Credit, Where Credit Is Due

I am still not feeling great, but I am definitely better than I was a couple days ago; I’m hoping this course of treatment is successful, so I can actually move on and finish all the stuff around the house I couldn’t do over my Winter Break. 

Technically I am not in any condition to rant further about the distressing turn the generic (nonportrait) Special Runs for this year’s BreyerFest have taken, but I have to say that I am finding it increasingly more depressing than the Horse Heroes situation. At least those were named after “heroes” of a sort; the connection between “overcoming adversity” and “Girl Power ballads” is more than a bit stretched.

All marketing, in the end, is a cash grab capitalizing on current trends and fads, so I tend to cut most companies a lot of slack when it comes to new product marketing: the purpose of a company is to make money. (I get into this argument with people at work all the time. “Why are we making this, and not that?” Because that’s what’s selling right now.)

But this turn feels so obvious, contrived, and contrary to what they themselves have been trying to do for the past several years, which is make the hobby more inclusive. A balance could have been struck here; you could have folded “Girl Power ballads” into it with just the Stablemates, and not steer the entire theme in that direction.  

Nope, never mind, let’s go back to yet another variation of Princesses and Cowgirls!

Bummer for all of us who are not sparkly pink aspiring Girlbosses. 

(I wear size 11 shoes look terrible in pastels, and am a bookish introvert: it was never an option.)

The 2024 Regular Run releases are actually pretty great, though. I especially like the Element Series Collection Classics, based on the Eastern – rather than Western – Elements. I think my favorite is the Harper Iridium, because it reminds me of the metallic Super Chase Stablemates I have been utterly unable to locate. Teak is also intriguing; is he the first official Classics-scale release in Woodgrain? My brain is a bit addled by the painkillers, so I am not so sure at the moment…

I am absolutely not a skier (hello, total lack of coordination bordering on disability), but I really like this year’s Christmas Horse Après Ski, too. A Red Bay Big Ben with a Gulastra Plume? Clever, attractive and imaginative – now that’s the (lift) ticket!

I’d like to comment further on the Halloween Horse Beowolf, who initially garnered a pretty enthusiastic response because hello, we are all nerds here. But now that it appears that the design may be at the center of a potential controversy, I’ll wait for more info on that developing story before I say anything more. 

Spotting Things

Welp, I bought stuff over the weekend anyway, but not from WinterFest. I got this guy instead, because he was (a) on sale, (b) the 15 percent off offer also worked on him, and (c) after I tossed in some show pouches because I needed them anyway, shipping was free! 

Every time I saw the Ideal Appaloosa in the wild – a couple of times at the Tractor Supply, and once at one of my local toy store haunts – he kept catching my eye, but I was a little hesitant to lay out the cash, or acknowledge the fact that I now seem to be collecting the mold (he would be number four!) But for the same price I would have paid locally, I got some “free” pouches, and I couldn’t pass that deal up…

So even if I don’t get a Garret – which, considering my luck lately with the larger piece Special Runs, is not out of the realm of possibility – at least I have one package coming in the mail.

And it may also cover whatever transpires with the Christmas Day Special, which in light of the WinterFest revelation that it’s going to be a Moody mold, I simultaneously fear and hope it really is Emma. (This could also mean Rain or Ethereal, but Ethereal has already had one Gambler’s Choice, so maybe not…) With the hours I keep at work, sleeping in could also happen, like it did the year of Spice Drop. 

Special Runs, Oddities and Test Colors on the realistic Deer Family are something of a rarity. All of the previous releases from their introduction in 1964 going forward have been some shade of brown or tan, with various amounts of detailing. 

I do have a few oddities, including a Chalky Plastic Buck, a Fawn without spots that was part of a larger collection in Arizona that may or may not have been related to Breyer’s attempt to relocate production to Mexico (probably not, but close enough to make me go hmm...) and a Doe that came with the Fawn that’s shaded a little bit different than the standard paint jobs of the era.

I know most hobbyists would have preferred an entire Deer Family, but I wouldn’t rule out the rest of the family turning up soon, especially since the molds technically have an anniversary (the sixtieth!) coming up next year, along with the Stretched Morgan and the Belgian. 

The Belgian has already had a couple of recent releases, including the Ponies & Palm Trees Coconut Grove and the TSC Gibson, but the Stretched Morgan has been absent since 2018’s Web Special Kaibab. In fact, he hasn’t had a larger, Regular Run release since the 1990s; all of his subsequent releases have Special Runs, Test Colors, or Club models, with the largest being the Appaloosa Halo from the Vintage Club in 2013.

In other words, he’s due, especially considering how well-received the Troubadour doppelganger was. 

Oh, The Purpleness....

A few years back there was a Clydesdale Stallion Unicorn silhouette included either on a box or some holiday-themed fabric, and I remember thinking: that’s so crazy, but it kind of works. Put something pearly/metallic/shimmery on that boy, go wild with his ribbons and bobs, and I’d totally buy it…

We came kind of close in 2021, with the Stablemates Christmas Clydesdales. But alas, they were (a) Stablemates, (b) sans horns and (c) the Stablemates market is still too bonkers for me to complete my set. 

(I need the Blue and Silver ones. Again, I am not in a rush.)

