Except for the lighter-faced variations, a stickered piece, the Ranchcraft Lamp, and a Chalky Black Cub to match my Mama Bear, my Bear collection is essentially complete. Prices on the Silvers are such that I’m going to pretend that their absence doesn’t count against me.
(I should be glad that this year’s Nonhorse mold was not the Kitten. A Silver Charm Kitten? Not getting the Polled Hereford Bull Marshall was bad enough, thank you…)
Remember when the Nonhorses were among the most hotly sought-after of the BreyerFest Special Runs? You know, items like Oreo the Pig, or Flint the Red Roan Fighting Bull, or Choc the Glossy Buffalo?
Now, not so much. A lot of different factors are in play here.
Some of it might be the selection of molds; some are an easier sell than others. Cattle molds = Easy. Cats, Dogs and Bears = Hard. (Poor Beethoven the Saint Bernard!)
Some of it is the increased number of Special Runs to choose from. Aside from the money issue (never having enough) most attendees, when given a choice, are going to go with one of the horses over any given Nonhorse mold.
Ennui is another reason: the "novelty" of having a Nonhorse Special Run has worn off for a lot of people. Many hobbyists tend to keep the Nonhorse portions of their collection to a minimum, and once that quota is reached, that’s that. It has to be something really spectacular or rare to even be considered.
Piece counts also count: there’s simply a limited demand for some items, regardless of their inherent awesomeness. The piece count on this year’s Bear set was 800 pieces, which seemed high to me. They only happened to sell out online because the odds of getting the Silvers were the best of all the remaining Special Runs.
There is a demand for the Bears - I’ve not had much trouble selling off the duplicates that have come my way - but it’s a modest demand. Unless it’s something rare or unusual (Shipper box, Blue Ribbon Sticker, Chalky, Oddity) the prices they bring are equally modest.
Until I get some things sold around here, I can't even consider trying for more BreyerFest leftovers. That’s now being held up by my printer, behaving badly yet again…
3 comments:
I'd like to get the Breyerfest special run collie, Jester, at some point because I had a collie when I was younger, and his dam was a tricolor like Jester.
I keep hoping for a moose, any moose, but so far havden't found one for under $40 or so (usually more) once shipping's added in. I wouldn't turn down some of the other wildlife, but they're priced the same, or or more than, the moose, so I keep hoping to find a deal.
I'd rather have a the non-horse molds than most of the horse molds. So many horses thrown at us collectors constantly tends to create burn-out ... at least it has for me. I have hundreds & hundreds of horses and that's enough. Its more fun to collect the non-horses, and people who see my huge collection always like the non-horse models the best of all.
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