Old News, New News

Whoa, lots of news today.

Finally got another reveal on the Vintage Club – the (mostly) Gloss Charcoal Shannondell Claude!

This is old news for me, but probably just about the hardest to keep on the down low, especially when I saw so many hobbyists saying… some less than nice things about the Vintage Club program.

I am especially pleased with the added dash of randomness, with the addition of 30 Mattes in the mix. It also makes sense: historically, Matte Charcoal releases have been far scarcer than their Glossy counterparts.

They just seem less rare because the models most people think about when they think of Matte Charcoal are the Family Arabians. And Family Arabians, themselves, are almost the very definition of not rare.

Earlier Gloss Charcoal releases like the Running Stallion, Mustang and Fighting Stallion didn’t make the transition to Matte like the Family Arabians did. Since the Family Arabians were discontinued in that color in the early 1970s, the vast majority of Charcoal releases have been Gloss, not Matte.

(Though Matte Charcoals as Tests and Samples aren’t completely unknown. There is a Matte Charcoal Lady Phase in one of Marney’s photo albums that I would definitely elbow someone over.)

Ironically, it appears that most folks are of the opinion that getting the Matte version of Claude would be like getting the proverbial lump of coal in one’s Christmas stocking.

Of course, I want him, but I’m not going to pay extra if I receive a mere Gloss. Just because something is technically rare doesn’t necessarily mean it should have a price to match.

(I’d love to have a Gris Gris, for instance, but I don’t plan on spending much above his issue price when I do take the plunge.)

I am more conflicted about what appears to be the Holiday Animal release, a Woodgrain Jasper named Hawthorn:

That was not what I expected. The Woodgrain part is great – I’m all for more widely available new Woodgrain releases – but I’m confused about it being so large a run (350 pieces) for a piece that caters to a very narrow niche. This feels like it should have been a Micro Run, or at the very least a First-Come, First-Served piece like the previous two Animal releases – the Longhorn Bull Olaf and the Gold Charm Cow and Calf Eldora and Sol.

Oh, I’ll enter the Purchase Raffle, but the way my luck goes with these things I won’t get picked anyway. So I’m probably safe either way?

Not going to sweat this one, regardless.