I now have a pretty decent picture of a Black Dapple Belgian (thanks Jeri!) but I am still in search of a Rainbow Weather Girl pic. I think I’ll be good otherwise, but I’m making my last edits this weekend, and if it’s anything like my editing process with any of my other creative endeavors, I’m sure something will come up.
By the way, if it’s one thing this video project has reminded me of, it’s that I do not like taking photographs, not one bit.
That’s also why I’m deciding to forego the BreyerFest Photo Show this year – one of the reasons, anyway. There’s apparently a limit on photos this year also, and I simply don’t have the time to curate my photos that well.
I definitely took a “throw everything against the wall and see what sticks” approach last year, out of necessity.
And as far as I could tell, any extra effort I put into making my photos “pretty” didn’t really help that much either: I know they said as much in the rules that it didn’t matter, and it showed in some of the placings.
You’d think that would fall under the banner of “showmanship”, but whatever.
I have too much to do between now and BreyerFest as it is; I’d rather spend that time doing other things, like pulling the 3000 or so dandelions that have mysterious popped up in my garden (darn you, milder than average Winter!), finishing some of the quilts I promised to finish last year, and catching up on about a year’s worth of TV shows and movies.
(Just about the only non-model-horse-related content I’ve been able to partake in over the past six months was a 4-hour long magnum opus about the end of the world, and it shows. I mean, I enjoyed it, but not the lightest of entertainments.)
To give you guys a little bit of model horse related content, here’s one of the photographs I’ve taken over the past couple of days: my Chalky Bay Appaloosa Indian Pony!
While she’s one of the scarcer Chalkies out there and I knew it when I bought her, I still winced a little when I paid the rather steep (for me) price of $45 for this beauty at BreyerFest several years back. I think that is the most I had paid for a Chalky up to that point, and even since then. (Cheapskate, etc.)
I shudder to think just how much she’d go for now. Car payment territory, maybe?
Doesn’t matter, she’s not going anywhere.
I also discovered that I have way more Chalkies than I thought I did. Not a lot of the “big money” ones like the Shire, Misty or the Proud Arabian Mares, but at least a couple dozen. I’m so glad I was ahead of that curve before it took its huge exponential turn.
Most of the ones I now have were acquired the old-fashioned way: flea markets and cheap box lots on eBay with blurry pictures. Crossing my fingers that I find the rest of the ones I “need” the same way.
(For some reason I have never owned a Chalky Yellow Mount. I think I need one. Eventually.)
11 comments:
No offense meant to you (or anyone)--but what is this fascination that everyone seems to have with whether a model is chalky or pearly?? I'm sorry--but I really don't understand it!
I'm a long time collector and I. think I remember when these models 1st came out, that chalkiest/pearliest weren't' as well received as they are now because their finish was so different. (Maybe I'm wrong- -I don't know- but what a difference the years make!)
I guess my point is--because I probably have a couple of thousand models in my collection (exact numbers aren't known. yet as I'm constantly revamping and cataloging them!), I really don't have time to go back over each and every one to check to see whether they are or aren't! (I really don't care that much!)
I know I still own the original "Pluto" lipizzan stallion and the "Gem Twist"--those are the only 2 that would visibly qualify--but I'm @ loss for the others(including the currently issued releases unless it's specifically mentioned! )
I guess when my time comes, others will have a fun time figuring that out for themselves! In the meantime, I'm just gonna enjoy my collection as is!
P.S. I conga the Indian Pony mold and yours is a beautiful example! I never was able to add her or the alabaster. one to the collection (yet)--alto I did once see the buckskin with warpaint at an antique mall!
Chalkies are something I know very little about, and can't reliably tell from ordinary Breyers unless it's really obvious. Like Anonymous, I'll leave the chalkies to others to collect. :)
I have only one chalky that I'm certain about, the Appaloosa Performance Horse. (I used to have a Bay Running Foal...alas!)
But I love seeing pictures of chalkies. Some have such crude paint jobs, I think they look like knock-offs, and I can see why collectors didn't care for them at the time, as Anonymous points out. But some look better than the regular run models, there's something different in the detail and shading. There was a three-legged chalky Yellow Mount that had the most adorable face.
I really do like the color on a lot of the chalkies--I know I had a couple of "strange" models that I adored back before I really understood what they were. I also have a few models that are staggeringly, pristinely white from the early 80s or late 70s that just look a bit different--not chalky, not pearly, just bizarrely white. I wonder if there was something just a bit different in their plastic mix that allowed them to stand the test of time a bit better. I need to go pull these all out and get a better fix on precisely when they were made as these also tend to show up with better details--nicer shading, more pinking and so on. Though I'm now wondering if there might have been something about that particular batch of plastic that just resisted degradation and has helped delay fading perhaps?
I have a Rainbow Weathergirl, NIB. What kind of photo(s) do you need??
:) Annette
I also remember when a chalky model was just something they messed up at the factory and painted over again, often in a sloppy fashion, and since I love the appearance of unpainted white plastic they were never my thing. Recently, however, I managed to get a chalky Yellow Mount dirt cheap, and he's really nice. I have several vintage models that are extra-white, but have been told by people who collect chalkies that these are not chalky plastic. In over 50 years of collecting, I have yet to see any model that is classified as chalky plastic, even though I've always heard that they do exist.
The differences between basecoats and chalky plastic are fairly subtle but distinct. If there are no rubs through to the plastic, there's a couple of good "tells". Chalky plastic tends to lack the pooling marks on the belly and on the hooves (gloppy, extra paint there). There will also be no loss of fine detailing that can sometimes be obscured with a basecoat that pools into crevices. Chalky plastic seems to have been used the most on Classics, but there are some Traditionals that have it as well. I'm still unsure if chalky plastic is actually rarer on that scale than basecoat or if folks are just not IDing them correctly (I have been administering Chalky surveys every year or two for a while).
I've seen plenty of basecoat chalkies, but have yet to see anything classified as chalky plastic, in all my 50+ years of collecting and attending every BreyerFest since 2003. I would love to see one so I can at least be sure they exist. ;D
I do have a pearly, BTW.
Chalky plastics definitely exist guys. For example......some of the VERY early western horses, like those on the clock, are chalky plastic.
I also bought a chalky plastic Midnight Sun form the Breyer history diva herself as a body (he had dog chew marks). And yes, I did customized him. He was milky white plastic (not translucent) with black swirls, all the way through.
I am pretty sure I have owned others as well....maybe the chalky elephant I sold, or it could have been a donkey.
But anyway, they ARE out there. If I think of anymore I will post it.
When I was a kid in the 80's these things were "around." I guess because people were selling their collections from the 70's. I had a pearly rearing stallion in bay at one point. But I didn't know he was "special" and I sold him cheap. But I've had a handful of chalky Midnight Suns over the years. That were in pretty nice condition, so I don't know if they were chalky plastic or chalky basecoat. But I wouldn't doubt some of them were chalky plastic. As well as green and purple plastic too.
Love my chalkies, and even as a kid knew there was something special about them. I had a dapple PAS, chestnut CAF, and chestnut Belgian, and a friend had the dapple PAS and an alabaster Rearing Stallion. I've since added another dapple PAS, dapple PAM, APH and the Clydesdale set. Always looking for reasonable additions!
Yeah, some of those placings were kinda in the WTF category. I took great care with my pics, close up and clear, plain background. Out of close to 150 entries- I got eight placings. EIGHT. And I knew it was trouble when I accidently put a RR foal in the SR class- and he got third. Ooops.
I have a perfect base coat chalky Yellow Mount. I’m looking for a base coat Indian Pony, any color. Will trade or pay $$ if you have one for sale.
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