So naturally, the only item from this year’s holiday collection that’s really tempting me – aside from that insanely cute little knit hat included in the Fjord gift set, because tiny fabric accessories get me every time – is the Unicorn Mare and Foal set Hyacinth and Wisteria:

They remind me a great deal of the 2015 Web Special Unicorn Andreus, in lavender pinto. I have half-heartedly been looking for him in the secondary market, because all the ones I’ve found have been way too rich for my blood. 

Since I’ve been in a customizing mood, I am now tempted to make myself a Metallic Purple Clydesdale Stallion Unicorn. But I probably should finish one of the half dozen or so pieces I currently have loitering around the office. 

Unfortunately, I just sprayed a bit of primer on a couple of them, and that dashed all my hopes that either one was anywhere near completion. 

(Makes note to go check my body box stash for Traditional Clydesdales anyway…)

Sweetish

I spent an inordinate amount of time last night looking for an affordable wooden box or frame to finish my Joseph Cornell-inspired BreyerFest box. Then it finally dawned on me: they were assemblages of found objects, just haunt the local thrift stores until you find one that works. Duh.

In my defense, yesterday was not a good day.

Regarding the Just About Horses situation: yes, I am aware. (It’s complicated.)

As far as the popularity of the Gloss Bravour goes, I am not going to judge it by what the loudest voices on the Internet have to say. Some of the most popular and best-selling Breyer releases aren’t necessarily the ones that make hardcore hobbyists swoon, and current prices for items previously considered undesirable are also not to be taken lightly.

Things aren’t cool or collectable, until they are. And vice versa.

But just to throw this out there into the Universe: I do have a Sarong and/or a Peregrine available to anyone willing to trade for a Gloss Bravour. Or – let me dream big, here – a Brigadeiros.

And in regards to Gloss Bravours being given out for “services rendered”: they’ve been doing that with Gloss Celebration Models for years. It has absolutely nothing to do with mold popularity or desirability. They just did it to compensate some folks at BreyerFest one year, and kept rolling with it. End of story.

(FWIW, I have never gotten one that way. Probably never will.)

In other Morganglanz news, here’s another recent acquisition: the 1996 JC Penney Christmas Special Run Swedish Warmblood:

I just think he’s neat: a light, pretty Palomino with tri-colored eyes, which were not a common feature back in 1996, and primarily used for “premium quality” releases like the El Pastor Precipitado Sin Par in 1987 and Breezing Dixie in 1988. The release may have been kind of a trial-run of the infamous bi-colored eyes seen on most Regular Run releases in early 1997. 

Infamous because they were kind of creepy, not very realistic, and also not terribly well-executed. Most of that was due to scale: quality control for a single, otherwise simple Special Run is a vastly different undertaking compared to quality control on virtually every Traditional model in your product line.

And not well-received: unsurprisingly, they were quickly discontinued. Bi-eyed variations aren’t sought after today, except by mold completists. 

Another interesting feature of this release is the fact that they gave it a such an unusual breed designation for the time: Swedish Warmblood! It was obscure enough at the time that it was rather hilariously misnamed on the box as Sweetish Warmblood. 

I kind of wonder origins of this release; I always assumed that the color idea came first, then they did some research to find a breed where that was possible. When Swedish Warmbloods came up, they ran with it.

Personally, I think the mold looks more like a Silesian to me; if I ever decide to show my Gris Gris in something other than Collectibility, that’s what I’m going with.  

Miniature Family

The only thing keeping me awake right now is more than the daily recommended allowance of those new Oreo-flavored Oreos. (They’re my new favorite flavor!) 

I woke up last night with a pretty intense sinus headache that had me seriously considering a trip to urgent care; I took some pain meds and managed to get another couple hours of sleep, but I’m still feeling a bit woozy. Though the mini cheesecake I had for lunch probably didn’t help, either…

Even though my weekend was significantly shortened by work and by Daylight Saving Time, I’m pretty close to finalizing my showstring for BVG Live. I dropped a few Collectibility entries and added a few more Stablemates, since working on my Stablemates was supposed to be my big experiment this year anyhow. 

The documentation is also coming along adequately: if I pick at it a little bit every day, all I’ll have to do the night before is toss the totes, binders and toolbox in the car and head out the door in the morning. 

(I decided to not take the night before off, so that’s just about all I’ll be able to do!) 

Since I’ve either given up most of my worst vices – and am working on the others – just about the only thing I could give up for Lent this year was buying stuff on the Internet, aside from the obligated “club” purchases. I’ve missed a couple of pretty sweet Buy It Nows on eBay, but otherwise it hasn’t been too terrible an experience so far: I need to buy less stuff anyway. 

I just opened my Stablemates Nadira and Zaahir, incidentally:

Much nicer than I expected them to be, especially the Foal Zaahir. The original G1 Standing and Lying Down Foals have come in a Gloss Finish before, as the 2017 Charcoal Vintage Club Bonus Stablemates Licorice and Jellybean. But in spite of the multiple releases the Mare has had, this is the first time she’s come in a true Gloss Finish – and it suits her quite well, I think!

I’m not the first one to point out that, of course, Nadira and Zaahir pair up quite nicely with the 2020 Stablemates Club release Sultan, the Gloss Dappled Bay G1 Arabian Stallion. I would have paired them up here for a photograph myself, but I didn’t feel like digging him out again, especially since I didn’t have any plans of going back into the Stablemates storage boxes until next weekend at the earliest. 

I’m sure it was intentional, and most likely a callback to one of the original Christmas Stablemate Special Runs: the “Miniature Family” featured in the 1975 Sears Wishbook, which included the Bay Arabian Stallion, Thoroughbred Mare, and Standing Foal. 

