Black Points

Since I’ve been buying a lot of less desirable Collector’s Club Appreciation Glossies recently (the mule Buckeye is on his way!) the currently crop of Glossies has been less of a temptation, especially since my favorite of the bunch – the Black Brishen Sjoerd – seems to be everyone else’s least-loved. 

Conversely, I am not too keen on the Peptoboomsmal: I tried my best to love him or even like the Dundee/Australian Stock Horse mold –the 2022 Flagship Special Romeo should have been a no-brainer for me, for a couple of reasons – but I am having a hard time warming up to him. 

The other two are also very nice, but they are more in the like, rather than love category: the Morgan is pretty, but also pretty huge, and the Totilas is a bit tippy.  

So I took a pass on the offer this time. Maybe I’ll be able to trade for a Glossy Sjoerd at BreyerFest: I just finished my sales list and it’s definitely an eclectic one. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find someone to trade something for it!

My mind is on a dozen different things today (someone or something literally bent some of my metal garden fenceposts to the ground, and I have no idea how) so I’ll wrap up a couple of talking points from the comments and move on to other topics next time. 

The color on the Vintage Custom Black Stallion was not extensively retouched; if anything, he’s actually a bit darker than I received him, since I had a hard time matching his highlights. Any perceived brightness can be attributed to a fresh application of varnish and outdoor lighting. Like Reeves, photography is not my strongest suit! 

As for my opinion of the final disposition of the Test Color Appaloosa Performance Horse: I am assuming, unless proven otherwise, that the sale was taken private: there are always ways. The conversation about him that appeared shortly afterward may well have contributed to his disappearance. I think the fact that my other purchase – also a Test Color! – happened a few hours later, yet was not canceled actually strengthens this argument. 

A hobbyist who was genuinely concerned about the seller would have also seen the Classic and insisted that one be canceled as well. The fact that they let that one go suggests to me that it was someone who either had no idea it was a Test, or was a “high point” collector with little interest or concern for plain, Chicago-era Classics. (Or regard for what their fellow hobbyists think of them, too.)

Because an odd little Black Stallion with four stockings and gray hooves definitely doesn’t have the same allure as an early BreyerFest Auction Test Color that’s been “missing” for 30 years, or the same potential for a financial return on their investment. 

For the record, I am not a fan of “high point” collectors of any stripe: they tend to throw their money around rather carelessly, distorting the market in the process and make life difficult for collectors of more modest means.

Someone Drops A Shoe

To work off the drama of the past several days, I spent a good chunk of my weekend either customizing or gardening. 

I didn’t get quite as far with the garden as I hoped: it was hotter than the bottom of a skillet outside, and it hasn’t rained in a while so the ground was the consistency of concrete. It’s definitely looking better, though.

I thought I was doing pretty well with a few of the customs I was playing around with, and maybe even close to done. Then I hit them with a little primer to check my progress, and discovered I seriously overestimated my customizing skills. 

Oof. 

But here’s a bit of good news: the vintage Black Stallion custom is finally finished! Just look at this beautiful boy:

I decided to go with a retro, poofy ‘80s-style hairdo. I am also inordinately proud of the base I made for him: most custom bases in the 1980s were rather crude (compared to the horse, anyway) and he deserved something classy to stand on. 

I am heartened by the support I received in the comments over the Performance Horse Affair. I was initially hesitant to come forward with the story, expecting that it might generate some negative feedback. 

But I thought it was important to put it out there, because (a) it was already a topic of discussion (b) it was something I was personally involved in, and (c) it did not have the happy ending people were imagining it did.

I have a feeling the model itself is now radioactive; I rather doubt we’ll be seeing it again anytime soon. If it does turn up again, it’s going to be awkward for everyone. 

Regardless, the best case scenario is that maybe this will lead to the hobby having a more open and thorough discussion about the etiquette and ethics of selling and reselling, instead of it disintegrating into insinuations that we’re price-shaming people by even mentioning money.

At this point there are between 500 to 750 BreyerFest Benefit Auction models floating around out there. One of them will be mine someday, I know it. There were a lot of weird, homely and unshowable things in those early auctions: Rugged Larks and Khemosabis and all manner of Classics, to name a few. 

