Spotty, or Speckly?

Neither one of the Silver Filigree Sherman Morgans turned out to be a Silver Charm, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have a decision to make about variations:

Spotty, or speckly?

There’s never really been any consistency with the Silver Filigree paintjob since its introduction in 1993, on the Proud Arabian Mare. Some, like the PAM, have a "plated and spotted" look; others look more like the "Wild Dapple Grays" of the late 1970s that just happen to be Silver instead of Gray. Most of them, lately, have looked like my more speckly fellow - finer and smaller resist dapples against a silver background.

Other than the smaller runs - like the Proud Arabian Stallion "Saturday Night Fever" and Foal "Born to Run", BreyerFest Raffle items from 2003 - there’s been no consistency within the runs themselves, as my two Shermans demonstrate. I saw a third (on Blab?) that was so finely speckled he looked almost like a Freckle-style Roan (pretty!)

A quick survey on eBay suggests that the "spotty" ones appear to be the most common of the variations of Celebration available, though that conclusion might be a result of selection bias. Hobbyists may be keeping the variations they like more - or selling the ones they like less.

Which one is the most rare (other than the Silver Charm) doesn’t matter to me personally. I think I’m going with the spotty one, just because he makes me smile every time I look at him. I wouldn’t mind keeping both, but that can’t happen, at least not now.