Semi-Pinto Charolais

It rained yesterday, so no flea marketing to report. I’m not as upset about it as I should be, because we really, really needed the rain. My garden was looking pretty pathetic! (With all the weeding and cleaning I did today, I think I can safely upgrade it to just "sad-looking.")

I see Reeves added a charm bracelet to their jewelry line, in addition to adding a new charm "Passion" (Huck Bey). A charm bracelet - what a surprise! Not. They’re also selling the charms and the chains separately; the chunkier chain’s more my style, but everything’s still a little too pricey for me.

I certainly wouldn’t object to a piece or two if someone were to give them to me as, say, a birthday gift… (Which is this week, in case I’m being too subtle here.)

To wrap up the bull kick I’ve been on this week, here’s one more oddball from the herd; I call him my "semi-pinto" Charolais, for obvious reasons:


Both sides are similar: light brown airbrushed "pinto" patches on his chest, hindquarters and behind his shoulders, similar to the airbrushed chestnut pintos of the early 1970s, or the later Medicine Hat Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal. The areas are quite distinct; there’s little attempt to blend it in to the rest of the body.

I found him on eBay several years ago; I’ve seen a few others since then, so it must have been a short-term production variation. Most run-of-the-mill Charolais Bulls have little in the way of body shading - some on the legs, a little on his chest and underside, but subtle and more gracefully shaded, usually.

I have no idea if he’s from early in the production run, or late; the other qualities of the paint job suggest "later" to me, but I’m just guessing. He could be early; he’s very reminiscent of the well-known early "super-shaded" Charolais variation, a model much in demand by Breyer aficionados everywhere. They look much like the photograph seen in the 1975 Dealer’s Catalog:


Sigh. So handsome.

I don’t have an actual "super-shaded" Charolais myself; he’s one of those models who, while not exceedingly rare, always manages to slip from my grasp. (The early Traditional Man o’ War with eyewhites is another who taunts me this way.)