This one would have been the best, most perfect ending of my quest. It was one of my favorite molds (Performance Horse), in one of my favorite colors (Red Roan), from one of the few BreyerFest Auctions I personally attended (1993), at an insanely good price.

Alas, no. But there’s an interesting postscript to the story. 

Here’s the other misidentified model I bought from the same seller the same day for the same price, and (fortunately) the sale wasn’t canceled several hours after the fact:

A nice consolation prize, I suppose, even though I already have another Classic Black Stallion Test Color in the stable. (I know, who gets to say stuff like that? Someone who’s not particularly particular about the Test Colors she buys!)

He feels a bit like a Marney Test to me, but his origins are unknown. The less flashy parts of Marney’s collection were being dispersed by sellers at BreyerFest in 1993 – including boring, solid-colored Test Color Classics, Hess Stock Horses and the like – so it’s entirely possible he was purchased around the same time as the APH. 

Not the happy ending I was hoping for, but I’ll take it. 

Model X

I thought I was having a pretty productive weekend, but then I attempted to do my taxes and hit a brick wall.

Ugh. Another appointment to schedule this week!

While putting my live show documentation away this past weekend, I found a very interesting photograph: someone who bears a striking similarity to the custom I’m rehabbing!

According to the information on the back of this photograph, this particular model (a Morgan Mare named CID Teresa Diamond) was done by Kathleen Maestas. Aside from the gender issues (my model is very much a stallion!) the painting style of my little rehab project isn’t anything like hers, so any similarities here are due to the fact that they were done in the same era (the mid- to late-1980s) using similar materials and models.

Some artists back then also had a habit of replicating customs, either their own or (sometimes) the work of others. Especially if the original did well at a live show, or had received multiple purchase offers back in the day of published sales/stock lists, monthly newsletters and SASEs. 

With some variations for personal preferences, of course: I want it just like Model X, but with two hind socks and a blaze!

And if you’re wondering, yeah, it wasn’t considered cool back then, either. But it did happen. I believe at one point Karen Grimm even attempted to formalize/monetize the process a bit and make standardized customs called “Hacksaw Originals” that were also slightly customizable to customer preferences.

I don’t believe that effort lasted long: this was shortly before drastic customs and (a few years after that) resins became de rigueur. And some of the “standard” bodies she came up with were a little odd. Like a Family Arabian Stallion with a Five-Gaiter’s head and neck kind of weird. 

I mean, points for creativity at least…

Nevertheless, I did do a little bit of a double take when I saw the photo: I’ve found photographs of models I’ve bought before (and sold after!) so it wouldn’t have been a complete shock if it was him. The hobby – and the number of active hobbyists, showers and customizers – was smaller than it is today, and to be honest there aren’t all that many of us even now.

That’s why “unique” models – like Customs and Test Colors – have an uncanny knack of reappearing after so many years. Most of them haven’t strayed that far to begin with! 

And before I go get my (several) appointments out of the way this week, let’s also remember that collectors and hobbyists are not interchangeable terms. There are a vast number of people who collect, but the actual number of people who go to live shows, customize, attend BreyerFest on a regular basis, or inhabit various Internet hangouts where model-horsery takes place is only a small fraction of that.

Old School

Oops, I bought something! That’s okay, it’s only a Stablemate:

When I went to drop off the sewing machine for service, there happened to be a Dollar General in the same shopping center, and as luck would have it, the one variation I needed to complete my set (for now) was there. So there’s one silver lining to the sewing machine drama!

After epically trying – and failing – to quilt a project on my backup sewing machine, I gave up and decided to focus on repairing that vintage Black Stallion custom that’s been sitting on my craft table for a year and a half. Here’s what I have so far:

I still need to finish the touchups – especially on his left side – and redo the ear I repaired: it’s too big and the style just doesn’t match the rest of the model. The base needs more work, too: I have to build up one side a little to stabilize the model better, fill in a few of the divots, and find a suitable piece of wood to mount it on.

And after all that, I’ll spray him with a matte varnish, regloss his eyes and hooves, and hair him up. I think I’ll give him a slightly fuller tail than he had before, to balance him out visually. The varnishing will have to wait until the weather warms up, though, so he might be on hold after the next round of touchups.

Restoring him has been an interesting challenge. It was tempting to modernize him, but I decided to keep him as original as possible. I stuck to the basic acrylic color palette we were all working with back in the 1980s, as well as the same painting techniques, which were a combination of wet and dry brushwork and “fingerpainting” for blending. 