(It also happens to be the toughest of the Wishbook Stablemates releases to find in its original box, which says something!)

Happy Places

I ended up sleeping through most of my (actual, full-length) weekend. It wasn’t completely wasted, though: I did get most of my tax paperwork from last year sorted out, about a month earlier than I usually do. And I picked up my newly repaired sewing machine!

(A shout out to Lea Robinson here for making the tax paperwork process super-easy, at least as far as the BreyerFest Sales part goes. If you’re in need of a room-sitter, I highly recommend!)

As far as this week’s big project goes, it’s seed starting time. As I’ve mentioned before, most of the things I intend on growing this year are direct sow, but I do have a couple varieties of peppers and a few perennials I that have to be started early, as well as the usual petunias, snapdragons and coleus. I had pretty good luck stratifying seeds last year, so I have to get that set up, too. 

They released another video of the BreyerFest Special Runs with better (non-distorted) shots. The color on the Barb is beautiful, but I’m still not a fan of the mold. I’m liking the Ziyadah more than I thought I would, but I’m hesitant to put her on my official Buy List. I still own way too much stuff, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to sell as much as I want from now until July to make room for her anyway.

Since I had a dentist appointment today and it’s thrown me out of whack (as it usually does), here’s another picture of a not-very-recent but still very pleasing acquisition that puts me in a happier place: the Bay Pinto Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal!

One of the earliest of the “official” Christmas Catalog Special Runs when it first appeared in the 1982 Sears Wishbook, this set was so popular it made a return appearance in the 1983 catalog. A variation of the Foal can sometimes be found with stockings on its opposite legs. (Which I already had, courtesy of a large and very randomly assorted box lot several years back.)

I got this set for Christmas when it first came out, but I was dumb and sold it several years later. Although this set is not minty-mint, I did pick them up in a small box lot a couple months ago: once the other bodies in the lot are sold, the Mare and Foal will essentially be free. My favorite kind of deal!

Holiday Leftovers

Feeling a little overwhelmed: aside from getting the second Shingles shot yesterday, I also had to work this week. While I certainly appreciate the extra money, it’s put me a little bit behind on my end-of-the-year activities. 

I have to keep reminding myself to not multitask. And to also stop looking at various photos of carriages, sleighs, chariots and other horse-drawn vehicles, because I do not have time for that nonsense, no sir. Work on your taxes like you had planned all along, girl!

And quilting. I managed to finish one yesterday, and another today. Neither one particularly well, but as my Art School instructors drilled into our heads: done is better than not done. 

(Only 35 more to go, LOL.)

I passed on the $200 Grab Bags. I’m sure they’ll be at least decent, but as I’m going through all my sales and purchases for the year because of the tax paperwork, I can see that my purchases are significantly outweighing my sales. Which may be contributing to that feeling of overwhelmingness. 

Gabriel was supposed to arrive on Tuesday, but he showed up this afternoon. While I appreciated his punctuality, that’s when I knew he was going to be a loose-maned version:

He, and the other colors I’ve seen on the Internet are very reminiscent of vintage anodized aluminum from the 1950s and 1960s, especially the purple ones. 

There’s been some suggestion that the Gabriels might be overpainted BreyerFest Nikolases, and considering how thick and automotive-like the paint is, that’s certainly a possibility, at least with the loose-maned ones. 

Though I think it was more likely that they were molded at the same time as Nikolas, and painted a little bit later (September, according to the VIN). I don’t doubt some leftovers from the BreyerFest run could have been added in to supplement the run.

As I am rather fond of anodized aluminum (I’m very much a Midcentury Modern girl!), and I may consider chasing down the rest of the set in the future, if and when I get things a little more under control here. In the meantime, the next two days are going to be nothing but quilting and taxes. And sleeping, of course. 

In a little BreyerFest news…

I found it a little odd that the G2 Standardbred wasn’t included in the One-Day Stablemate selection for next year’s BreyerFest. But as I’ve pointed out before, Breyer has way more Standardbred or Standardbred-adjacent molds than most of us realize, so I am going to assume that we’ll see at least one of them somewhere in the lineup.

Hopefully not as one of the prizes or raffle pieces, because my luck is nonexistent there. I briefly did a deep dive in the research between success and luck yesterday, and it was just as depressing as I thought it would be. When it comes to model horses, I am definitely not a part of the 20 percent who end up with 80 percent of the goodies!

Off to bed early again, hoping to feel a little bit better tomorrow. I’m kind of amazed I managed to get anything done at all today, all things considered. 

Little Miracles

After a few minutes of consideration, I decided to buy a Gabriel anyway. Mostly predicated on the assumption that Tahoe is very clearly not happening for me. 

I have no preference on the color, though I am intrigued by the braided mane change on the purple and gold ones. I haven’t been a big fan of the alternate braided manes on molds like Roxy, Idocus or Newsworthy, but it looks nice on Nikolas – in fact, I think I like it better than the loose mane version!

They upped the quantity of “Coals” to 24 this year, and I am going to presume that they are equally divided between loose and braided mane variations. I’d love to be able to find out in person, but I am not counting on that at all, especially since I already had my Christmas “miracle”:

FWIW, I did actually gasp when I opened it!

