Alabaster Foundation Stallion

Although I did “win” a Rialto, I had to give him up for a multitude of reasons; seeing just how lovely he is from the in-hand pictures is making me wince even more than I usually do and I probably should just stop looking at those pictures, already.

(I’m hoping karma doesn’t bite me in the butt over that decision to pass, but I’m the kind of person who has to have contingency plans for my contingency plans, so… yeah, probably.)

I was tasked with dusting over the weekend (long story) and as I was finishing up very late last night, I paused to consider this pretty little SR from years past:

It’s the Special Run Alabaster Foundation Stallion, from 1985. About 700 pieces were made for the mail-order company Horses International in Arizona, though some were also sold elsewhere.

In terms of color, shading, quantities, distribution pattern et al, this model was typical of Special Runs sold in the 1980s. These were the kinds of Special Runs we got back then, and were happy to get them!

(Shakes fist at passing cloud.)

He pales in comparison to recent releases like Rialto – whose glossy, roany, elaborately masked paint job and hand-painted eyes would have blown our minds in 1985. Most customs didn’t have that level of detail back then!

Of course, the Rialto costs over a dozen times what the Alabaster Foundation Stallion cost – then, and now. (The original price for the Alabaster was $12.50, not including postage.)

That Foundation Stallion is not easy to find nowadays, but only because no one is looking for someone like him. I have known the feeling all too well, lately….

The Alabaster Foundation Stallion falls into that hole of undesirability a lot of Special Runs from the 1980s now do: a little too common to be considered rare, with a paint job considered too bland/boring to modern tastes, on an older mold that’s not all that popular at the moment.

He’s no Rialto, but I still love him.