Appaloosa Aztecas

And here is the second beautiful creature from that box lot:

The rare “Appaloosa” variation of the original #85 Azteca!

The #85 Azteca release ran from 1980 through 1987 and is well-known for the number of distinct variations it has: Semi-gloss, Matte, dark manes, light manes, white tails, gray tails, heavy dappling and sparse.

But the earliest, rarest, and least known variation is the “Appaloosa” one, featuring light roany dappling over most of the body, and cornflake dappling on his butt similar to the spotting seen on the original Gloss releases of the Dark Dapple Gray Running Mare and Foal.

I was vaguely aware of the existence of this variation much earlier, but I had written them off as Test Colors, Oddities, or some sort of Marney-related thing. Until I acquired some reference materials – a page from the 1980 Aldens Christmas Catalog, to be precise – that confirmed that they were actually the earliest variation of the Azteca:

There he is! (Click on image to enlarge.)

Pictures for Christmas Catalogs were taken fairly early in the year, so seeing prototypes or early variations wasn’t all that unusual – and often led to some disappointments when the product didn’t quite match its advertised appearance.

(The sighs you may hear faintly in the distance are of those collectors of a certain age still pining for a Dapple Gray Classics Ruffian.)

That didn’t happen with the Azteca, as far as I remember. The Aldens catalog didn’t have the same circulation as the Montgomery Wards, JC Penneys or Sears catalogs, and the picture was small and of low-resolution. So this bit of documentation simply passed from hobby memory.

Until I acquired both a model and this documentation, and did the math.

I’ve found just enough of these variations to confirm that they were, indeed, a production variation, and not just (or only) part of a lot made as Salesman’s Samples.

It did take me a while to finally find one that was in this fine of a condition: due to the nature of Dapple Gray paint jobs in the early 1980s, early Aztecas of all variations are very prone to rubbing.

Early New Roans

I’m sort of obsessed with my BreyerFest Diorama Thing right now - which will be one for the ages, if I can get it done in time. The only problem I’m having is the same one I always have, once I have (what I think is) an amazing idea: I’m freaking over the littlest details.

The only good thing in this instance is that I might - might! - have the time to pull it off. Eh, it’s not like I’m sleeping anyway, with the Horrible Chicken Death Flu wracking my body. (Today’s symptom du jour: lots and lots of coughing. Eating an ice cream cone today was…interesting. And messy.)

Speaking of details, here’s a little game. Here’s a Test Color of the modestly popular Breyer #710 Indian Pony. The model ran from 1988 through 1991 - a pretty long run, even back then. This fleabitten-y, pale Roan with the tiny freckles was one of Reeves’s earlier attempts at improving/updating Breyer painting techniques.

Can you tell what distinguishes this model as a Test Color? I’ll give you a minute or two to think about it.

I love Roans in general (and Blue Roans, in particular!), and I was thrilled back then that we’d be getting more and better roany Breyers, but I have to admit that these Early New Roans left me a wee bit cold, initially. They looked more like Fleabitten Grays or really Weird Appaloosas.

I like Fleabitten Grays and Weird Appaloosas, too, but I was kind of hoping that if they were trying to "improve" their interpretations of horse colors, the naming of those colors would also improve.

I love the older, Big Freckle Red Roans to pieces, but I think of them more as a peculiar later Decorator color than a realistic one, in the same category as Charcoal: clearly inspired by a realistic color, but definitely its own thing.

Reeves is a lot better now about this - not perfect, but close enough to be forgivable, in most instances. There’s still some oddness going on with some of the Pintos, some of the Dappled stuff, and the proper formula for Silver Bay seems to be a mystery to them. But they’re right more often than not, and they do seem to be trying. Just not always succeeding.

Give up yet? The detail you may be missing: this one doesn’t have socks! My production run one is currently in storage, but he looks a lot like this one, via Identify Your Breyer:

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/00710.jpg

The Test is also a little bit more brown than red. He’s a shrinky though, too, and this may be affecting his color in some way.

Still, he’s a neat guy, even if his color is a little off - either by nature, or by design.

My Birthday Buckskin

I was a little annoyed at first when I saw this week’s schedule: What do you mean, no overtime? I was just getting used to the not-sleeping thing!

Then I realize, duh, I could actually do things like answer e-mails and open packages, which made it not so bad.

So I finally did open my Buried Treasure: oh, is he purty. Really one of the nicest buckskin paint jobs I’ve seen in a long time, which my photograph (and Reeves’, on the web site) in no way can convey:

Warm, shaded, shimmery - now that’s buckskin, baby!

He has a slight eartip rub from the funky packaging - bagged, bubblewrapped, loosely tossed in a box - but other than that, I have no complaints. Actually, I can’t stop staring at him, he’s just that nice. I want to see this color on everything, right now. Even on the Creepy Kitten, if it’s possible.

There’s no VIN number, no belly stamps, and no certificates, so with the addition of the cobbled together packaging, that pretty much tells us that they were painted in New Jersey. 

As I was updating my research files, I noticed an interesting "something" about the issue numbers: the Glossy Joeys were issue number 712073; the Buried Treasure - Lusitano is issue number 712074.