I did add a little extra shading to his muzzle, though: it was a flat Raw Umber and looked a little odd compared to the rest of him. 

I know some people have attempted to go “old school” with their customs, in an offshoot of the NaMoPaiMo thing, but a lot of those efforts still look too modern for me. Not that the actual vintage product is better or worse, it just looks and feels different.

I think a lot of it is due to the fact that I was doing customs way back then, when all we had to work with was stuff like “Plastic Wood”, that funky green plumber’s epoxy, and whatever selection of acrylic paints and brushes the local department store happened to have in their “art” department. So I know how much struggle went into even the simplest of customs back then.

Even though it might look somewhat primitive in comparison to the work being done today, some of the artwork that was achieved under these circumstances was still pretty remarkable. I think modern customizers could learn a lot by going truly “old school”, with nothing much more than some basic acrylic paints, brushes, mohair and a pre-1985 mold (preferably a Hess!)

I’ll give you all a pass on the modern epoxies. As someone who actually had to work with Plastic Wood back in the day, that’s a step too far back even for me!

I still have no idea who created this fellow. I thought I was just going to fix him up to sell him, but I think he’ll be sticking around a while, especially since I seem to be acquiring quite the vintage custom showstring now.

Accessibility Issues

I am surprised that people are surprised that Brunhilde sold out in less than an hour. The collectibles market (in general) has not significantly abated, and even if it has, it always takes… quite a while for the rest of the hobby to catch on. 

The only limited-edition items that haven’t been immediately selling out are either the Classics or the Mare and Foal sets. The Classics are the least popular scale among active hobbyists, sometimes verging on the point of active antagonism: you have to jazz them up with gloss finishes, crazy color schemes, or multiple variations to sell them.

The problem with Mare and Foal sets is that there’s a misalignment of markets: these sets tend to appeal to kids and the parents who buy for them, and hence there’s some hesitancy to buy a premium or limited edition set that may well get played with.  

But yes, I got a Brunhilde; I managed to log in just before the e-mails landed in everyone’s in box, and I didn’t experience any of the technical difficulties that a lot of other hobbyists did a few minutes later. And I am so pleased about her color: this is the precise shade of Bay (sans dapples, because I suck at dappling) that I hope to achieve on that Mesteno custom I’ve been tinkering with, whenever I finally finish her:

She’ll also make me feel a little less guilty about selling off one of my other Wixoms: she’s a big girl, but according to my ongoing inventory, my heart already belongs to the original Big Butt Belgian. 

In other news, I missed the start of the Early Access Black Friday sale, and hence missed anything I would have considered purchasing: everything that was left I either already had or did not want. Considering all the sales items they’re currently throwing at us, I don’t have much else to complain about it, other than missing the thrill of logging on to see what was theoretically available to me.  

And finally, while I am not a huge fan of the Traditional Black Stallion mold, I really love the coloring on the Black Beauty release AA Omner, who the latest Test Run Purchase Raffle was obviously a Test for. I haven’t acquired one yet – it’s something I’ve been saving for in-person BreyerFest, and we haven’t had one of those in a couple years. I haven’t decided which variation I want, and I’m guessing I won’t know until I meet him. 

Another Mystery Custom

No Baruti for me. Since I don’t get picked from the waitlist and I am not made of money, that’s pretty much the end of that story.

I’ve been compensating for my lack of web special luck this year with the purchase of multiple box lots, and the latest one has been my favorites so far: a body quality Donkey, an early (and quite nice!) #401 Black Stallion, and a vintage custom Black Stallion in need of a hair transplant and some cosmetic surgery!

The Donkey will probably be made into a replica of an antique novelty pincushion, like this one: 

https://www.steppeshillfarmantiques.com/antique-silver/d/edwardian-novelty-silver-donkey-pin-cushion/220362

It’s an idea I’ve had in the back of my mind for a while now; novelty Victorian pincushions are not uncommon around here – I even own a few! – and it struck me that some the older Breyer molds would make excellent custom pincushions. If this one is successful, I might end up making a whole slew of them for my fellow hobbyist-sewists, because I know you’re out there.

