Seal of Approval

I had a pretty bad sinus headache for a good portion of my weekend, so I slept through the parts of it where I wasn’t working. It was cold and rainy, anyway, and I did need the sleep. Though I did have a really strange dream where Reeves sent me an airplane ticket in the mail, but I only found it two days before I was supposed to leave…

Reeves made the formal announcement that next year’s BreyerFest will be a hybrid event – both online, and in person – as I expected. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out; I’m assuming that potential attendees will have the option of choosing either in-person or online tickets that will come with similar (but not identical) perks, and possibly a combo ticket that gives you the benefits of both. 

I have a lot of things weighing on my mind at the moment, so I’m not going to give it much thought until more detailed information is made available. 

But I do want to make one criticism/observation: what’s up with all the references to food in the Prost PR? I grew up with a foodie Mom who made everything from scratch, from Tamales to Peking Duck. But other than pretzels, sauerkraut and the occasional bratwurst, German food was rarely on the menu. 

And while I wouldn’t call myself a teetotaler, beer has never been an interest or temptation, either.

It seems especially weird to me, since they had French and Indian-themed BreyerFests where incorporating the cuisine would have made much more sense, but they were only lightly touched on, if at all. There are a lot of things about Germany worth celebrating, but personally I think the food is among the least of these. 

(Okay, one exception: I have probably eaten my weight in Haribo Gummi Bears at least a few times over.)

And as an unrelated side note, I hope they do a new or updated portrait model of Halla: the more I read about her, the more amazing she sounds.

The inventory continues… slowly. Here’s a random selection from the latest box – the Traditional Man o’ War release #966 My Prince, sometimes called “My Prince Seal” because that’s how he was labeled on the box. For some reason, Reeves called his color Seal Brown, though it’s really more of an oddly shaded Chestnut. He was in production from 1996 through 1997, and consequently some came with bi-eyes, but my particular example does not. 

While I wouldn’t call him the prettiest of the Traditional Man o’ War’s releases – nothing can beat the original Red Chestnut with Battleship Gray hooves and eyewhites! – I am more than happy to have him here. I just wish I had the space to display him alongside all of my other Man o’ Wars. 

The last two Traditional Man o’ Wa were the 2018 BreyerFest Early Bird Raffle Riddle, and the 2016 Vintage Club model Storm. Prior to that, the last “mass-market” release of the mold was the War Horse Joey in 2012. I don’t think it’s likely that we’ll be seeing him again any time soon, but I’ll be there when he does. 

The Spotty Halla

Like everyone else, I am completely smitten with the Live Auction Appaloosa Halla:

The auction piece was created on one of the handful of pre-Bolya Halla bodies Reeves still had in the warehouse. Halla, in this form, is essentially extinct: the way the mold was altered means it isn’t coming back to its original form.

It’s theoretically possible to recreate Halla by doing a 3-D scan of an original – either the original sculpt if it is out there somewhere, or of an earlier plastic one.

Possible, but not likely: although the real-life Halla is still considered a legend in Germany, and the Hess mold is a dead-on portrait of her, a new Halla would have be an entirely new mold.

Newer collectors prefer newer molds, and the money that it takes to develop a new mold is probably a better long-term investment than re-creating an old mold that had only a modest fan base to begin with.

Speaking of Appaloosas, here’s a picture of my “Old Mold” Appaloosa Stallion, which is basically the Family Arabian Stallion without the full mold stamp: some have a fragmentary copyright horseshoe, some have none. This one has a fragmentary mold mark:

Since the Family Arabian Foal had enough mold changes over the years that we can almost date them to the year, I thought I’d try to do the same with the Family Arabian Stallion.

I gave up, eventually. There are definitely lots of subtle changes beyond the mold mark, and his boy parts definitely got reworked in the 1970s and beyond, but they weren’t enough to create a year-by-year timeline.

You could more accurately date the Stallions by their paintjobs. You don’t need to see a picture of the mold mark area to know this guy is early: the hip blanket and finely speckled spots already tell you that. It’s the same coloring/patterning you see on the Old Mold Mare and Foals, and can be seen in early examples of the Family Mare and Foal, too.

I’m not sure exactly when it switched over to the splashier and more irregular spots and the white belly stripe, other than it happened pretty early. This speckled variation isn’t necessarily rare – most Family Arabians of any type and stripe just aren’t – but it’s definitely the scarcer of the two Gloss Gray Appaloosa variations.

The fragility of the gray paint does make it difficult to find them in good or better condition. Other than a factory smudge, this guy is near-perfect, which is why this handsome fella one of my favorites among my Family Arabians.

