The Spotty Halla

Like everyone else, I am completely smitten with the Live Auction Appaloosa Halla:

The auction piece was created on one of the handful of pre-Bolya Halla bodies Reeves still had in the warehouse. Halla, in this form, is essentially extinct: the way the mold was altered means it isn’t coming back to its original form.

It’s theoretically possible to recreate Halla by doing a 3-D scan of an original – either the original sculpt if it is out there somewhere, or of an earlier plastic one.

Possible, but not likely: although the real-life Halla is still considered a legend in Germany, and the Hess mold is a dead-on portrait of her, a new Halla would have be an entirely new mold.

Newer collectors prefer newer molds, and the money that it takes to develop a new mold is probably a better long-term investment than re-creating an old mold that had only a modest fan base to begin with.

Speaking of Appaloosas, here’s a picture of my “Old Mold” Appaloosa Stallion, which is basically the Family Arabian Stallion without the full mold stamp: some have a fragmentary copyright horseshoe, some have none. This one has a fragmentary mold mark:

Since the Family Arabian Foal had enough mold changes over the years that we can almost date them to the year, I thought I’d try to do the same with the Family Arabian Stallion.

I gave up, eventually. There are definitely lots of subtle changes beyond the mold mark, and his boy parts definitely got reworked in the 1970s and beyond, but they weren’t enough to create a year-by-year timeline.

You could more accurately date the Stallions by their paintjobs. You don’t need to see a picture of the mold mark area to know this guy is early: the hip blanket and finely speckled spots already tell you that. It’s the same coloring/patterning you see on the Old Mold Mare and Foals, and can be seen in early examples of the Family Mare and Foal, too.

I’m not sure exactly when it switched over to the splashier and more irregular spots and the white belly stripe, other than it happened pretty early. This speckled variation isn’t necessarily rare – most Family Arabians of any type and stripe just aren’t – but it’s definitely the scarcer of the two Gloss Gray Appaloosa variations.

The fragility of the gray paint does make it difficult to find them in good or better condition. Other than a factory smudge, this guy is near-perfect, which is why this handsome fella one of my favorites among my Family Arabians.

Dixon, et al

You know what the one really great thing about Breyer Events – Exclusive or otherwise – is? You can pick up some really amazing deals and/or hidden gems in the chaos that follows, as everyone occupies themselves with the redistribution of the Special Runs involved.

I’m not talking about the really rare or spectacular pieces (Dapple Black Belgian and Chalky Misties will never be cheap!), but the stuff that makes you go: hey, wait a minute, is that what I think it is?

That’s what I’m hoping is the case with my latest online box lot purchase over the weekend, though it will not be until the coming weekend that I know for sure.

I have high hopes because as you know, my last box lot turned out really well for me – that one included the Gray Appaloosa variation of the Azteca, and my cherished No-Star Halla. But you know what was the funniest thing about the lot with the Halla in it?

It came out of Wilmington, Delware.

No, really, I managed to score a rare Halla out of Wilmington a little over a month before they distributed another rare Halla in Wilmington – as the Centerpiece Prize Dixon, at Chasing the Chesapeake.

I have to trust that it was a complete coincidence, and just another instance of the Universe messing with my head.

I knew that wasn’t going to win a Dixon the moment I saw it – because I had already won a rare Halla – but I did get to ride home part of the way with one. (That part of the story, and more, will be coming later this week, I swear.)

I’d like to take a few minutes to clear up some slight misinformation floating around about this release, as well. First, the Halla mold isn’t completely “destroyed” – it still exists in its Bolya form and is currently available as the Warehouse Find Thoroughbred, a reissue of the #1310 Prancer from The Saddle Club series:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/430010

Second, while I am fairly certain that Dixon is indeed the last official production run on the original braided version of the Halla mold, it would not surprise me if we could still see a few Test Colors down the line. It seems a little too coincidental (though not impossible) that they would have had exactly the twenty pieces they needed to make as centerpieces.