This is the first time I’ve ever pulled a Chase piece from a non-Walmart Blind Bag assortment in the wild. Judging from the state of the box when I found it, it had been gone through at least once before, obviously by someone in search of the metallic “Ultra Chase”, because all 24 pieces in the box were present and accounted for. 

There was no method to my madness: after I had groped for all the missing pieces from the standard Mystery Horse Surprise Series 3 and threw in a couple extras just for funsies, I literally grabbed the first Croi-corn I felt in the Mystery Unicorn Surprise box and headed to the checkout. 

(I bought a big bag of taffy, too, but I do that every time I go to that store because it’s the only place in a 20-mile radius that sells the good stuff, and I’m too cheap to buy it on the Internet.)

Other than that, I spent most of the 4-day weekend binge-watching my shows (yes, Strange New Worlds is as good as they say it is!) and working on a couple of long-term sewing projects. 

I was mildly surprised that they announced a second BreyerFest Diorama Contest – an online one, to complement the in-person one – though I am just as hesitant to enter it as the original. I think I’ll stick to my current plan of live showing and customizing, depending on how the beginning of the year shakes out. 

Christmas Lists

Well, I thought I was going to talk about the Roan Running Mares today, but there’s been lots of odd bits of news in the past few days that should be covered sooner, rather than later. 

First, it’s good to know I wasn’t the only one who got shorted on the Spooky Stablemates! It would also explain why the CSR I spoke to was unfazed about it. That makes me less worried about the whole situation.

Second, they finally confirmed the dates for next year’s BreyerFest; I know there were several folks out there worried about the dates changing after that initial announcement, but I think most of the delay was in getting the legal paperwork ironed out. 

(I’m not privy to any of that, but based on prior experiences, it seems like a pretty reasonable guess.)

I’m kind of hoping that their casual mention of Morgans in their BreyerFest ad copy means we’ll be seeing the Stretched Morgan next year, but it’s more than likely another release of Troubadour. Which I don’t mind, but my Stretched Morgan Army could use a few fresh recruits. I don’t think the mold has ever had a truly acquirable BreyerFest Special Run release, so he is due. 

(I am not counting Bennington or Showboat, because buying a Special Run should not require the sale of your kidney.)

And right after I put my foot down on my new pony purchases, Reeves casually dropped images of a ton of holiday merchandise, including a creepy-cool Winter Decorator Classic American Dream named Neva:

I’m pretty sure those zombie snowmen want to kill me. I wonder if this design got its start as a Halloween concept and was…slightly repurposed? I really dig the dark metallic blue and silver combo; it reminds me a little of the more blue-ish variants of the Sham release Rana. 

I will likely end up buying the Christmas Socks, because I’m always up for more novelty footwear, but otherwise I think I’m safe from temptation. 

As far as the Holiday Pony Playset goes, even though I am a big fan of the Pony of the Americas, I’d rather stick to the original version of the mold, rather than whatever goofy mane and tail wigs they’re putting on it now. 

It’s also extremely likely that I’ll never find the original Black Appaloosa POA or any of the 2010 WEG Toby variations, so the risk of a spontaneous shopping eruption is very, very small…

(And every time I say something like that, something magical inevitably happens.)

Two by Two by Two....

When my package was temporarily lost over the weekend, I assumed it was just the Universe preparing me for the inevitable, and I was not wrong:

Collecting is a function of time and money: you have to have at least a little of both, though most of us usually have significantly more of one than the other. For me and most of my life, it’s been time. 

But I now exist in a rare moment where money is (almost) no object, where I can seriously consider attending an event halfway across that offers me no financial benefit just because I can. 

(Still not likely, but I’m keeping my options open.)

I know it’s probably part of their marketing plan for the blind bags in the first place – let’s get hobbyists to interact by trading! – but that is absolutely, positively not something I have time for in my life today. 

So rather than keep adding to my ever-growing stockpile of sales items in the garage, I now have to find the time to list it. And a few other things too, probably, because all the equipment and setup will already be out, so might as well make the most of it.

(The darker one is staying, because he really does look like he plopped right out of a can of cranberry sauce.)

What this means in the long run is that for future holiday blind bag promos, I am only going to be buying one, because that’ll save me the time I’d inevitably have to waste getting rid of my duplicates anyway. (You can’t get a duplicate if you only buy one!) I won’t be bothering with buying any other items in these sets secondhand because (a) that’s not how I roll and (b) I don’t like encouraging scalpers. 

(Unless they happen to be cheap and/or unpopular.)

I am so annoyed by this that I’m also seriously considering tapping out of the rest of the promos through the end of the year. The likelihood of even getting picked for one is so slim nowadays that it doesn’t feel like it’s even worth the minimal effort it takes to enter for one. 

And I am not so addicted to the plastic that I feel the need to purchase a half dozen more memberships just to compete. 

(It is also worth noting, for context, that today’s terrible national event is literally only minutes from my house and probably has some bearing on my attitude today. I wish I could say that I’m shocked, but I’m not.)

Tiring of the Chase

So I am standing there in the local farm supply store that’s not Tractor Supply, but gets a decent supply of Breyers anyway, pawing through the only semi-full box of Chasing Rainbow Blind Bags I’ve even ever found in these parts. Then I stopped and counted out how many bags were actually present and realized that my effort was absolutely futile: even this box was already picked through.

And this was after I discovered that my trip to the Dollar General right next door to find the official “knockoff” Stablemates was also all for naught, apparently. Dollar Generals are a little bit out of my way around here, so with my schedule it’s going to be difficult to get back to one before they all get picked over. 