Dixon, et al

You know what the one really great thing about Breyer Events – Exclusive or otherwise – is? You can pick up some really amazing deals and/or hidden gems in the chaos that follows, as everyone occupies themselves with the redistribution of the Special Runs involved.

I’m not talking about the really rare or spectacular pieces (Dapple Black Belgian and Chalky Misties will never be cheap!), but the stuff that makes you go: hey, wait a minute, is that what I think it is?

That’s what I’m hoping is the case with my latest online box lot purchase over the weekend, though it will not be until the coming weekend that I know for sure.

I have high hopes because as you know, my last box lot turned out really well for me – that one included the Gray Appaloosa variation of the Azteca, and my cherished No-Star Halla. But you know what was the funniest thing about the lot with the Halla in it?

It came out of Wilmington, Delware.

No, really, I managed to score a rare Halla out of Wilmington a little over a month before they distributed another rare Halla in Wilmington – as the Centerpiece Prize Dixon, at Chasing the Chesapeake.

I have to trust that it was a complete coincidence, and just another instance of the Universe messing with my head.

I knew that wasn’t going to win a Dixon the moment I saw it – because I had already won a rare Halla – but I did get to ride home part of the way with one. (That part of the story, and more, will be coming later this week, I swear.)

I’d like to take a few minutes to clear up some slight misinformation floating around about this release, as well. First, the Halla mold isn’t completely “destroyed” – it still exists in its Bolya form and is currently available as the Warehouse Find Thoroughbred, a reissue of the #1310 Prancer from The Saddle Club series:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/430010

Second, while I am fairly certain that Dixon is indeed the last official production run on the original braided version of the Halla mold, it would not surprise me if we could still see a few Test Colors down the line. It seems a little too coincidental (though not impossible) that they would have had exactly the twenty pieces they needed to make as centerpieces.

No Star Halla

So here’s one of the newest beauties I was alluding to – the No-Star variation of the Halla! She wasn’t a high-priority want, but she was still definitely a want! She is not perfect-perfect, but is still pretty darn nice. (The face speckles are house paint.)

And you gotta love those “black to the belly” points and the shaded ventral stripe/windpipe! Just goes to show that some of the weird painting/shading tics we complain about now (like Three-Sock Tobianos) are part of a long history of Breyer painterly weirdness.  

The No-Star Halla was the first/earliest variation of the Halla, and is even featured on the White Picture and Brown Picture boxes. I’m not sure why it was originally omitted: my best guess is that like the El Pastor, whatever references Breyer was using didn’t include detailed head shots.

The primary (perhaps only?) reference that was used to sculpt Halla was a photo featured in M. A. Stoneridge’s Great Horses of Our Time:

It is a near spot-on likeness, too! Other than the front legs – corrected in Hess’s sculpt – and the just barely visible star, which I can easily imagine getting overlooked.

Breyer caught on to the mistake quickly, no doubt corrected by a small tide of letters from nerdy horse girls who knew all about the legendary Halla:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQKu0ikGero

(FYI: The video linked to is in German.)

The No-Star version is fairly uncommon. She was a somewhat sought after piece during my live showing days (pre-BreyerFest), but it wasn’t so much her rarity as her shading and detailing that made her a must-have. The paint job on my new girl here was fairly typical of this variation: if you wanted a “nice” Halla for your showstring, this was the kind you were looking for!

The mold itself has fallen somewhat out of favor in recent years, replaced by more dynamic and/or aesthetically pleasing hunter/jumpers. With the diminishment of her fortunes, the knowledge and interest of this once sought after variation has largely faded, as well.

I was rather surprised how inexpensive my newest darling turned out to be – especially since she came with a similarly rare/weird variation I’ll get to next time.

Oh No, Not Again - Again!

I had heard rumors about as-yet-unreleased Reissues being spotted at the Factory Tours during the latest Exclusive Event, but I hadn’t given them much thought. I assumed that they’d spring them on us the way they did last year. You know, just setting them out in the Sales Tent, no announcements or nothing.

Nope. Say hello to the latest Warehouse Finds.

I swear I did not know they were being released on the web site this week, just a few days after I mentioned my hunch. I had a hunch something was coming because we had the White Moose Ghost in March of last year, and the Buried Treasure Lusitano in April the year before.

Logic and recent history.

Sometimes, though, I feel like Reeves is punking me. (Decorator Khemos? Let’s do it! Another web site surprise? Let's move it up to this week!)

So anyway, I bought a Pacer and an Old Timer. because those are molds on my "Approved to Buy" List. I picked up a Sucesion and LeFire too because I’ve been wanting to upgrade my set for a long time, and the prices for them on eBay have been out of my league.