Hmm, okay. I guess that means that they were something a little more recent after all - since the planning stages of the Glossy Joey giveaway, at least.

They must have had a substantial number of Foundation Stallion bodies left over after they ran the 2010 Mid-States Special Run Thunderbolts. Aside from being the most recent production piece on the Foundation Stallion mold, it also had an odd piece run - 2900 pieces, instead of a more standard 2500 or 3000.

I had figured that the Joeys had come out of bodies leftover from the Thunderbolt run; the Buried Treasures must have come out of the leftovers of the leftovers.  

This raises an interesting possibility: will future Buried Treasures come out of Reeves’ leftover body bins? They had enough of some unpainted older bodies - like the Stock Horse Stallion, the Belgian, the Clydesdale Mare, and Gem Twist - to sell them in box lots of "whiteware" at BreyerFest a couple years ago.

Interest in them was tepid, at best.

Now that they’ve seen success in putting a simple, yet well executed paint job on an older mold - and marketing it as an extremely limited surprise special run - I can’t imagine them not trying it again.

Buried Treasure?

Another crazy work week, with an extra helping of drama. (This particular "drama" was something that was a long time coming. Didn’t make it any easier to deal with, though.)

I should just go back to bed (because I need it!) but there’s been quite a bit of drama in the model horse world over the past two days that I need to deal with, too.

I had a small window of opportunity to do a little web surfing on Thursday, so I dropped in on Blab for a few minutes of lurking. I noticed a new thread entitled "Buried Treasure?" and thought oh, someone must be talking about that self-published book about restoration I wrote a while back, of the same title. I still get the occasional inquiry about it, so I clicked on the thread to see if I needed to answer any questions about it, and …

Well, here’s what’s pretty much an accurate rendering of my ensuing internal monologue:

OMG! It’s a super-limited 62-piece metallic buckskin Foundation Stallion hidden on the Breyer web site! Where’s my credit card? @#$%! GAH!

Not only that, I just happened to find it literally minutes after the thread was posted, so when I clicked on the link, I think they still had 61 of 62 pieces left. I had no idea at that point if they had, or were, going to do any other advertising for it, so I spent a good ten minutes in utter panic mode, until I received the "confirmation of your order" screen.

It was a rough week, and I was definitely in a "I deserve a pony!" frame of mind. Plus, it’s my birthday this weekend, and I hadn’t yet bought anything specifically for that reason.

I exhaled, crashed for a bit, then I woke up with a start and realized I needed to post a little something here, at least in the comments. (Note to self: really need to look into this "Twitter" thing.)

According to the write up on the web site, they were "discovered in the Breyer archives", though judging from the style and quality of the paint job, they hadn’t been sitting in the archive for very long.

What were they originally intended for? Prizes? Raffles? Volunteer giveaways? Heck if I know.

I know some people are doubting the truly "lost" nature of such a Special Run, but as someone who works in inventory management services, I am not. You’d be shocked how easily inventory can become lost or misplaced, even in a relatively small warehouse. All it takes is a couple of missed keystrokes, or a few mislabeled boxes, and POOF! There goes a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise. 

We’ve also seen from recent finds in the NPOD - like the Glossy Summer Soltices, and the Palomino Appaloosa Proud Arabian Foals - that this is not an isolated incident. (Reeves, if you’re reading, I can gladly get you in touch with somebody to help you with that. No, really.)

I happen to think in this case that since they had significantly more than a dozen pieces for this horse, they decided to go a different route. Since they didn’t do any advertising at all, I could see it being a "word of mouth" marketing experiment - one that obviously worked!

Are there other "lost" SRs knocking around the Breyer warehouse? I have no doubt about it. Are any of them "piecey" enough to do this again? Time will tell.

The Answers to Everything

Got a gander at the prices the Gloss Joeys on eBay are bringing - yeowch! I sure could use the money to get some work done on the car, but mine’s not going anywhere. I’ll just have to nickel-and-dime it, the way I usually do. (I’m giving up a whole bunch of stuff for Lent that should help, too. My finances, if not my attitude.)

I’ve decided to keep the Joey in the box for a while longer. I was cleaning up the office last night before going to bed, and noticed that the box liner/insert the model was attached to was coming undone.

Because it was put together using Scotch Tape, and not the industrial quality strong-enough-to-set-tile-with stuff they usually use. The boxes themselves were assembled in New Jersey!

The notion of a box-assembling party in the Reeves offices amuses me no end. (Was pizza involved?)

Another box came yesterday - the one with the Vintage Club Dandy. I haven’t had the chance to open it yet; as usual, I’m a little crushed for time. The shipping box is kind of interesting - a new take on the original Fighting Stallion shipper box - except that the UPS stickers obscure all the best parts.


I’m going to assume that this is going to be the standard shipper for the Vintage Club, and not worry about the condition of this one. I should have plenty of opportunities to get that one representative sample.

My Vintage Club membership number is … 42. The high holy number of the Internet, the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? Awesome.

(Yes, I do keep a towel in my car. Right next to the pantry.)

