It was not a huge stretch of the imagination to believe that the Carltonlima Emma was going to go up in price after the Queen’s passing, but even I am a little taken aback by some of the prices. Nearly $200 for a NIB one? Yikes!
Especially since I sold an unboxed one (I received it as a duplicate in a box lot) for $20 at BreyerFest back in July.
There was no way of knowing, of course. It was a very good box lot, priced very cheaply, and I more than made my money back on it.
I think that’s one part of the problem with the rather “optimistic” pricing I see on the Internet: the haunting possibility that you might have missed out on even more profit if you had just waited long enough.
I don’t have the time or room for that nonsense.
I’ve sold, quite probably, thousands of models over the years, which isn’t as mind boggling as it may seem: a thousand models is about 100 models a year for ten years. I sell an average of 50 to 75 pieces at BreyerFest alone, and I have been going to BreyerFest for a very, very long time...
It does bother me when I find I undersold something, or that I took a gamble on something and lost (which has happened to me so frequently that I’ve become very risk-averse), but I can’t go back and make people pay me the profit I missed out on. Whether it’s bad timing, or an honest mistake on your part, you have to let it go.
Tangentially related to talking about Emma: one thing that does boggle my mind is Original Finish models with solid black, unshaded paint jobs doing well at live shows.
Back when I was first live showing back in the 1980s, Solid Black horses – other than the occasional Test Color – rarely placed well in halter, because it was assumed that minimal effort was made to paint it.
Even now, when I’m making my selection on who (and who not to) take, the unshaded black ones rarely make the cut. I think the only one I show semi-regularly is my Stablemate Quarter Horse Stallion Pancho, and that’s because he also has that very sharp, early mold detail that negates the “no shading” bit.
(And the fact that he’s a rare, early Stablemate Special Run!)
(FYI: The one on IDYB is not mine, but looks almost identical to mine. Not in a mood to dig mine out at the moment. He was one of the handful of horses that did NAN at the last live show I was at.)
But back to Emma: I think it’d be neat if Reeves brought Emma back in a special edition of some sort – Gloss, or maybe with a ribbon or bit of tack – and I’d definitely buy it. Buy just like my original Emma, I still couldn’t see her as live show material.
6 comments:
I would like a glossy Emma and Corgi set.
I customized my Emma! Doh...
I think the price will come back down in a few months. Maybe not to what it was, but it will. The novelty will wear off, despite how long QE2 was on the throne... However, if they released her in gloss with a Corgi, and an in scale replica of the Queen's headscarf that was tied to her saddle for the funeral procession, I might be tempted to get that. I'm Canadian and largely ignore the monarchy, but that is the type of souvenir I could see myself purchasing. I was dry eyed for the whole thing (I got up to watch because I know my best friend, who's American, wanted to see it. So I got up so we could text back and forth), until I saw Emma there, standing so patiently and quietly. Then the waterworks started. Got worse when I saw the Corgis. So long to Lillibet, and I'm also glad I didn't sell my Emma when I had her up for sale a few months back. She can stay for the foreseeable future, price increase or no. She's cute.
I saw that in-box Emma on ebay, too. I couldn't fathom the price, but then I saw she had 22 bids so I knew it was for real. Although we already have an Emma in the collection I have to admit that I would buy a commemorative Emma model.
I got lucky, found mine in a shop just last May, gave me a price break on her since she'd been there so long, too. NIB, and I was surprised she wasn't a bloatie - in the front window facing west, in TEXAS. There were some damaged ones (Totalis was leaning in his box) but she was high enough not to get damaged.
I haven't bought an Emma because the paint job was so uninspiring. Kind of regretting that now, but I can wait until the demand goes down (or until Breyer decides to do a special set for the Queen).
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