Beauty Is Not Box Deep

First of all, let me apologize for any testiness I’ve shared with the rest of the class this week. I’ve been working a lot of hours (and consequently not getting the best sleep) and I’m experiencing some technical difficulties at home you don’t really need to know the specifics of (other than the fact that it is, again, something I literally can do nothing about).

On the plus side, I got my sewing machine back from the shop, so at least I have sewing projects I can now distract myself with.

Also, if there are any issues with my facts that you want to correct, feel free to e-mail me privately, and I will deal with it on the front page, rather than leave it to the comments. I don’t want to be responsible for floating bad data around. It might take a while for me to get to it, since my schedule is so out of whack, but if it’s a nontrivial matter, I will get to it eventually. (I think I might actually have some free time next week, in fact …)

So, here’s the model that I’m currently obsessing over:

Weird, huh? In this era of super-limited-this and glossy-that, the model that’s been the focus of my attention for the past week is a plain old Treasure Hunt Lady Phase in Black Appaloosa.

She was one of those last-minute pick-ups at BreyerFest; I went into the sales tent on Sunday morning just to look around, and to mull over this year’s SR leftovers (I eventually decided to pass on all of them.) I had gotten to the park a little on the late side - not until about 10:30 - so I wasn’t expecting to find anything fabulous, but I wandered around anyway, hoping I might find some small treasure that everyone else might have overlooked. (Because, as you might have noticed, I have a talent for that sort of thing.)

I found a small assortment of the Treasure Hunt Lady Phases, and recalling that someone had mentioned that chalky-blanketed variations of the Appaloosas had been found in the mix earlier in the weekend, I decided to give them a quick once-over.

That lovely little girl above caught my eye: her masking was crisp, I saw no flaws, and her blanket definitely had a chalky cast to it. She was practically daring me to take her home with me. So I did.

Her (now disassembled) box also had a bit of a rough, cobbled together look, which suggested to me that she might have been a Sample, too. I saw a couple other of these Lady Phases on the table, of a similar quality and in similar packaging, reinforcing the notion.

Another secret I probably shouldn’t be telling you, but I will: when it comes to boxed models in the Ninja Pit, the rougher the quality of the box, the closer attention you should pay to the quality of the horse inside the box. It’s a good indicator that the contents aren’t necessarily what they appear to be.

The irony is that it runs contrary to convention thinking - where the so-called "serious" collectors focus just as much, if not more, on the condition of the box. So it’s no surprise that they turn up later in the BreyerFest weekend - after all the "pretty boxes" have been picked up, over and away.

Since the Treasure Hunt Lady Phases predated the VIN number program by several years, there’s no way to be sure. I bought her mostly because she was beautiful, and for the very adolescent notion of her competing for the affections of my far-too-many Stud Spiders. (Her name? Spider’s Bride, silly.)