Giselle and Gilen

Darn, picked up another shift, so something short again today...

I'm actually somewhat relieved that I didn't get pulled for Gilen. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Breyer Nonplastics in general. I am clumsy and I tend to break things: this is why I collect plastics.

I cherish the chinas I do have: I love my Gloss Brown Heather, my beautiful Bay Xayal, and the fabulous Galway Warrior, among others. But except for rare instances like the Galway Warrior, I try to avoid spending full retail on Nonplastics, because it would absolutely crush my heart when the time comes for me to accidentally break it.

I'm about as clumsy as someone can be without qualifying for some sort of disability. I trip over my own feet, fall out of bed, walk into walls, and unintentionally drill holes into myself. I'm so clumsy I once injured myself while READING. So the damage will occur at some point in the future, as long as the model in question remains in my custody.

It's a tragedy to break something regardless of how much I pay for it, of course, but breaking a $10 piece is a smidge less painful than breaking the $150 one.

I suspect that's one of the reasons that left a number of the Connoisseur Giselles unclaimed.

I was rather surprised by the appearance of the Giselles in the sales tent. Connoisseurs in the tent isn't something that's happened before, to my recollection. (I've heard rumors, but nothing substantiated.) At first most of us assumed that these may have been overruns to compensate for broken and damaged pieces, but that turned out to not be the case: they were numbered, and part of the run.

I grabbed one at first, and then put her down. She's pricey, and she's not plastic. As beautiful as I think she is, I just couldn't justify it, on top of all of the other goodies I had sitting in my buy pile. A lot of other collectors thought the same way, since there were still a handful of them left even on Sunday, when the tent pickings are notoriously slim.

She was also not distinctly and overtly glossy, or sporting a flashy pattern, factors that helped the previous Nonplastic Connoisseur Tenacious. Being a brand new mold by a relatively popular artist wasn't quite enough to convince your average Breyer collector that she was worth the investment.

The interest in these molds is there, in plastic: I overheard one Reeves employee give a practiced, and pointedly noncommital answer to the question in the Gallery this year. (And I suspect that was only one of many times they were asked.) I have no idea if or when the Gilen and Giselle will make the transition to plastic. I suspect we'll be seeing the Great Horse Shire first, since the test piece for Party Time was plastic.

If I had been drawn for Gilen, I suspect I would have found myself on the hunt for a Giselle anyway, just to keep the family intact (because keeping him apart from his Mama would just be mean!) And then would have secluded them into the deepest, darkest, and safest part of my china cabinet, away from my awkward self.