He’s not in my hot hands just yet, but he’s been paid for and shipped, so I think it’s safe to share my latest acquisition:
Isn’t he beautiful? I mean, I love my original #32 Gray Appaloosa with the superfine speckling, and I had vowed to avoid the sinking deathtrap of variations this vintage release has to offer, because I don’t have room enough or money enough to deal with it.
So while I would often take a look at them for research purposes, or just admire them for aesthetic reasons, I never had the desire to purchase any of them.
But when I saw him on eBay early Wednesday morning, I just had to have him. For Heaven’s sake, he’s so fine he even has eyepinking, something you only occasionally see on early examples of this mold!
(The last time I found a Fighter with eyepinking I was pretty much obligated to sell him to someone at cost, but that’s a story I’d rather not revisit.)
I am also pleased with his similarity to early promotional photographs of the Appaloosa Fighter, like this one from a ca. 1961 Red Bird Sales flier:
He doesn’t have the black mane and tail that’s even harder to find than the eyepinking, but that’s a very minor complaint. To be honest, I haven’t even seen an Appaloosa Fighter with a genuinely black mane and tail in person. I’m not sure they were ever a legitimate production variation to begin with, and I’m willing to chalk the few that do show up as just random Oddities, Tests, Samples, or examples with darker-than-average gray manes and tails.
I paid more than I normally would for this guy, which did stress me out a little bit because you know I’m all about getting the deals. But for the moment, I have more money than time to devote to hobby pursuits, so I’ve been trying to persuade myself that I shouldn’t feel guilty for spending what’s really just a little bit extra.
He is Vintage, awesome, and almost completely different from my existing Appaloosa Fighter. A little bit of guilt is better than the regret of not getting him at all, right?
Unless I happen to find another distinctive and/or attractive variation in immaculate condition for cheap, I don’t foresee my #32 Appaloosa Fighting Stallion collection getting any bigger, though.
(Yes, I am aware of the changes announced for this year’s Special Run lines, and I have opinions I will express next time. The complicating factor here is that a lot of you are probably not going to like what I have to say.)
3 comments:
He is a beauty! I have one...found him in an antique store in Burbank about 20 years ago. He was priced $25, and I was amazed that the clerk even took my check, since I was sweating up a storm. This appaloosa speckling on this mold...you just never tire of looking at him.
I was going to comment on an earlier post: in the same way Man O'War looks weirdly out-of-proportion with a blanket appaloosa pattern, the Running Stallion looks off-balance without one!
My old speckle #32 has the barest pinking on the muzzle -- it's faded out with age. If he ever had eyepinking, it's gone.
I once painted his mane and tail black with enamels --!! --but discretion got the better of me, and I removed it later. Gotta love a gloss coat against rubbing alcohol.
I judged a black point appy Fighter years ago at a live show. After looking at him several times over and over, I'm still not sure that mane and tail were OF. It's been over 20 years, so...
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