Ugh. I hate this. It’s not the blind bag part: back when I started collecting in the Paleolithic Age (the mid-1970s) pretty much everything came sealed in a visually impenetrable cardboard box, except the Stablemates. 

You had a rough idea of what you were getting on the box – sometimes a very rough idea, considering the quality control issues they had back then. And the fact that they’d use stock photos of Test Colors or Samples that had little to do with reality. 

(Yes, I am still a little peeved about the Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallion. I still want the minimal pinto I saw on the original box, dangnabit!)

It’s just this endless, artificial chase for the newest, hottest thing. It’s fun for a while, but when the chase never seems to end, the fun eventually does.

I did order a pair of the Christmas Clydesdales, since (a) I was actually online when they went up and (b) I missed out on last year’s and the prices on them haven’t come down, at all. Not even for the Red Filigree Smart Chic Olena, possibly the least desirable of the four.

The funny thing is that I had a dream a few days ago that Reeves mailed all Collectors Club members glass ornaments in the shape of the Breyer logo, in a Gambler’s Choice assortment of translucent colors. The one I received was Red, so I am assuming that one – or both! – of my Clydesdales will be Red. And I actually kind of like the Red on the Clydesdale here, it makes him look like he’s made out of Cranberry Sauce:

If I had a choice of Clydesdales, I’d go with Silver and Gold, because that’s always been my favorite holiday color scheme, but I’ll be happy with any two different colors. 

(FYI: we’re going with handmade paper ornaments this year. My Thanksgiving weekend will be spent folding German Stars.)

I guess I’ll find out in a few days. Or weeks. Or whenever they happen to show up. (My Brunhilde hasn’t shipped yet, which may mean something, or nothing at all.) 

The Spiegel Pluto

First, a little bit of housekeeping: I thought I had downloaded a PDF copy of the BreyerFest 2020 Program, but (slaps head) I didn’t check if this was actually the case until Tuesday this week. So if anyone can pass along a copy to me, that would be much appreciated.  

Second, I’ve been engaging in some online retail therapy this week, since none of us had that in-person option at BreyerFest this year, the flea market – for many, many reasons – is simply not a safe place for me to visit right now, and I am still a little steamed about THAT Western Prancing Horse I lost out on eBay a few weeks back. 

This delightful little “Buy It Now” item came today definitely makes up for this deficiency:

A Spiegel Pluto! (Does wild, Kermit-style flail.)

I got him for a great price, too – the kind of price that helps me justify (a bit) other recent purchases I’ve made at full retail. 

In spite of the fact that he’s a relatively plentiful item (about 1150 made) the nature of his distribution actually makes him a hotly-pursued grail for many hobbyists, particularly now that Jeanne Mellin Herrick’s molds have seen a resurgence of popularity. 

He was sold in the 1993 Spiegel holiday catalog, alongside a Two-piece Dressage Set that included a Black Misty’s Twilight and a (super-duper pretty!) Dark Bay Hanoverian. The Dressage Set was very clearly a Special Run, but it was not as obvious that the Pluto was. The #475 Pluto was still current at the time, and the picture in the catalog appeared to be a #475 Pluto, so most hobbyists assumed that’s all he was. 

It wasn’t until several months later that we found out otherwise.

Roughly the same amount of Dressage Sets were sold – 1130, I believe – but both the Misty’s Twilight and Hanoverian are not especially difficult to acquire. There are a couple of the Hanoverians on eBay right now, and a Misty’s Twilight was listed (and relisted, twice) back in July. 

But the Plutos are few and far between. And why, you ask?

While hobbyists were aware of the Dressage Set as an actual Special Run item, and purchased accordingly, most of the Plutos were (presumably) bought as actual gifts for either children or horse-loving nonhobbyists. 

If hobbyists wanted a Pluto, he was still available from their favorite retailer. Probably cheaper, and with the option of handpicking, too.

So while most of the Hanoverian and Misty’s Twilights stayed within (and circulated about) the hobby market, most of the Spiegel Plutos ended up in the general market. When they do resurface, they’re either (a) in less than ideal condition, or (b) misidentified as a #475 Pluto. 

Mine fell into Category B: I swear I punched that Buy It Now button so hard I thought it would leave a hole in my computer screen. 

Technically he wasn’t a full-on “grail” item – I had half-heartedly hoped I’d find one at a thrift store or in a box lot on eBay or Craigslist, but didn’t actively pursue him – but both the price and the timing were right, so I couldn’t just pass him by.

The Narrative of History

Hey guys. Long story short, I had an emotionally rough kind of day today, and I am not in the most… talkative mood right now. At least not in public.

On a slightly more positive note, I’ve been doing a little research – trying to get that paperwork for BreyerFest done that I know some of you are most anxious about – and I ran across this almost by accident:

The original source page from the 1950 Sears Wishbook, here:

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1950-Sears-Christmas-Book/0315

It is sometimes stated that history is written by the winners, but I think it’s a little more complicated than that. It’s partly about who controls the narrative – it’s not always the literal or metaphorical winners – and also about access to the source materials.

I’ve had to struggle with both issues, but more with the latter than the former: a lot of research materials are inaccessible, unaffordable, or simply (but hopefully, only temporarily?) lost to time.

Anyway, I knew about the existence of this particular page – the first appearance of Breyer’s earliest proprietary products in a holiday gift catalog – for a while now, but I didn’t have access to a decent image of it until this week.

