Chilling Out

The schedule for February looks better - so far. Not the weather, though; I think we ran out of places to put the snow on Saturday. With no temperatures above freezing for at least another week, and more snow coming in a few days, I am sorely tempted to build a luge run in the yard.

We live on nearly an acre, on the side of a hill, so it's not as far-fetched as you might think. But, you know, the time thing.

Surprisingly, I decided against pre-ordering the Rajah. Not that I didn’t like him and/or want him, but I made a commitment to downsize the first half of the year, and I’m sticking to it. It’s already taking me days - or weeks - to open the handful of items I’ve already bought. Doesn't seem quite right to commit to another, even if it wouldn't arrive for another five months.

With my schedule the way it was, I completely got out of the habit of eBay surfing, so I also (almost) completely missed the hubbub of crazy Decorator bidding wars. All I will say on the matter are the same things I usually say in such matters:

1. High prices on high-end items are in no way a reflection of a recovering economy - anymore than the prices of Van Goghs or Rembrandts are;
   
2. Collectibles still aren’t that good an investment.

You can make money on collectibles, but it requires far more work than taking a picture and putting it on eBay. Do your research. Cultivate your sources. Buy for the long term as well as the short term. Don’t get too sentimental to things you intend to sell, but don’t buy strictly to flip, either.

If you don’t like what you are selling, on some level, buyers are going to pick up on that.

I did open some other boxes of horses recently, besides the Levi. I’ve decided to set free most of the BreyerFest Reissues. I’ll keep one boxed - the Huck Bey, most likely - just because I like to have representative samples of different box styles. The first one I’ve opened up is the Bay Shire:

Aside from the VIN number, there are a number of differences between the Reissue and the original 1998-1999 Regular Run release. The shading is different - the reissues have darker faces, are more red bay than buckskin, and the hoof paint is less noticeable/prominent than the original.

All of those differences do fall within the normal range of variation for the original release, though - I know, because I’ve shopped for her in the past. But they do seem consistent enough within the Reissue run itself to least merit noting.

The most obvious difference, though, is that the finish is more satiny and less matte, bordering on the semi-gloss. The surface of the mold also appears to have been either buffed/retooled slightly, as I suspect the Trakehner was.

It has already been established, however, that the Reissues are largely (if not entirely) painted on older molded stock. This means either the retooling took place earlier than I noticed before (this would not be surprising) or there was a little extra effort put into cleaning and buffing of the older stock. 

My Smoke ‘n Mirrors and Monarch - 2003 releases and the last Bell-bottomed Shires prior to the BreyerFest Cheerio, in 2012 - are currently in storage, so I cannot check either way. A quick online photo survey has been inconclusive.

Argh! This is going to bug me. I need to find some dorky thing to watch on the TV to chill out now.