Henceforth, all my Vintage Club horses shall be named after Hitchhiker’s Guide characters. (I already have a Clydesdale named Dent. Coincidence? I think not!)

The extra little surprise that they gave us is a copy of the 1953 (not 1954!) Boxer flier, with a copy of the pastel rough on the opposite side. I already had copies of both (of course) and an original of the Boxer ad, from an early 1953 issue of Playthings magazine (February or March, I forget - whatever month Toy Fair was that year.) Mine has a list of the regional representatives on the bottom, and the ad for the Western Horses printed on the opposite side.

Did you see the disclaimer at the bottom?

"This archival copy and all images may not be reproduced, posted to the Internet, or used without the written permission of Reeves."

Dudes, that bridge has already been crossed. Not just by me, but by lots of hobbyists. I can’t speak for the actions or intents of other hobbyists, but I feel that most of what I do here would fall under the Fair Use Doctrine, as codified in the Copyright Act of 1976.

If anything, my use of the materials in question actually results in a net benefit to Reeves. (FYI: My opinion only. I have had a little bit of legal training, but I am not a legal professional.)

Joey in the Box

Who doesn’t love a box with their name on it? Especially when it’s a gift?


Here he is, mostly out of his box. (You’ll have to cut me some slack; I just opened the box a few minutes ago.)


According to the sticker on the outside of the shipping box, his release number is 712073; the number on the box itself is 1489, which is the release number for the Regular Run release of Joey, on the Man o’ War model.

Why the discrepancy? The box is (what I’m assuming will be) the standard one for the Regular Run release of the Joey, on Man o’ War. Unlike previous boxes, it’s not a generic box with stickers and labels added: everything is printed on it directly.

As I haven’t examined the packaging for any of this year’s new releases in detail, I don’t know if this is a new thing, or specific to this release. The past few years of BreyerFest releases weren’t generic either, so I’m going to assume that it’s a new thing.

If that’s the case, I hope it doesn’t spur a new trend towards box saving. I kind of like that the hobby has a more lax attitude about boxes than others do. It helped, I think, that prior to the early 1970s, there weren’t a whole lot of boxes worth saving. Horse/Rider sets, the licensed properties, and some of the illustrated shippers have some visual appeal, but the plain old corrugated shipper boxes everything else came in? Not so pretty on the shelf.

Plus, we show them. You can get away with showing MIB items in Collector’s Class entries, and maybe in halter, if you’re willing to push that envelope. Performance is out of the question, though, unless you’re other hobby is building ships in bottles.

I probably have a few more boxed items than the average hobbyist, mainly for research purposes. If I were more of a shower than a historian/collector, the vast majority of those items would be box-free, also.

I’m actually a little bit on the fence about deboxing my Gloss Joey completely. I do "need" one representative sample of this packaging, and I am unsure if I’ll be getting any other items this year that would come in the new standard packaging. And he’s not a mold and/or finish one normally shows much outside of collectibility anyway, so…

Appy New Year

Just spent the entire weekend going through and cleaning up my research notes - I think I ended up with more than what I started with! One of these days I’ll finally be able to "touch bottom" and work my way back up to the surface. Not any time soon from the current state of my desk, however…

In light of my increased work schedule, I’ve come to a decision on my blog posts for January: I’ll be sticking to smaller, shorter topics for the time being, instead of the graduate-level dissertations I’ve been lapsing into. I’ll profile some historically-interesting models from my collection, spotlight rare or noteworthy color variations, offer annotated scans of some rare or unique items from the archive, that sort of thing.

(Don’t worry, the dissertations will be back - eventually!)

To kick things off, I offer you a rare and unusual variation many collectors miss: the "Gray Appaloosa" Azteca:


The #85 Dapple Gray Azteca is know for its many color variations: white tail, gray tail, semi-gloss, matte, wild dappling, and so on …but this variation is distinct enough to be mistaken for a test color or separate release. (And sometimes is.) It’s very similar to the paint job seen on the Dark Dapple Gray Running Mare and Foal, but with the addition of fine, roany dappling over the rest of the body. You can catch a blurry glimpse of him in the 1980 Alden’s Christmas Catalog:


Christmas catalog photo shoots occur very early in the year - not long after the previous holiday season, usually. So that means he’s an early variation, possibly the earliest. However, the Dapple Gray Azteca I bought in early 1980 (with my leftover Christmas money!) is the standard wild dapple version. So either he was a variation who was quickly replaced with a more standardized paint job, or a painter might have either received less than clear painting instructions for a day. ("Paint ‘em up in dapple gray - you know, like the Running Mare and Foal.")

In either case, there weren’t a lot of them painted this way. I think I see maybe one "Gray Appaloosa" version of the Azteca a year, at best. It took me quite a while to acquire my specimen, and I’ve had no luck in upgrading him since then.

This brings up an important point: dapple gray paint jobs from the late 1970s throughout most of the 1980s were not very durable - in some cases, they’ll rub right off with a little vigorous handling! That’s because by then Breyer had abandoned giving them the clear topcoat that acted as a sealer. It wasn’t until near the end of the 1980s that they "reformulated" the way resist dapple gray paint jobs were done, and made them a little less prone to everyday wear and tear.