Breyer's Body Box

Why am I buying even more stuff on the Internet? Argh! 

I swear, every year I tell myself that I’ve bought too much stuff at BreyerFest, and then I turn around and go on a buying spree for the month afterward. 

Anyway, here’s more stuff I bought in the NPOD – more “bodies” from the Breyer Body Box:

The Classic Black Beauty is from the #2404 Fire Wagon Set; I sort of blanked on grabbing the matching Ginger after finding the Chalky Test Ginger. They Fire Wagon horses are not quite in the same demand as the Classic Clydesdale Drafts from the #2405 Delivery Wagon Set, but they’re still a little on the scarce side, for Classics. 

The Standing Stock Horse Foal has been a source of fascination to me for a while now (I really need to finally finish that custom one I started last year!) This Rocky might be a Sample, but I’m just happy to have him regardless. 

The Classic Andalusian Stallion is the scarce Blockbuster Special Run of Hildago from 2004. I’ve been wanting one, and at two dollars I really couldn’t beat that price. There’s also the slight possibility he might be a Sample too, and that didn’t hurt.

I also purchased a Shadow of Blue – the BreyerFest 2001 Special Run Amber in Black with blue undertones. I already had one, but I had a weird feeling she might have been a Sample or Test, too. I inspected her at the hotel later, but came to the conclusion that I was misinterpreting her overspray as something else. 

I priced her pretty modestly and put her on my sales shelves a few hours later; she was gone by the end of the day. If I had known she was going to sell that easily, I might have bought a couple of the Leah’s Fancy Breyers that were also in that bin for the same price!

Unlike the $5 “bodies” they sold the day previous, there did not appear to be a limit on the $2 Classics and Foals. I decided to limit myself to five, because that seemed like a good number, and there was no need to get greedy. I made my one big “find” with the Chalky Ginger, and I was good. While I’m pretty sure I could have found another treasure or two, but I thought I’d let others get the opportunity to dig.

I kind of wish Breyer hadn’t co-opted the term “Body Box” for this particular offer, though. Aside from the fact that most of these models were better than body quality, it also created quite a bit of confusion at the hotel, with a lot of kids asking for “Body Box” models. What I – and most people at the hotel – had in their body boxes was not comparable to what Breyer offered. 

Sales Rep Models

In the interest of completeness, I just want to say that I finally opened the box from the previous post, and not only were the models in better condition than advertised, they were also immaculately wrapped (with a ribbon tied in a bow!) and came with candy. A+: would buy from again.

Here is the second item I mentioned in that post from yesterday:

A Classic Andalusian Stallion in a really lovely shaded Matte Liver Chestnut, and what is possibly a “Sales Rep” model.

“Sales Rep” models are essentially Test Colors that are (were?) gifts given to Breyer Sales Representatives. Some are Traditional scale models, but most that I’ve seen have been Classic scale. 

In terms of quality, they generally tend to be better than the average BreyerFest Auction Test Colors from the 1990s, but not nearly as nice as more recent Auction pieces. (Many of those I basically consider “Factory Customs”, but that’s another discussion entirely.) 

Most of them aren’t particularly “fancy” either – they tend to be either solid colors, and if not, use pre-existing masks and templates.  

I reflexively bought him because (a) as I’ve mentioned before, Reeves hasn’t been getting much of my money lately and (b) I already have a vintage Test Color Classic Andalusian Stallion from the late 1970s/early 1980s, and I thought this guy would make a nice companion piece for him and (c) the price was right. 

I had a mildly anxious moment when I received the box – it was slightly crushed – but fortunately it was very well-packed, so he survived the ordeal unscathed. And he’s so much lovelier in person than I hoped!

I had been hoping to get a Sales Rep Model eventually, but most of the ones I’ve seen for sale in the past few years have tended to go well above my modest price range, partly (or mostly?) because they came with their original packaging and paperwork. 

I had no hesitation buying him sans paperwork; even if I can’t prove he is what I think he is, he is still beautiful piece, regardless.