My Own My Own Money Manager

I sometimes joke – only slightly – that I’m allergic to the month of August.

Judging from the way I’ve felt for the past three or four days, it looks like it’s going to be an especially rough August this year. Time to stock up on the Benadryl…

Anyway, now seems a good time to show you a picture of this, a birthday present from good friends Larry and Ellen:

It’s a Flag Red version of the infamous My Own Money Manager – aka Breyer’s first, modestly successful attempt at breaking into the children’s toy market, in its pre-equine days.

Our best guess now – based on the documentation we have, an examination of existing pieces, and a confab* with fellow Early Breyer History Nerds – is that the Money Manager predates the Cigarette Host.

The Money Managers merely have a “Pat. Pending” mold mark, while the Cigarette Host has a more detailed one; I still haven’t located the Patent yet, though that’s mostly because it’s been relegated to my “TBD” file, along with “find the original Hagen-Renaker lawsuit paperwork”, “finish your Playthings Magazine research”, and “locate any actual company wholesale price lists from 1959-1962”.

Based on a short article featured in a 1952 issue of Playthings, it is mentioned that the Money Manager had been on the market for “three years”, which would mean a debut date of 1949; the Cigarette Host first appears a year later, in the 1950 Sears Wishbook – right next to the Money Manager.

So even before they got started with the horses, Breyer was already repurposing molds!

All I need now is a “Forest Green” version of the Money Manager, and the alleged 6-Drawer version (that still remains unfound) to complete the most obscure Breyer Collector’s Class entry ever.

(*It has been pointed out to me by a couple of different people now that I might have to start arranging meetups at BreyerFest like the YouTubers and Instagrammers do. I will have to give it some thought.)