It doesn’t necessarily add much more to the Breyer story, but it is nice to have, nevertheless.

The reappearance of this page on my history radar, however, also happens to bring the narrative control issue into high relief.

Breyer is technically celebrating its 70th Anniversary this year, but if you go back to 1950, the only Breyer products that Breyer was actively engaged in promoting were… the Money Manager and the Cigarette Host, as shown above.

The Western Horse likely had its “soft” (informal) release sometime in 1950, but it wasn’t until 1951 that it had its official introduction at Toy Fair. “Breyer Animal Creations” probably didn’t exist as a formal division of the Breyer Molding Company until 1952, at the earliest. (But it definitely did by 1953!)

But 1950 is a nice round number and all the other facts are close enough to be good enough, so the finer and more accurate nuances of history often get shunted aside. 

Circa...

I took a pass on the Gambler’s Choice Classic Nayati on the Mustang/American Dream mold today. While I actually loved all three colors (but especially the Dunalino!), I’ve been buying a lot of stuff lately and I really need to draw the line somewhere.

Some of it completely justified, like this:

Yes, a White French Poodle Perfume Kit – to match the Black one I had purchased several years ago, also on eBay. The Black one didn’t cost much – less than the average cost of a vintage Gloss Black or White Breyer Poodle on the secondary market, which is fairly low to begin with.

This one cost more, but I figured this could count as my official “birthday splurge”.

(Like I need another, but whatever.)

The Perfume Kits appeared in the Spiegel 1957 Holiday catalog, and the Sewing Kit version appeared in the Sears 1957 Wishbook.

However, the Big Poodle mold (as distinguished from the Small Poodle mold, which technically didn’t get an official release until the 1990s) wasn’t “announced” as a Breyer product until the 1958 Toy Fair.

It’s pretty obvious that the model had been for sale for some time prior to its Toy Fair debut, since not only did the mold have to be ready to photograph for inclusion in the holiday catalogs by Spring of 1957, they also can be spotted in a Western Saddle Company sales ad in the June 1957 of Western Horseman.

My guess is that it was originally scheduled for a 1957 release, but there might have been some technical issues and the mold itself wasn't ready for production (or even test shots) until after Toy Fair. Instead of making an interim announcement, they just put it in production and and waited until the next Toy Fair to say Hey Look, New Product!

This sort of nonsense is why a lot of Breyer release dates from the 1950s through the early 1970s have a little “circa/ca.” tag in front of them.

The Daft Days

The Zebra arrived today, but I’ll probably wait until the weekend to open him up – partly to forestall any potential disappointments, and because I am already elbow deep in horse inventory stuff. The Stablemates alone will be the death of me…

And speaking of, Reeves pushed out one last enticement to join the Stablemates Club: an optional seventh release, a Mini Me of the Dapple Gray Clydesdale Stallion by the name of Duke.

A moot point for me (I signed up a while ago) but there is the answer to the not-really-a-question of whether or not they’re shrinky-dinking other Vintage molds. Of course they are.

But let’s get back to the question of Ambrose. Some of you won’t like my answer, but you know I am not afraid of being a contrarian.

I find that Reeves’ marketing of Ambrose – one that emphasizes its “painted in the USA” status – as both a little cynical and troubling.

For one, it devalues some of the genuinely beautiful models that are now being made in China. Are they all “Live Show Quality”? No. But the possibility of acquiring something excellent at a not unreasonable price does exist.

And not only that, this exclusivity is simply not true: there are a lot of models still painted in the USA: some of the Web Specials (Wailua, Bramble), Volunteer Specials, Prize and Raffle models, models for Exclusive Events. To name a few.

Sure, they may not available to everyone equally, but a $300 model hyped as being “extraordinary” and sold on a First-Come, First-Served basis at the end of an already overcrowded December selling season is also… not available to everyone equally.

It’s just another flavor of exclusivity, albeit an economic one. For those of us who choose not to (or simply cannot) spend ourselves into oblivion during the holidays, we’re now faced with a glut of promotions with ever escalating stakes. Do we risk getting a Gloss Regular Run, or should we wait for the Winter Web Specials? Will the Christmas Day model be to our liking, or will Reeves throw down something else in the “Daft Days” that follow? Is a New Year’s Day Special not far behind?

The hobby’s original appeal of opening the often-too-expensive world of horses to everyone is something now reflected even Breyer’s own marketing strategy: “A Horse of Your Own”. This is an approach I’ve been touting for years, and I am glad that Reeves is taking it. 

Targeting to your higher-end customers is not wrong, but when it appears that you are catering to the higher-end customers to the exclusion of everyone else, that’s a problem. Especially when those customers not only expect it, but demand it.

This issue ties to another troubling point in Ambrose’s sale pitch: quality escalation. While I have no doubt that the Ambroses will be uniformly excellent, they will not be uniformly perfect. Looking at the way many hobbyists nitpick models at half – or even one-tenth – the price, I can only imagine how intense the scrutiny will be for models like Ambrose, and his successors.

It can’t end well.

If they continue this “series” – based on the response, I am assuming that it’s going to be added to the end-of-year sales blitz – I won’t rule out the possibility of buying one in the future. But it’ll have to be on a mold I really love in a color I can’t pass up: I prefer to buy things for keeps, not to speculate.