The other custom idea I have for the original Standing Donkey is a replica of the Bremen Town Musicians statue, something I’m sure we’ll see or hear a lot of for next year’s German-inspired BreyerFest:

https://www.bremen.eu/tourism/attractions/bremen-town-musicians

Come to think of it, that would… actually be a really neat Companion Animals Gift Set for the Pop-Up Store. And a pretty popular one, too, considering the prices the older Companions Animals are bringing on the secondary market. (I tried pricing a few for the bodies, but that’s clearly not happening anytime soon, unless I get lucky locally.)

The vintage Black Stallion custom is interesting. The hairing on what’s left of the tail is well-done, he has carved out hooves with frogs, decently modeled genitalia (take my word for it) and the customizing on the head and neck is sophisticated and competent: in other words, this is not the work of an amateur. 

But he’s not signed, and I have no idea who could have done him. If anybody has any clues or ideas, let me know. The markings seem specific enough to suggest he might have been a portrait model. 

In the meantime, I’ve already started doing some restoration work on him: his legs have been unbent/unwarped, and the mohair for his new mane and tail has already been purchased. If I’m recalling correctly, matching this shade of bay is not particularly hard, either, but finding the time (and natural light!) to do it is the bigger problem.

The Black Stallion's Resin Prototype

I just noticed this while doing a little research for something else:

This is a picture from the 1981 JC Penney Christmas Catalog, with the pre-catalog release of the Black Stallion Race Set being offered. The Black Stallion was officially released in 1982, but was available by the Fall of 1981, mostly via mail-order. (Sorry about the poor quality of the pics today - these are scans of an old color copy.)

This wasn’t an unusual thing back then: if a mold was ready for production, they put it in production, no dithering about release dates. My Aunt Arlene got me the Classic Andalusian Family for Christmas in 1978 - she bought it straight from Bentley Sales. (I stapled the sales list and order form to my wish list!)

Maybe it’s because the Black Stallion mold has never really made much of an impression on me, and that’s why I didn’t see that it’s not an actual Black Stallion in the catalog photo, or even a Sample or Test piece: it’s the painted resin prototype, still on its sculpting base. The copy even says "Base shown not included." 

Dur.

Prototypes in Christmas Catalogs are not unusual. While it is often not obvious when we see the catalog photo, it becomes obvious when we receive the ordered item. Either the mold ends up being different (like the Stud Spider scan I featured recently, for the Stud Spider Gift Set) or the paint job is off in a significant way.

In the case of the Black Stallion here, it wasn’t immediately obvious even after we had the models in hand because the model was the model, and it was painted black - there are not too many ways to change up a black paint job. The base could have been rationalized away as a prop for tippy model at an indoor photo shoot.

The reason why so many prototypes and oddballs end up as stand-ins in Christmas Catalog photo shoots is because the photos for these catalogs are shot in the Spring. If they were planning on doing a pre-release of a model being released the following year, there was a good chance that the mold and/or design would not have been finished or finalized at that point.

While I know the location of some resin prototypes, I don’t know where the Black Stallion’s would be. Even though he’s not high on my list of favorites, I wouldn’t turn him down if he did show up: I have lots of Samples, Tests, Culls and Oddities, but I still have no Resin Prototypes to my name.

The Art of the Deal

Since I’ve mentioned him in the past couple of posts, I figure you’re entitled to see that Test Color Classic Black Stallion of mine:


The differences from the Regular Run Classic "Sham" are subtle, but significant: aside from being a more Golden than Red Bay, he also has gray hooves, and no heel spot. I’d put him side by side with my Regular Run one to show you, but most of my Classics are packed away, and I’m in no mood to dig.

There was no drama associated with his arrival here: I saw him on someone’s sales list, in one newsletter or another. I inquired, we briefly negotiated, I paid, and he came in the mail a few weeks later. The end.

I miss those kinds of deals. I suppose, technically, that auctioning items like him on eBay today is more fair - at least to the dealer - but I have a hard time accepting that the art of model horse trading has been reduced to a mere numbers game.

Does it always have to be about whomever has the most money at any given time? What of luck, desire and timing?

They’re still there to a degree, especially in places like MH$P, where a past working relationship can lead to some sort of alternative pay/trade/services deal, or can in turn into some other transaction for something else, and so on.

