The Accounting

I still haven’t done the full accounting – I’m having to deal with some actual work-related stuff that has put my brain in a completely unrelated place – but the rough numbers are: six rosettes, 41 flats, and 13 NAN cards (three Breed, ten Collectibility.)

My best show horse of the day was my Gloss Silver Bay Flash “Manny’s Boy”, who got a second in Collectibility and a fourth in Breed (as a Morgan). The most photographed models included my Showboat, the Test Chestnut Morgan, the Angel Kitten and the Ghost Moose. 

The most complimented upon model was my Gloss Bay G1 Morgan Stallion Antares, who also took home a rosette. He also happened to do well at the last show I was at (three years ago!) so I know at least one model who’s definitely making the cut if I ever decide to do BreyerFest Live.

I did okay in Breed, though I think I could have done better if I had had more time to work on it. My sweet Semi-Gloss Malik, the #40 Lady Phase who photographed so well but did nothing at the BreyerFest 2020 Online show, and that nice Pinto Icelandic I bought during BreyerFest last year all placed in very competitive classes.

I really enjoy doing breed research in general – I mean, who doesn’t like looking for pictures of pretty horses online? – and when I do have the time to do it, it tends to work out well for me. The next show has no Collectibility component, so that will simplify some of my choices and allow me a chance to focus on that.

I also signed up for another show in September: it’s a smaller show and hyperlocal – I mean, literally, it’s less than ten minutes from where I work! – and the class list is definitely up my alley. Though that means I’ll have to find the time to finish a couple of those customs I have sitting on the workbench in the garage.

(After the BreyerFest stuff. And the gardening stuff. And dozen or so quilts currently inhabiting the sewing table. Hmm. Maybe I should add “invent a time machine” to this “To-Do” List of mine…)

Some general notes about the show:

The venue and its bathrooms were spacious and excellent. The sound system was a little wonky, and the distance between my table and the Mini showring was a bit of a hike. The latter was entirely due to my choices though, since a full third of my showstring was Minis and I was really pushing it with the number of entries I brought.

Both the judging and the competition were excellent, especially in Collectibility. A few tweaks will need to be made to the classlist for Collectibility, though: there were definitely some classes that were spare for entries. And in Breed (in general), there was some confusion about the classification status of all the various Mustang subtypes.

But overall I had a pretty positive experience. I’ve made no secret of the fact that of all the things we’ve had to do without over the past three years, the thing that I’ve missed the most is just being in the presence of other people who “get me”. This was lovely, gentle on ramp back to that world.  

The Year of Never Mind

Unlike Ambrose, who came at the very end of the holiday sales season and didn’t impress me all that much anyway, I like the second “Holiday Connoisseur” Midas tons better:

He reminds me a lot of the Liver Chestnut variation of the 2020 BreyerFest Volunteer Model Ben Nevis, who I was not fortunate enough to get, but also not so much in love that I’d be willing to throw $750 at him. 

$295 plus shipping and handling, however, I could do.

If I had gotten picked. 

Sigh. 

That’s really the only issue nowadays, isn’t it? 

All I have to show for all my entries this year are the VIP Ticket and the Silver Uffington that ultimately came with it. I did get picked for Puffin, but I sold him to a friend at cost. 

The Brunhilde and the Christmas Clydesdales only happened because my schedule allowed it. If I didn’t have the work schedule that I do, I would have missed them, too.

There is also Thornycroft, but I worked my behind off for him. 

I know I shouldn’t complain – I’ve definitely done better than a lot of hobbyists, especially with only one account! – but this whole situation is becoming a massive bummer. I got into the hobby, in part, because it was accessible and affordable. And it really isn’t that, right now. 

Honestly, there are a lot of things I don’t want to think about today, and figuring out easy solutions to this is near the top of the list. Upping piece counts in general? Adding minor variations to large, open-ended runs? Offering an orderable Gloss option for everything? 

I will let Reeves sort it all out. 

On the plus side my Brunhilde is now apparently out for delivery, and all the pictures I have seen of her so far have shown her to be just as nice as I had hoped. 

And I have all of next week off to clean up the mess working 50-hour weeks for two and a half months straight has left behind for me, too. (The house’s current level of tidiness is at “kicking things out of the way to make a path to the bed.”) 

If I am really lucky, I might even be able to finish my inventory and finally get some things listed for sale, not that anybody has any money left to buy anything after the latest round of sales promotions. 

Still Surprising, Sometimes

Well, I’ll be diggidy-danged – they did make all the Slainte Surprises the equal amount! 800 for each of the Mattes, and 325 for each of the Glosses.

I was beginning to suspect that was the case; after the initial rush of horse trading, I noticed that the numbers seemed to be leveling out, and that no particular item seemed significantly “rarer” than the other.

