Sunshine and Cloudy Days

Another short one today: any day that begins with spiders is not a good one.

(Not being intentionally cryptic, but everyone I actually told the story to wigged out, so I’ll spare y’all the details.)

I forgot to mention that I got the Appaloosa Virkie:

I am not displeased – I liked all four color options – but the Appaloosa one was not what I was expecting. 

Another unexpected new addition to the herd: the Walmart “Sunshine Meadows” version of the #62031 Grey Thoroughbred & Dark Grey Foal set. 

With all the crazy awesome models I’ve been getting lately, my Duchess collection had been put on a bit of a backburner, but this set turned up at a price I couldn’t pass up. 

As most of you know, I tend to take a more organic approach to my collection compared to most collectors. While I definitely do have grails and molds I do collect (I just purchased a major grail this week, in fact!) I try not to obsess about them too much, because that only leads to heartbreak and foolishness, like overspending on hot new releases that turn out to be not that pricey six months down the road...

I am also fortunate that many of the models I do collect are vintage or vintage-adjacent, so the possibility of finding them “in the wild” or languishing on a lower shelf in someone’s room at the Clarion exists. I am not going to pay the premium if I don’t have to.

Though occasionally I do, because reality is hard to avoid. As I had to with this week’s big purchase. (I’ve been experiencing a lot of overtime lately, so it was easy to rationalize.)

I have no idea who the Celebration Horse is going to be for next year’s BreyerFest; all I’m hoping for is that the new Lipizzan Adonis is in the mix somewhere, because the rescue of the breed during World War II definitely fits with the “Against All Odds” theme.

And also, I just want a Traditional Lipizzan. I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request. Heck, I’ll even take another Classic one.

Rousing the Envy Beast

While it is true that I’ve seen – and owned – a lot more rare Breyer models than the average person, and it does take considerable effort to pique my interest in Collectibility classes in general, I occasionally see things that make me go all grabby hands, at least mentally.

Was it a Marney Test, a Decorator, a Raffle Model, or even an Auction piece that roused the Envy Beast in my heart at BVG Live this year?

Nay, it was FAM: specifically, a Gray Appaloosa Family Arabian Mare with the B mold mark!

As I’ve discussed before, I consider the existence of non-Palomino Family Arabians with B mold marks (made roughly from 1979 through 1982/3) good evidence that the rumored Walmart Gray Appaloosa Family Arabians were not a rumor after all. 

It now looks like all – or a good portion! – of the Family Arabians sold via the Bentley Sales Company Discontinued Lists in the late 1970s and early 1980s may have been a part of a failed rerelease or Special Run program, and not just ancient warehouse overstock that Breyer pawned off on the Bentley Sales Company, who (being just a short drive away from the factory in Chicago) got all the good warehouse detritus Breyer had to offer.

That realization has made me look at this January, 1983 Bentley Sales Company Discontinued List flier in a completely different light:

(Click to embiggen)

Special Runs. Those Family Arabians were all Special Runs and we had no idea. *Mind blown.*

In case you’re curious, the prices on this list are more or less the same prices for the equivalent Regular Runs of the time – there wasn’t a “mark-up” for discontinued items, at least through Bentley Sales. Most of this stuff really was warehouse overstock, and Breyer really didn’t have a way of marketing items like this to collectors other than selling it off to mail-order companies.

There was a bit of a mark-up for some Special Run items that were made specifically for companies like Bentley Sales, but it wasn’t huge because most of their customers were younger and poorer: the market wouldn’t have supported it!

Anyway, now that I seem to have all – or most – of the Low-Relief Family Arabian Mares, the B-mold Mark ones are next up on my want list. 

(Actually, I’ll just settle for one. I’m not picky about color or condition.)

Blue Freckles

Did I forget to mention that I opened my Canadian Walmart Stablemates Blind Bags? Nothing out of the ordinary – and no surprises, which is no surprise, really:

At least I’ll be able to do some handpicking, and the Red Dun on the G4 Endurance Arabian looks really good on him! I am, naturally, enamored of the Freckle Blue Roan on the Reiner:

Although Test Colors and other examples of questionable provenance have shown up over the years, this is the closest we’ve come to a wide-scale production release of a Black/Blue version of the original Freckle Red Roan color. 

Early attempts at Blue/Black Roan, like the 1989 JAH Special Run Quarter Horse Yearling, featured much sparser freckling on a stark white base color. Which I liked, personally, but it didn’t seem to be as big a hit with anybody else. 

Maybe because they looked more like Fleabitten Grays than actual Roans? The Red Roans of the same era were painted almost identically, part of Reeves’ experimentation with more naturalistic paint jobs. It definitely took Reeves a while to get the hang of Roans, and then they lost the will and/or the knack for the old-fashioned Freckle Roans somewhere along the way, though this fella is definitely an encouraging sign. 

Another encouraging sign: the Blind Bag Stablemates that briefly appeared at some Tractor Supply stores (definitely not ours!) were – like the Unicorn Surprise sets – simply early releases of 2022 merchandise. I am on the fence about buying a case when they’re available: I know it’s my best shot at getting a chase piece, but I’d really rather not add more models to my sales list, even if they’re only Stablemates.