Thursday, July 18, 2019

Matte White Poodle

The spirit is willing, but the body is weak: my more comprehensive overview of BreyerFest will have to wait a couple more days, until my body stops generating spontaneous naps.

(I knew four straight days in 90+ heat and humidity sapped a lot out of me, but seriously, sleeping in my car at a Kroger parking lot for an hour was not on my agenda for today.)

I do want to cover this guy in some detail, though – one of my handful of hotel finds I persuaded myself I couldn’t live without:


Behold – a Matte variation of the #68 White Poodle! (No, really, he is. I just don’t have the time or energy right now to pull one of my multiple shiny ones from upstairs for comparison.)

Matte White Poodles are one of those things that I simply assumed existed because the Matte Black ones do, but until this previous weekend, I had never actually seen one in person!

Since I couldn’t find a BreyerFest Beethoven at the right price and condition, and the Benasque Blue variation of Bucky was the remotest of long shots, this guy showed up at the right time and at the right price. 

Ironically, both the Matte Black and Black with Blue Collar Poodle were high on my scouting list this year – with the Bucky in this year’s lineup, it seemed like a good time to focus on filling some holes in my Breyer Dog collection – but alas, neither one was to be found.

Which was not a huge surprise – both of those variations are pretty rare – but not as rare as the Matte White Poodle! Funny how that works.

The Matte Black and (now confirmed!) White Poodles are another rare but notable example of Breyer Matte variations being less common than their Glossy counterparts.

And their “rarity” makes sense, too, since the Black and White Poodles were discontinued ca. 1968, right around the time Breyer was transitioning to more realistic (Matte) colors and finishes.

Since everyone is so focused on Glossy = Good, Matte rarities tend to slip by relatively unnoticed. Well, usually: there are always exceptions, of course. (Matte Dark Dapple Gray Running Mare and Foal, anyone?) And me spilling the beans on them here means that eventually it will no longer be the case….

You know, I still don’t have a Woodgrain Poodle, either. I probably should work on that – while he’s one of the slightly scarcer Woodgrains (ca. 1960 through 1964), a lot of hobbyists aren’t into the Nonhorses, so that tends to moderate his prices a bit. In other words, that tends to push him into the affordable (to me) range.

Maybe once all the various stray bits of money promised to me finally make their way here, I’ll consider the splurge.

4 comments:

timaru star ii said...

I've always admired the Poodle, so thanks for the history! He looks shiny to me, but not a glossy, no...

Anonymous said...

I have a matte black poodle with green eyes/red collar and I actually think the glossies are a lot prettier!

Denise said...

I will be on the look out for these! I'm guessing these poodles are similar to the matte horned Hereford bulls? I'm thinking I have what is considered a matte one, he's somewhat shiny but does not have a heavy gloss coat like normal. His color is more reddish-brown. I love all these variations!

Carrie said...

After my personal introduction to your lil' buddy of course I began to see poodles aplenty! And of course had to look at each one despite having zero intention to buy any...You're right, the green-eyed ones are weird.