The Black Angus Bull (mold #365) was introduced in 1978, and was the last of the Breyer Cattle molds until Carol Herden’s Cutting and Roping Calves were introduced in the Western Performance Series in the late 1990s.
In addition to being a more modern replacement for the #72 Walking Black Angus Bull – which was copied from a design by Edward Boehm, in the 1950s – he was designed to be more “in scale” with Breyer’s other cattle molds, like the #360 Charolais and #68 Polled Hereford Bull.
However, unlike the rest of Breyer’s Bull molds, the newer Black Angus Bull has a remarkably short release history: he’s only had two in his 40-year history!
The original #365 Black ran through 2004; other than the bi-eyed examples from early 1997, his solid Black paint job varied little over the years. “The Big Red One” – a Special Run made for the Iowa Red Angus Association in 1983/4 – comes in two distinct variations: an earlier and less common version with a pinked nose, and a slightly later and more common version without.
Considering that the breed itself only comes in those two colors – both without much variation – the lack of releases probably should not be surprising.
What is remarkable is the fact that the mold has remained out of production since 2004! Aside from the logical choices they could go with – slightly different versions of the previous releases in Chalky, Glossy, or with more modern shading and detail – Breyer has not let breed standards or Mother Nature get in the way of releasing an older mold in a new or pretty color. Why make an exception now?
In other words: hop to it guys, I know you’re up to the task!
1 comment:
I've hoped they would do a Belted Galloway on this mold at some point!
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