Clicking Through

Gotta keep it simple today - in addition to trying to work on my BreyerFest paperwork (about half done - yay!) I’ve had to deal with a lot of untidy personal stuff, too. (Identity theft, again. Why do so many people find it awesome to be me? Trust me, it ain’t. Well, most of the time.)

I seem to have forgotten to talk about the survey that was offered to Vintage Club members to help choose, presumably, one of the 2013 Club offerings. For those of you who aren’t in the Vintage Club, or missed the news entirely, the choices were:

• Gloss Alabaster Quarter Horse Gelding
• Matte Smoke Five-Gaiter
• Gloss "Dark Dapple Gray" Running Stallion
• Gloss Wild Dapple Gray Man o’ War

Naturally, I picked the Man o’ War. I was a little hesitant at first, since he’s awfully close to the original - and fabled - Dapple Gray Man o’ Wars from the early 1970s. I figured that the paint job is different enough from them - Gloss instead of Matte, "wild" dappling instead of lacey and shaded - and the chances of me being able to afford one of those originals is pretty slim.

Based on the online commentary I’ve seen, though, I’m guessing the Running Stallion has the best shot of winning that poll. The Five-Gaiter has a Matte Finish, which rules him out, and both the Man o’ War and the QH Gelding have molded-on halters, which is also big no-no for some people. Among a lot of collectors, too, there’s this desire towards "complete" families, so a Dark Dapple Gray Running Stallion to match the Mare and Foal would seem like the most logical choice.

I would be okay with him, too, though I’d hope then that the others might be offered in some way, too - either as Made-to-Orders or Buried Treasures. (Actually, what I REALLY wanted is the Stretched Morgan in the Appaloosa Performance Horse colorway in the group shot accompanying the newsletter. I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him, though.)

Speaking of, apparently Reeves received enough questions about the Buried Treasures - and the "Second Chance" models - to address the issues on its Frequently-Asked-Questions page:

Q24: I heard about some web specials being offered again to members of the Collector Club. What is a "Second Chance" offer?

Recently, we offered our Collector Club members a second chance at purchasing select web special models. We’ve noticed a few questions come up regarding this, and would like to take the opportunity to clear a few things up

Breyer only makes the stated number of special run models. In the event that an individual drawn to purchase a special run isn’t able to purchase, we then select someone from the wait list. However, we do not keep our wait lists indefinitely, and in some cases the individuals chosen do not complete their order. This leaves us with extra web special models (which are not rejects or damaged returns), which we may choose to offer to our Collector Club members; giving them a "second chance" at getting their hands on these great models!

Our recent "second chance" offers (offered at the end of April 2012) were announced on our Facebook and Twitter pages, and were also listed in the Member’s Only section of the website, which can be viewed once you’re logged in as a Collector Club member on BreyerHorses.com. "Second chance" models were offered exclusively to Collector Club members, and limited to one "second chance" model per purchase, while supplies lasted.

So keep your eye on the Member’s Only section of the website and Breyer’s Twitter and Facebook pages, as we may periodically offer specials and surprises like these offers to our members!

Please note – offers and promotions may or may not be advertised in advance.

I like how they tacitly admit at the end of the explanation that more Buried Treasures and other special offers are in the offing. Way to cultivate them page clicks!

Note some of the (other) interesting wording here:

Breyer only makes the stated number of special run models.

I take this statement with a grain of salt. I think they strive to distribute the "stated number" of pieces, but that doesn’t account for returns/replacements for damages. For the record, I believe the shortage/overage on most special runs is very small - a handful of pieces, at most. I’d hesitate to call them statistically insignificant, because it certainly doesn’t feel insignificant if you’re one of the lucky ones who manages to catch one of these stragglers - or just misses out on getting one.

[E]xtra web special models (which are not rejects or damaged returns)

I know it’s considered an "accepted fact" that Reeves redistributes damaged returns, but that’s simply not the case, and it’s a little depressing that they have to point this out on the web site. However, this also does not rule out models that were return out of simple dissatisfaction - aka "buyer’s remorse" - which does happen from time to time.