Friday, November 21, 2014

Orange is the New Palomino

So crazy here right now - the second collection came in this morning and I’ve been busy cleaning and sorting ever since. Then they changed my work schedule at the last minute, so that leisurely weekend of horse cleaning I was anticipating vanished!

I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some of the better stuff on MH$P by Sunday afternoon, at least. No promises on that.

Both collections came with Palomino Five-Gaiters, both in similar condition (a little beat, but restorable), but completely different in one important respect: Color!


The Honey Palomino one is obviously older, and the Orange one much newer; he’s so "new" that he comes with a USA mark.

The Palomino Five-Gaiter was in production through 1971, and the USA mark was introduced ca. 1970, so one with a USA mark in itself isn’t all that unusual. A scarce and somewhat undercollected variation perhaps - like so many late-in-their-run variations - but not RARE rare. 

The variation in the color is noteworthy, however. As I’ve mentioned before, early Palominos didn’t start out "Honey", they turned that way. The Honey Palomino one above started out life pretty much the same color as his younger brother.

Breyer eventually switched the formula for the Palomino to something less fugitive (less likely to change color) in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Exactly when is unknown, but it’s obvious it had to have been by 1971. That Orange Five-Gaiter has gone through pretty much the same rough-and-tumble life as the Honey one, minus about a decade's worth of time.

But he’s at least 40 years old - and without a hint of browning.

You can see the same phenomenon with the #22 Palomino Pinto Shetland Pony, too. Later Matte and Semi-Gloss examples from the early 1970s are just as bright and cheerful a shade of orange as the one Five-Gaiter, above. I’ve owned enough of those Shetlands - boxed and unboxed, and in every condition from LSQ to body - to conclude that the lack of a color shift is not anomalous, or due to any special handling. The paint was just different by then.

Sadly, I won’t be able to keep either Gaiter; I’ve been looking for a nice one for years, but the timing isn’t right for either one of these pretty boys. Not sure when either of them will be ready for the sales list, though.

5 comments:

Sydney said...

Hmm. That's like my vintage Clydesdales. They are the bay stallions with red and white bobs and one is lighter and the other is much darker and chalky. What is the rarity of the chalkiness and chalky Clydesdales? Do you know?

Anonymous said...

I would love to take the orange one off your hands

ANDREA said...

The earliest Clydesdale Stallions are different than the later ones color-wise - those early ones are such a lovely shade of Honey Bay! I'm not sure if the early Bays were painted with a fugitive paint base, or were intentionally different.

Clydesdales are among the more common molds to find in Chalky - but still quite desirable. Mostly because they're difficult to find in good shape - they tend to take a lot of loving!

I'll see what I can do about getting that Five-Gaiter up by Sunday night on MHSP. Work ran late today, hoping it doesn't tomorrow...

Sydney said...

Oh thank you for your help! They are both how you described them! Wes is a nice honey bay. Although he has a strange crack that I suspect is from heat he is in nice condition. My chalky Bud? Odd factory flaws and a couple black marks. But still are two of my favorites.

Lynn Isenbarger said...

That's interesting about the color changing. I'd like to read more - you said in the blog entry you had mentioned the color change before. Can you direct me to those posts so I can read them?