yeah, I’ll confess to it: the first thing I did when I got home from the market was run into the closet and test the Hartland Child of Prague for glowiness. No such luck, but I didn’t have that version before, so I’m still keeping him. The Buckskin Polo Pony is another keeper, even though he has significant condition issues: I love that mold, and that color is not easy to find.

I have no idea what the big goofy-looking horse is; it appears to be styrene, mounted on a solid oak(!) base. I’m assuming it was some sort of beer/liquor promo: it certainly smelled like it lived in a bar for a couple of decades. (And he was …sticky! Eww!) There are no identifying marks or labels anywhere, though. My reference files come up a little short in advertising promo department, so if anyone out there can provide clues, or point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

At first glance, he almost looks like a high-end home décor piece, the kind interior designers would pay good money for if he was made of wood, metal or stone. Sculpturally, he reminds me a little of the Mortens Studios horses - awkward, yet appealing and well-finished - but I have absolutely no clue if there’s any actual connection.

Even though I have a sneaking suspicion he might actually be worth something, I think I might be keeping him, too. I have no idea where I’m going to put him if I do. He's huge!

The booklets are those injection molding manuals I mentioned in passing last time. Lots of fun bedtime reading ahead of me - no, really, I do love reading about the mechanics of polymer flow, and methods for correcting flow lines and flash. It’s all relevant to the discussion here, you’ll see.

Here’s a close up of the H-R I found: the A-297 Prancing Arabian. (I didn’t put him in the group shot, because there are a couple of giant, hairy mutant spiders crawling around the basement floor. Big spiders and little H-Rs don’t mix - not in this house, anyway.) I can’t remember the last time I found an H-R horse at this flea market. I’ve found other minis, dogs, and even a few Disney pieces, but the horses are super-scarce. It’s probably a consequence of having several major H-R collectors in my territory: there just aren’t that many left in the wild here anymore, at least compared to other manufacturers.


He was in a large grouping of Japanese China dogs, that I only happened to notice because there were H-R knockoffs among them. (Including yet another Greyhound "Comet" - one of these days I’ll find the real thing!) I bought the best of the bunch, but other than the Greyhound (and the horse, of course), they’ll probably all end up in the sales stash.

Most of the rest will be going on the sales list, too - a nice mix of stuff, with a little bit of everything for everybody. My room sales prospects are definitely looking up this year. Sales weren’t bad last year, but that was more a result of having a superior location - in the 100s - and being somewhat confined to my room due to me injuring myself (and thus making extensive room hopping out of the question.)

1 comment:

QuzqosMa said...

I saw your goofy plastic horse at the Michigan Antiques Festival this past weekend! It's an advertising piece for "Burger Beer Company", probably from the early 1970's. The one at the show was mounted on a rectangular wooden "box" with the words "Burger Beer" on all four sides! I tried to sneak a photo but the dealer was glaring at me, so I didn't get the chance.