Identifying Marney Tests

How do you identify a so-called “Marney Test”, a Test Color either created or rescued by famous hobbyist and Breyer Consultant Marney Walerius? It’s both more, and less complicated than you might think!

Marney worked for Breyer in some capacity from the late 1960s through the 1980s, so they are limited to molds produced in that period. Many also have a little provenance: some of Marney’s Test Color photo albums and sales/auction lists still exist. There is definitely little chance of two or more of this gal existing anywhere, for instance:

She also tended to favor certain colors and models. The Hess Stock Horses (see above) were a favorite, as were Adios and Sham. Paint jobs were often (but not always!) pretty basic – lots of solid colors, with minimal markings – and limited to the paint palette they had on hand. 

A lot of them were simple (or not so simple) variations of colors and color schemes that eventually went into production; whether they were preproduction pieces or things that were cobbled from flawed production models is usually unanswerable.

I have a feeling this girl was an early preproduction of the eventual Black Appaloosa Regular Run release, possibly to more closely match the Bay Appaloosa Stallion, but that is just a guess on my part based on her raised hoof.

Marney frequently did the retouching herself, so some of them could probably be classified as “Factory Customs” today, but the question is moot, since most of them are not going to set the showing world on fire. 

(But I love her, regardless. If you know where she is, drop me a line!)

Context is also important. Unless they’re found within the collections of former hobbyists, most random Test Colors found “in the wild” are probably Employee Take-Homes, especially if they’re found within a certain radius of Chicago. Things were pretty casual back then, in every sense of the word; almost anyone could take a little something home from the factory, and they often did.