430006 Quarter Horse - Blue Roan (AQHA Horse)
430007 Standardbred - Chestnut (Pacer)
430010 Thoroughbred - Chestnut (Halla/Bolya)
430011 Arabian Mare and Foal (Sucesion and LeFire)
430012 Redmond - Bay (Midnight Sun)
430019 Paint Horse - Bay (Cody/Ranch Horse)
430020 Old Timer - Appaloosa

The Old Timer is sans blinkers and hat, like the Palomino, but it’s too soon to tell just how much the other Reissues vary from the originals, outside of the VIN numbers and better executed paint jobs.

I have a feeling that the Midnight Sun will be the Huck Bey of this group - different enough from the original it was inspired from to qualify as a distinct release on its own. It even has a "real" name as opposed to a generic descriptive one, which I find interesting.

Plus, it’s been 25 years since the original #704 was discontinued, back when Reeves was still having some significant quality control issues. He’ll be different just by virtue of that. (I remember liking the release back then, and having a very hard time finding one that did not have major issues.)

It might be worth noting that this may represent the last official production release of the Midnight Sun mold. Due to the ongoing issues within the real world of Tennessee Walking Horses, there hasn’t been an official production release of the Midnight Sun mold since the last Special Run was made for WCHE in 2002.

The only other Midnight Suns we’ve seen in the meantime have been either auction pieces, or the Unpainted ones Reeves has periodically tried to sell us at BreyerFest.

Those "Whiteware" collections might be the key to figuring out what Reissues may be coming down the pipeline in the future. (There are gaps in the Reissue numbering system that still haven’t been accounted for yet. Seems inevitable to me.) The last boxed Whiteware sets included the following molds:

• Sucesion and LeFire
• Gem Twist
• Belgian
• Cody/Ranch Horse
• Midnight Sun
• Clock Saddlebred
• Clydesdale Mare
• Family Arabian Stallion
• Stock Horse Stallion (original tail)
• Shetland Pony
• Western Prancing Horse

Six of the twelve have turned up as Reissues! So I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the other six show up soon. Gem Twist seems the most likely choice, but I would be most excited about the Western Prancing Horse. (Another one on my Buy List!)

Reeves has disabled the parts of the inventory system that allowed us to figure out the rough counts, but (no surprise) the Sucesion and LeFire sets are already gone. Everything else still seems to be available, though.

Magnus

The extra special secret ingredient to the Father’s Day Web Special Clydesdale, Magnus? He’s Chalky. Didn’t see that one coming.

Darn you Reeves, darn you all to heck.

(Actually, the first word out of my mouth when I read the e-mail actually rhymed with "custards". As this is an all-ages blog, feel free to fill in the blanks with your cuss word of choice.)

He’s glossy too, which certainly doesn’t hurt. There aren’t a whole lot of vintage Glossy Chalkies of any stripe floating around: the Gloss Finish was mostly discontinued by the heyday of the Chalky Era of the 1970s. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head are the Brahma Bull and that small batch (five pieces) of Dapple Gray Shires.

There are some earlier Gloss Chalkies - the Walking Horned Hereford and the Bay Old Mold Mares and Foals being the most "common" of these, relatively speaking. Common the same way the "Full Rough" Walking Polled Hereford is compared to the "Poodle Cut" version, I mean.

The reaction among the chattering classes seems to be fairly muted, which probably means my odds of winning one aren't great. I don’t know if I’m some sort of statistical anomaly or in the possession of a really lame superpower, but the better the odds, the less likely I am to win something. (You know those really awkward drawings where there are more winners than losers - you know, 75 prizes and 100 entrants? Always one of the losers. Always.)

I already "won" something else a few days ago that I think will make up for next week’s potential disappointment. I won’t know for sure until it arrives later in the week.

They also released the remainder of last year’s Store Special "Dusty" as a Collector’s Club Special Offer. He didn’t light the model horse world on fire last year, and he’s not doing it this year on the Internet - so much so that Reeves took the "pieces remaining" ticker off his listing, ‘cause the lackadaisical pace of sales was kinda sad.

As I’ve said before, I don’t think the same thing’s going to happen with this year’s Store Special Taskin: a Draft Horse, on a more popular mold, in a more interesting (and better executed?) color. I didn’t bother with Dusty last year, but I am seriously considering Taskin, depending on what he looks like in person. (He wasn’t among the pieces on display at Equine Affaire, if I recall correctly. Odd.)

I have to do some actual, real-world housekeeping today, so that’s all for today, folks.

Safety Orange

Looks like my schedule will be a little bit better this week - not a lot, but a little. Next week looks like might be a rerun of last week, though. Sigh. (Seriously, does anyone out there want a copy of my resume?)

Bigger pictures of the new Treasure Hunt mold Weather Girl are out now, and boy, is that black one nice. I’ll definitely have to cough up the cash for that little lady. The Palomino and Gray Pinto are also pretty spiffy, but like everything else, I’ll have to take a wait and see approach to see if buying a full set is financially feasible.