Pressman

(As an art historian and Francophile, today has been a very bad day. Since I have things I really need to get done this week, I am going to put my feelings about what happened in Paris today in a little box and take them out when I have time to grieve and reflect. 

Sometime after the show on Saturday, I presume.

On with today’s show…)  

The topic of Pressman horses came up recently, and I thought it was worth posting on the blog, since information about them in the great wilds of the Internet is pretty scarce.

Pressman was – and remains! – an established toy company that’s still in business. Though primarily known for their board games (they were the ones who helped popularize Chinese Checkers in the U.S.) they’ve made all sorts of toys over the years, including a brief foray into the world of model horses.

Here’s a page from the 1965 Montgomery Ward’s Christmas Catalog, featuring their exclusive release of Pressman’s “Horsey Set”, including the Hunting Horse (a knock-off of the Stretched Morgan), the Western Cowpony (an amalgamation of the Fighting Stallion and Mustang) and the Thoroughbred Racer (kinda-sorta a Running Mare):

Like Breyer before them, Pressman broke into the market by copying the designs of other companies – here obviously, Breyer!

There were a number of toy companies that tried to cash in on the toy horse “craze” in the 1950s and 1960s, but Pressman was one of the few to put some serious effort into it. This was probably because they were a toy company that had been around since 1922: they could afford to take a few risks. This is also why they dropped it when the model horse market dropped off in the late 1960s – they already had other, more profitable things to sell.

There’s currently a Pressman stable for sale on eBay, and what’s interesting about the box is that it specifically calls out the existence of the “new fascinating hobby” itself!

Although Breyer, Hartland and the rest did actively promote model horses as collectibles from the get-go, it was hobbyists like ourselves that came up with everything else that makes up what we call “the model horse hobby”: showing, customizing, pedigree assignments, racing and all that other stuff.

However, this is one of the things that gets glossed over in hobby histories: the toy industry took note of our efforts (and via our letters, undoubtedly), and made the effort to push to promote the hobby as well.

And why not? There was money to be made!

There were some favorable articles about the hobby as early as 1959 (in Western Horseman) and Mission Supply House actually published a professional-looking hobby newsletter ca. 1965-1967.

Breyer eventually got into the hobby promotion game in 1968, with the publication of the first “Collector’s Manuals”. But they didn’t specifically mention the hobby by name until the 1970 Manual:

Bacon and ... Golden Corn?

These fellows arrived a day early:

More or less what I expected on both.

Even though I would have preferred the Green one – or the black Brighty, ‘natch – the color on my Gold Othello is very similar to the Perlino Duns I keep missing out on, so there’s that. The shading is softer and more natural looking than the Blues or the Greens (which, duh, makes sense!)

I won’t be pursuing trades or outright purchases of the others, though. Aside from not being able to afford it, I’m kind of in the middle of my end-of-the-year cleaning and purging phase: my mind is more on what I want to sell, rather than buy.

(I was pretty proud of myself, being able to walk out of the Tractor Supply Breyer-free on Wednesday! I’ll regret it later, more than likely…)

Plus space: Othello’s a big dude, and I’ve already been told the fireplace mantel is off-limits!

I do feel kinda sad about some of the Othellos that will now be resold, for the sole sin of not being a Solid Black Brighty. Gotta hand it to Reeves for turning the hobby’s general disdain for Solid Black paintjobs on its ear: first the BreyerFest Dark Horse Surprise, and now the Coal Brighty!

I would have bought the Santa Surprise regardless, and pretty much did.

The Brighty was a nice gesture, but ultimately unnecessary: selling out would have just happened slightly later in the day. I know some people have suggested that a Glossy Black Othello Unicorn would have been even better or more appropriate, but I personally think if that had been the case, it would have ended in tears and bloodshed.

Hawthorn is… interesting. The woodgraining is a little more subtle than I expected, but not out of the range for a vintage Woodgrain; I have a Shetland Pony with similarly low contrast graining.

I was also kind of hoping he’d have a dark drip mark on his underside, as the vintage ones do. Since they’re using a somewhat different technique now compared to what they used back then, and that drip was a consequence of the original technique, that was perhaps asking a bit much.

Some less seasoned hobbyists who might not yet have experienced vintage Woodgrains firsthand might have perceived it as a flaw too, and make a fuss accordingly.

One last little factoid before I call it a night: the last production Woodgrain – the #931 Fighting Stallion – ended production in 1973, and the Jasper mold was introduced in 1974. Since they would have been testing colors on him in 1973, vintage Woodgrain Jaspers are theoretically possible, but unlikely.

Christmas Aftermath

Interesting Day, wasn’t it?

I almost missed out on the Christmas Othello-corn: I got up at 8 a.m., poked around the Internet for a bit, then I decided to go take a shower and make myself an English Muffin. I log back in at 8:45, and…

At first I thought I was getting punked when I saw it. Three Unicorn Othellos, the fever dream of thousands of Unicorn- and Othello-obsessed tweens? Was Reeves actually trying to crash their servers today?

Nevertheless, I had been looking at the Xaviers the last few times I visited our local independent toy stores, and I had spent a longer-than-normal time staring at the Mini Brishen Virgil ornament at Tractor Supply when I stopped by last week to shop for some long-sleeve t-shirts.

And since I hadn’t bought the previous two Christmas Day Specials, and any individual Othello SR with a piece count under 1000 is generally a good investment, it was a no-brainer.