I think that’s why I enjoy going to the flea market so much, and why I like having a good bit of stuff to sell at BreyerFest. I like that delicate dance of negotiation: offers, counteroffers, the gauging of desire and motive. Sure, a few extra bucks could come in real handy, but I’d rather sell it to someone who really, really wants it, as opposed to someone whose motives are less … sentimental?

I don’t always guess right; I can remember a particularly bad deal I got myself into several years ago, regarding an unusual item I had picked up from Marney. I was in need of a little cash, and was going through one of my downsizing phases.

Someone inquired, and gave me a long, long story about how this mold was her favorite, and how having this piece would be so much to her, etc. So I let it go for a little less than I anticipated, and if it had ended there everything would have been hunky-dory. Whatever she did with it after that was her own business.

If only. A couple months later, she sent me her sales list; I can’t remember asking for it, she might have sent it to me as a favor. (We did those sorts of things back then, when we didn’t have the Internet or cheap phone rates. Sales lists were like gold.) It was no favor: that model I sold her was on it - marked up nearly 300 percent! If it had been a hardship sell, I could understand, but there was no mention of that. It was this fabulously rare item she had somehow managed to acquire, and ooh, she could swing you such a deal on it!

Going on and selling it for a profit a few months later, well, them’s the breaks - stuff like that happens all the time. I consider myself something of a "middleman" anyway, so I’m fully aware of - and accept - the fact that other people buy from me to resell. I take my cut, and my dibs, and move on.

But intentionally sending me the sales list with the item on it, a few months later - after she had professed her undying desire to have this model in her collection, forever and ever? That took some nerve.

I later learned that this person had a habit of doing that sort of thing, to other hobbyists with way more experience than me. The reality of the situation is that she probably didn’t remember that I was the one she finagled to get that little treasure.

I made a mental note not to deal with her again, and to be a little less eager to swallow what was such an obvious sob story. And it’s also probably a big part of the reason why I prefer those face-to-face kind of negotiations: it’s not as easy to lie with body language and facial expressions, as it is with words.

Body Box Black Stallion

How sad is this - I spent a good hour the other day cleaning up a body box horse. I had a couple dozen other/better horses to work on, but I felt compelled to clean up this little train wreck. I guess I wanted to see how far my mad cleaning skilz could go:


As it just so happens, pretty far. He’s still going back into the body box since (a) he has a chipped ear, (b) several body rubs, and (c) he’s the Traditional Black Stallion mold with those goofy splash dot dapples from the 1990s. He’d have to be minty-mint, in the box, for me to get any serious money for him.

Still, it was kind of a fun exercise, seeing how far I could actually push him into social acceptability. At least now, we he gets ignored in the body box, it won’t be because he’s dirty. It’ll be because he’s a Black Stallion mold. Even I have to admit he’s a bit of a challenge to customize well.

As you may know, I’m not easily squicked by anything, model horse-wise. I love - or at least tolerate willingly - a lot of molds deemed horrible enough to give some hobbyists the vapors. My love of a model is not conditioned on anatomical reality. If some of the parts aren’t exactly where they’re supposed to be, I’m not going to obsess over it too much.

(Just like they’re now doing with the Weather Girl. My only question: gosh, what took them so long to get started?)

But boy, do I ever remember being disappointed when the Traditional Black Stallion mold came out in 1981. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I had definitely imagined something a little grander. He was merely okay.

If Breyer had originally released him as some other horse, in some other color, maybe I would have taken more of a shine to him. He was supposed to be my dream horse, darn it!

I got one anyway because I was (and to a degree, still am) a huge Black Stallion fan, and a couple others in colors I thought looked good on him. Like the Ageless Bronze of the Hyksos, for instance, and the rather pretty Mahogany Bay of the SR Ofir. I’m also a bit intrigued by the odd, multicolored splash spot Appaloosa one, whatever it was supposed to be, though I haven’t gotten around to owning one yet.

A couple years later, they came out with a Classic version of the "The Black" in The Black Stallion Returns Set, and he was a lot closer to my mental picture of him than the Traditional mold. I think I have more of him than I do of the Traditional, including a Test Color for the Sham in the 3345 King of the Wind Set, in a more golden shade of Bay than the Regular Run release.

Time to get back to the "spring cleaning," I guess. The rest of these horses aren’t going to prep and pack themselves.