Let me confess to a total reading comprehension fail regarding what the BreyerFest Store Special was: it’s not the Black Pinto Huck "Black Tie Affair", but a Dappled Palomino Halla/Bolya "Dusty". (I’ll blame it on my outdated eyeglass prescription.)

I don’t know if it’s because the mold already came in Palomino, as the 748 American Warmblood in 1998 and 1999, or that I prefer the braided Halla version of the mold, but I’m just not feeling the love for "America’s Horse" just yet.

(Could be the whole "America’s Horse" thing, too - seems like an awfully presumptuous title to me. Was there some sort of reality show competition I missed out on? I’d totally watch an American Idol-style reality show with horses. But I digress.)

It could be that it’s the photo throwing me off: he looks way more Safety Orange than Palomino. Are they going for a retro "Palomino FAS" vibe, or am I being tripped up by another bad photo? I loves me some crazy colors, but I’m not sure I want something that could be mistaken for a traffic cone.

It’s gotta be a bad photo. That, or my monitor needs some serious recalibration.

The Mysteries of Shermie Love

I’m not really getting the craze over the Fall Dealer Promo Model Autumn. Part of it is undoubtedly my aversion to the season from which he takes his name: for reasons I will not discuss here, it is not my favorite time of the year.

The Sherman Morgan has never been a huge favorite of mine anyway. I have him in his original release of chestnut, the lovely alabaster JAH SR Pride and Vanity, and the original black, but I haven’t been highly motivated to get the rest of them. The Dapple Gray Tobiano test piece in the 2008 BreyerFest Auction was a beautiful thing, I’ll grant you, but well beyond my price range.


But Autumn is a 2000 piece run: that’s significantly more than your average JAH Special (typically 1500) or BreyerFest Special (500-1500). The color is more appealing (it’s a rare mold that’s not improved with a bit of gloss), the SRP is more reasonable, and the distribution model seems a little more fair than last year’s attempt. Even if we factor in his higher popularity rating and the gloss factor, I still don’t think the prices some dealers and collectors are trying to charge will hold up in the long run.

I wouldn’t be surprised, even, if a few batches of them show up in the Tent next year. Not as many as the Medalist Ponies, but a few cases, at least? Yeah. We’re talking 2000 pieces here. That’s a lot of horses, no matter how you divvy them up.

I’m sure most of the current craze for him is just due to him being the newest, shiniest bauble on the table. Happens every year at BreyerFest: a model’s awesomeness is extolled, crazy-mad prices are charged (and sometimes, received), then the inevitable collapse of both praise and price a few months - or even weeks - later.

There have been a few exceptions to the rule, but there's usually been a mitigating factor. And the possible migitating factor for Shermie is his strangely potent popularity.

I’ve always wondered if all the Shermie love was a consequence of his extended absence from the Breyer line: the mold was taken out of production at the end of 1992, and did not return until 2000, slightly remodeled and with a brand new tail, as the #1105 Carpe Diem.

The story was that the mold was damaged beyond repair. The word "destroyed" is casually bandied about when the discussion turns to damaged or altered molds; Breyer was the first to use that term, in reference to the 1984 JAH Saddlebred Weanling’s pending mold change to the Rocking Horse. I don’t know when the word "destroyed" came up in reference to the Sherman Morgan mold, but any time a mold is put on an extended vacation from production, it inevitably enters the discussion.

I hate that word, because it’s pretty clear that the way the company uses the word is quite different from the way hobbyists do. In hobbyist circles, the word destroyed evokes cataclysmic imagery: tossed from a high-rise and shattered into a million pieces, drop-kicked into the Pacific Ocean, or melted down and recycled into parts for your Subaru. Gone forever and ever, amen and goodbye.

Breyer uses the term its more technical or artistic sense, generally, to describe a mold that is no longer in its original state. Kind of like art prints: an earlier state of an artistic etching is considered "destroyed" when changes are made to it. But it is not gone, only changed. Halla was "destroyed," but the "Bolya" mold lives on. The Saddlebred Weanling was "destroyed" but we had the "Rocking Horse" instead. (Until they restored it, more or less.)

Parts may go missing, or be retooled and remodeled, but molds are rarely discarded or destroyed entirely. (Alborozo being a notable exception.) They’re just too darn expensive and time-consuming to build from scratch: it’s better to keep an unusable mold in storage until it’s possible to repair or salvage it somehow.

His color is beautiful: that’s the only thing that’s keeping me from dismissing him entirely from my want list. But until I get some money and space issues resolved here, I’ll have to opt out of the Shermie Love Fest for now.