Good!

It took a few years for the BreyerFest Surprise Special Run to evolve into what it has become today. With the first Surprise – the Quarter Horse in 2009 – we knew what the mold and colors were ahead of time. The only real “surprise” (aside from the Smoke, Charcoal, and Silver Filigrees that were supposed to be randomly distributed throughout the weekend, but were not) was in which one you’d get.

They switched it up a little bit with the Spun Gold Surprise Ethereals in 2011: we didn’t know the mold initially, but the quantities – again, aside from a Gloss Palomino Appaloosa that actually was randomly distributed – were more or less equal.

It wasn’t until 2012’s Stoneleigh Surprise on the Flash mold that the BreyerFest Surprise became more “standardized”: scarce Gloss variations of the Mattes were introduced, with variable amounts of each color (now four, instead of three). There’s been some variation since then – extra surprises for Anniversary years, the “Dark Horse” in 2018’s Dark Horse Surprise Smarty Joneses – but the formula has been more or less stayed the same.

I know some are lamenting the “chase” aspect, or the delightful mathematical models we build to determine which one is the rarest while we wait for Reeves to actually tell us, but I am perfectly fine with going back to equal quantities across the board. It’ll minimize scalping, encourage trading, and people who suddenly discover that there are eight variations of a mold they NEED NOW won’t find themselves maxing out their credit lines to do so.

It also doesn’t come as a surprise to me that the Glosses were at almost a 1 to 2 ratio compared to the Mattes – I figured there had to be more to my luck this year than The Universe glancing my way and saying “Fine, fine, humor her with a Gloss this time.”

I’ll still take it, though.

One of the other “surprises” this year – the Epona coming in two variations, both loose-maned and braided – is simply a case of Reeves catering to our fondness for variations, nothing more. I fully expect to see unannounced mold variations on BreyerFest Specials going forward, on any mold that comes with that possibility.

(Like most of the Special Runs, she is much lovelier in hand than the photographs suggested, though she is another I will wait a few months on before I even consider purchasing.)

As for the third Surprise – the Volunteer Model being a Gambler’s Choice – that was also something I did not find completely unexpected. With the increased need for volunteers, introducing variations to the Volunteer Special lowers the individual piece counts and therefore increased the potential resale value on the secondary market.

It seemed odd that they would introduce it this year, when the need for Volunteers was significantly reduced (therefore rendering the need for a lower piece count kinda moot). I suspect that this was something that was already planned ahead of time, when an in-person event was still on the table.

BreyerFest Blues

With the Koh-i-Noors hitting the streets, it’s probably best that I limit my already-limited lurking time on eBay. I’ve had a lot on my mind the past week or so, and possibly more to come this week; I really don’t have time to add the possibility of unkind thoughts into the mix.

Happier thoughts I will entertain: I think I actually love all four of the One-Day Stablemates! The “Silver Charm” one, most of all:

Pearly, fleabitten, on a mold I’ve been digging, on a horse I actually had the pleasure of seeing during BreyerFest, just the day after he arrived at Three Chimneys? Yes, please!

(My brother is almost as bad a photographer as I am, so the photographs of our meeting will remain unpublished.)

The standard procedure over the past several years has been to offer an assortment of molds in a variety of patterns and colors, often only linked together by their theme-oriented names.

This caught me a bit off-guard: I’m trying to wrack my brain, but I think this is the first instance of actual portrait models being used as One-Day Stablemates?

I do like how, in spite of the fact that they are all technically portrait models of famous racehorses, they managed to sneak a Decorator into their little lineup: the Lexington is essentially a Mini-Me of the Big Lex resin from 2010: http://www.breyerhorses.com/big_lex

They’re certainly getting their money’s worth with the blue paint this year, aren’t they? I find the other blue BreyerFest Special Run Newmarket interesting:

I figured they’d do some sort of “Jockey Silks” Decorator to go along with this year’s theme, but I thought it’d be something that showed up at the Pop-Up Store, maybe on the Best In Show Thoroughbred mold. I am not entirely sold on Newmarket, at least not yet: while I am not as put off by it as many others are, I think it’s one I’m going to need an in-person inspection of before I make a final decision.

(I am also slightly annoyed that they did not go with a more typey Morgan Special Run to honor the role of the Morgan Horse in the development of the Standardbred. But I am an extremely peripheral character when it comes to product development, alas.)

I already know that the complete set of One-Day Stablemates is on my short list; size/space is not going to be an issue, but the budget might be. The only one I am slightly cool to is the Ruffian: the Glossy Bay-Black coloring is great – one of my favorite colors, truly – but the ears on the G3 Thoroughbred mold are a bit too long for my liking.