I didn’t even notice the part of the offer about the “12 lumps of Coal” Brighty until later. If I actually get one, I’ll be over the moon (or in the ER!) but I’m good, regardless. (Or should I be bad? Not sure how the math of this works out.)

I’m hoping for the green Othellocorn because I’m weird, but all three colors are lovely. Speaking of green...

I got lucky and my Fruitcake Fillies, miraculously, were not twins: one green, and one blue! I was slightly less lucky when it came to the CC Appreciation model. Not the Paint Me A Pepto I was hoping for, but the other pinto, Kodi:

I guess I was right about it becoming more plentiful, eh?

Factoring out the desirability aspect – the Shire being the most desirable, and the Marabella the least – it appears that the five Glosses had similar piece counts, which is how I think it should be, ideally. Drives me bonkers when people make purchasing decisions based purely on piece counts: just because something’s rare doesn’t make it automatically desirable! (And vice versa.)

As a parting shot before I get ready for bed – a ton of post-holiday errands to run first thing in the morning, followed by a matinee of Aquaman – here’s another pretty pony that I made my acquaintance with today:

Emma was one of the items that made up my CC Appreciation order, and probably the one item in that box that I was most looking forward to! She had been available locally and I had been tempted many times, but I thought I’d save her up for my order, just in case.

So now, for what will inevitably be a brief moment, my Emma collection is complete. (Tomorrow will be De-Boxing Day here.)

Nice vs. Need vs. Reality

No Hawthorn, either, but I am neither surprised nor mad.

Annoyed, maybe. This is the third year in a row that the Holiday Animal has been unavailable to me, regardless of my feelings on the matter.

Generally these runs haven’t been hard to find in the aftermarket for a whole lot more than the original asking price; so I will do what I did with the previous two, which is wait for the prices to drop and/or my interest to increase.

At this point he’s more of a “nice to have” than a “need to have” kind of model. “Nice” can wait.

I was just thinking that my luck on drawings was especially bad this year, but I made a quick list of all the purchase raffles that took place this year, and I managed to win two of the eight: Kaibab, and Rialto.

The two Gambler’s Choices were a draw: I had a chance to get a Koh-i-noor, but hesitated, and I did get the Silver Filigree I wanted of the Callahan, where I didn’t. And I did get the Rare Matte (the Black) of the Dark Horse Surprise at BreyerFest, too.

Yet I had to basically give away the Rialto (wasn’t a good moment for me financially; things are better now); the Scottsdale Stampede was a bit of a bummer because I had a whole slew of people who wanted to go with me, and amazingly nobody among us was selected; while I love my Dark Horse Surprise Black, I haven’t gotten a Gloss in the BreyerFest Gambler’s Choice since 2012 when the buggers were actually rare-rare, and that’s really starting to annoy me; and let’s not get started with the Blind Bag Stablemates nonsense….

I know, I know, it’s all relative. There are people who literally get drawn for nothing ever, and me with my one measly account does okay.

Yet… I look online and am reminded that while luck may be random, it is also unevenly distributed. And makes me wish that maybe there were less Darwinian ways of selling or distributing some of these niche Special Runs.

Back to the Stablemates thing for a bit, before I high-tail it to bed.

Apparently many – if not most – of the folks who took the opportunity to purchase two Fruitcake Fillies per order, rather than one, are finding themselves with doubles of the same color.

And are assuming that this is either a display of something devious, or incompetent (or both!) on the part of Reeves.

I think it is just a somewhat awkwardly executed holiday joke, involving the immortally questionable status of fruitcake.

(For the record: I am not a fan. But I do like dried and candied fruit in general, so I consider myself persuadable, given the right recipe.)

Knowing that most hobbyists would take the bait and order two, maybe they saw giving us two of the same meant that we’d have the opportunity to choose the better of the two, and pass along/swap the duplicate?

Hey, it’s the holiday season, I’m trying to think charitably here!

It doesn’t feel like something worth getting worked up about, regardless.

My two arrived yesterday, and I still haven’t changed my plans to open them on XMAS Eve. If I get two of the same, I'll deal with it then, the same way I deal with other awkward Christmas gifts.

Vanity Organizer Redux

Friend of Blog Ellen tipped me to this wonderful ancient Breyer History nugget, from the 1948 Sears Wishbook:

The brown thing in the lower lefthand corner is the Vanity Organizer – a Breyer-manufactured item from its pre-equine days. I wrote about in an early blog post, when I made the initial discovery:

http://breyerhistorydiva.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-awesome-thing-revealed.html

Here’s the copy from the catalog itself:

New! Vanity Organizer. 
A smart gift women will appreciate. Provides “place for everything.” Sturdy brown plastic; 12 compartments for bob pins, comb, brush, manicure needs.
15" x 12 3/8" x 2" inches. $2.79

So we now know when the item was manufactured, what it sold for, and one of the venues it was sold through!

The company that the Vanity Organizer was manufactured for – The W.F. Goodell Company – was based in Louisville, Kentucky; Sears, like Breyer, was a Chicago-based one. This makes me wonder what role Breyer had, if any, in getting the item in the Sears Wishbook in the first place.

And was the experience what led to the first identifiably Breyer product appeared in the Sears Wishbook: the Cigarette Host, in 1950?

Curious.

Right now I am beginning to wonder what other still-unidentified items could be lurking in these early Sears Wishbooks that were also Breyer-molded. Another thing to add to the “research topics” list, I guess.