A Brief Interlude with Lady Phase

I bought another thing today. Not a grail, but something cool that I could not pass up for the price, regardless. Dang it!

I didn’t have “sell more stuff” on my To-Do List until (checks calendar) late September. Ima gonna have to move that up the list...

There are also more Walmart Exclusive Stablemates out (Series 3? Series 4? I forget…) and Tractor Supply stores are just getting in their Holiday merchandise too, which apparently includes the 70th Anniversary Stablemates in their assortment of Breyer merchandise.

Bringing with it the possibility of more easily obtainable Chase pieces, which is what has happened the past few years. I was kind of hoping to save my $25 Live Show “Store” credit for a case when they finally come back in stock, but if this turns out to be easier and cheaper option that involves less selling of duplicates, I will go for it.

The other thing I bought earlier this week arrived yesterday, but I’m not in a mood to take any pictures today. Instead, let’s talk about something I already have a very pretty picture of: my #40 Lady Phase!

Like a lot of common, long-running models, it took me quite a while to find just the right Lady Phase: some were too red, some were too grainy, others had too much overspray or weird masking issues, but when I found this girl she was... as close to perfect as I could get at the time. (And in spite of my half-hearted later attempts, never surpassed!)

I think I traded someone a #300 Bay Jumping Horse for her at a live show back in 1985, shortly before she was discontinued? That particular show (Autumn in Michigan) was in October, so news of her discontinuation might have been known by then.

It was a good thing I got her when I did, because she became very scarce very quickly afterwards. Part of it was because people were hoarding them for customizing purposes – she was the go-to Stock Horse body back then – but another part of it was that (according to the rumor) the last production run of Lady Phase was lost in a truck fire.

The body hoarding became less of an issue a few years later, when Breezing Dixie (1988), the Signing Party Red Roan (1989) and countless other Special Runs and Regular Runs were released in the early 1990s.

But it was dicey there for a couple of years, as both collectors and customizers found themselves competing for an increasingly smaller pool of models.

Mine didn’t do diddley at the show, by the way. Which is kind of a shame, because I just love the way her picture turned out. Next year, maybe?