Holly and Ivy

Sorry for my extended absence; earlier in the week I called an insurance company about what I thought was a minor billing issue. Six hours of multiple phone calls over the period of two days and… it’s still not resolved.

I won’t go into the particulars, except to say that the problem we discovered was so unusual that it was possibly unique. And as far as it can be determined, it was nothing I did, either. There was a tiny crack in the system, and lucky me managed to fall into it.

Sigh. All I can do is hope that they somehow sort it all out by the end of the month. And hope nothing bad happens to me in the meantime.

After dealing with all that, I opened my second surprise box, hoping the Universe would recompense me with an extra special gratuity: no, just a Sorrel. He is very nice (all the AQHA Anniversary Horse colors were), but I am undecided on his eventual fate; I’d rather wait until I am in a better state of mind to make that decision.

On a happier note, Reeves did provide us a Christmas Day Special:

Christmas Deco Flashes Holly and Ivy! Not the mold I was expecting, but a happy little surprise, nonetheless: our first true Christmas Decorators. While I’m hoping for the Green one, because the notion of an intentionally green horse delights me, they are both lovely.

As I expected, they ran it a little different this time: it was a first-come, first-serve Gambler’s Choice of two different colors, 350 pieces of each color, 95 dollars and Postage Paid, even internationally.

There was a little bit of grumbling in some quarters about pretty much every aspect of the offer (wrong colors, wrong molds, wrong timing, not being “rare” enough) with the inevitable prediction that it might not sell out at all, which of course was not the case: I think it took about four hours for it to do that, which was by 3 p.m. Eastern.

Aided by the free shipping to everywhere and people with multiple accounts (I swear, some days I feel like the only person in the hobby who has just one.)

Because there was such an initial rush to purchase, and the information page went away right after, there’s already a lot of misinformation going on about Holly and Ivy that will, as history has taught us, persist for years.

Namely, the quantity: there are 350 of each color, not total. I don’t think this will affect the prices on the secondary market too much, long-term or short-term, but I’d like to get it nipped in the bud. Bad data tends to generate more bad data.

As for another shoe/Special Run dropping in the next several days? Maybe.

Personally, I’d rather it not, since next week is full of work, and appointments, and that insurance issue that still needs to be resolved. But the Universe runs according to its own whims, and not my own.

Barry and Wally

Nope. Not that one either. Third strike in a row on the Web Specials. What was the last one I got? Pace Yourself? This sort of thing keeps up, I'm going to just not bother even applying anymore. I get nauseous enough hoping for potential employers to call; no need to add to that agony.

It wasn’t a completely wasted day: at least I finally got an old restoration project done while waiting. I needed to get that anxious energy out of my body somehow, and I wasn’t in the mood to do any sewing. The sewing project I’m in the middle of - an obscure vintage quilt pattern called "Gardner’s Prize" - would have probably contributed to my stress:


All curves and inset pieces! (Before you question my taste in fabric, I just want to point out that I’m reconstructing it from pieces found in a box of scraps I bought at the flea market last year. Because I want to, that’s why.)

Actually, it’s not all that bad a project for someone at my skill level, but it was definitely not the right project for my anxiety level today. Swabbing, scrubbing, and rinsing was more my speed.

Since I’m still not quite calm enough to write anything that’s both long and/or reasonably coherent, here are some pictures of a couple more NPOD finds, instead. Notice anything different about these "Fun with Model Horses" Gray Flash Gift Sets?



The halters are red - just like they were in the PR photos! The sets that officially hit the market came with blue, pink or lavender halters, not red ones. Not sure why they changed the color on the official releases; my guess would be that they just went with the ribbon stock - and halters - they already had on hand from previous releases, to save some cash.

I don’t know if either of these pieces was the photography sample; I know there were at least two other red halter Flashes in addition to the two that I have. I haven’t unboxed either one to determine if they’re preproduction or sample pieces, though it’s not an unreasonable assumption.

And why, pray tell, haven’t I unboxed them yet?

They’re also packaging samples! Here’s a side shot of the second box above: it’s a mock-up made out of color laser print outs pasted over another Breyer box - with a sheet of plastic over the front to display the prototype sticker! You can even see the red dashed score marks on the box edges.


They’ve been throwing packaging samples in the NPOD for years, too, but most of them are of the fairly subtle sort - different stickers, different UPCs, generic backer boards with handpunched holes, etc. I’ve seen a few with stickers and handwritten notations on them, but this is the first time that I’ve even found true, honest-to-goodness mock-up.

Basically, it's a "packaging test color"!

From experience I’ve learned that it’s a wise thing to linger in the Pit for a little while after the initial rush. Once the majority of the more obvious loot’s been carried away, it sometimes reveals more subtle treasures hiding underneath. So it wasn’t a total shock when I found the Flashes tucked away in a relatively unpillaged corner.