Nothing on the Breyer web site has tempted me to buy yet – I already had both a Sonny and a Banff, and I’m waiting for just the right release on the Ashquar. But there’s an entire day yet, and a couple of the Zodiac horses are tempting me, if not the entire set.
The week was not horse-free, as I did make a nice little upgrade with the beautifully shaded Classic Lipizzan in the foreground here:
Most of the Regular Run #620 Lipizzans I meet are fairly tame, usually running very light to nearly white, but every once and a while you’ll run into more generously shaded ones. Ventral stripes and extensive shading around the eyes and muzzle are typical features of these fancier examples.
I haven’t tracked the Lipizzans as closely as the other contemporaneous Classics – namely, the Love Racehorses – to see if there was a progression of the paintjob from dark to light, and when that could have happened.
There were no significant mold changes during the mold initial run from 1975 through 1980, and catalog and promo shots from that era aren’t especially helpful, either. All of the catalog examples are on the lighter side, and almost annoyingly consistent, which in itself is a little unusual for the 1970s.
The variation in the early Lipizzans could just as well have been random and dependent on whoever was assigned to painting booth that day. Or even what the painter had for lunch.
2 comments:
Oh nuts, now I'm confused. I'd read at some point way back in the late '90s that the RR Lipizzaner had dark pink-gray hooves & pinkish muzzle, while the 1993 SR for the "World of Horses" show (which I have) has no pink and was shaded differently — basically matching what Pony Lagoon's page shows...but it looks like your guys have solid gray hooves as well — and ID Your Breyer claims the SR is just the RR under a different number/title.
I don't suppose you know which claim is right?
While some - though obviously not all - early Lipizzans can have pinking, the SR/Reissues won't.
The 1992 German SR and The World of Horses SR were basically rereleases of the #620, and can be about as varied as the original release. The only distinguishing features of the reissues are that they tend to have more "linear" muscle shading, and slight indentations can be felt on their backs from the Pegasus retooling.
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