Checking Off The Boxes

I’m not sure how I feel about the long-awaited Premier Club Draft Mare and Foal Rhiannon and Rhemi: I don’t dislike them, but they weren’t quite what I was expecting, either. I suspect some of it is that I find the names a bit too twee and pretentious for my tastes. 

And they are Vanners. I get that they’re popular, but like most hobbyists, I dig the slightly more obscure and/or rarer breeds, especially ones on the chunkier side like Jutlands, Suffolk Punches and Dutch Drafts. Georg deserves a family! 

I’m not in that club anyway, so until they come out in a more widely available release, the whole argument is academic. I think I may like them more once I see them in a solid color. (Next year, probably.)

I will also not be buying the Collectors Club Special Jota. This is odd, because everything about him says he should be totally my thing: he’s a Gloss Black (check) Splash Pinto (check) Smart Chic Olena (and check). 

But he’s not doing it for me for some reason. I know a lot of collectors are turned off by the weirdness of his pattern, but it’s definitely not that: I was just researching Splash Pintos for my Standing Stock Horse Foal custom the other day, and I now have a disturbingly large reference file full of peculiar looking foals. They don’t look possible, yet they are. 

I once heard the word “cute” described as “ugly, but interesting”. That about sums it up: I find them cute.

But I think it’s the Gloss that’s the turn-off here. 

I’m definitely not one of those Finish Fanatics: I think some models look better in Gloss, some in Matte, and some look good regardless of their finish. Jota would have been more tempting to me in Matte, especially that soft, satiny Matte Black finish the Stretched Morgan came in in the 1960s. 

I know it’s possible: the Black Sabino version of Araba is pretty darn close!

Needless to say, I am very much looking forward to the Vintage Club Black Troubadour Tuxedo; I’m trying not to be mad that I couldn’t wait that extra day to order my Virkie. 

I am currently debating whether or this means I need to order a little something extra from the website, just because. I know I shouldn’t, but…

Black Points

Since I’ve been buying a lot of less desirable Collector’s Club Appreciation Glossies recently (the mule Buckeye is on his way!) the currently crop of Glossies has been less of a temptation, especially since my favorite of the bunch – the Black Brishen Sjoerd – seems to be everyone else’s least-loved. 

Conversely, I am not too keen on the Peptoboomsmal: I tried my best to love him or even like the Dundee/Australian Stock Horse mold –the 2022 Flagship Special Romeo should have been a no-brainer for me, for a couple of reasons – but I am having a hard time warming up to him. 

The other two are also very nice, but they are more in the like, rather than love category: the Morgan is pretty, but also pretty huge, and the Totilas is a bit tippy.  

So I took a pass on the offer this time. Maybe I’ll be able to trade for a Glossy Sjoerd at BreyerFest: I just finished my sales list and it’s definitely an eclectic one. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find someone to trade something for it!

My mind is on a dozen different things today (someone or something literally bent some of my metal garden fenceposts to the ground, and I have no idea how) so I’ll wrap up a couple of talking points from the comments and move on to other topics next time. 

The color on the Vintage Custom Black Stallion was not extensively retouched; if anything, he’s actually a bit darker than I received him, since I had a hard time matching his highlights. Any perceived brightness can be attributed to a fresh application of varnish and outdoor lighting. Like Reeves, photography is not my strongest suit! 

As for my opinion of the final disposition of the Test Color Appaloosa Performance Horse: I am assuming, unless proven otherwise, that the sale was taken private: there are always ways. The conversation about him that appeared shortly afterward may well have contributed to his disappearance. I think the fact that my other purchase – also a Test Color! – happened a few hours later, yet was not canceled actually strengthens this argument. 

A hobbyist who was genuinely concerned about the seller would have also seen the Classic and insisted that one be canceled as well. The fact that they let that one go suggests to me that it was someone who either had no idea it was a Test, or was a “high point” collector with little interest or concern for plain, Chicago-era Classics. (Or regard for what their fellow hobbyists think of them, too.)

Because an odd little Black Stallion with four stockings and gray hooves definitely doesn’t have the same allure as an early BreyerFest Auction Test Color that’s been “missing” for 30 years, or the same potential for a financial return on their investment. 

For the record, I am not a fan of “high point” collectors of any stripe: they tend to throw their money around rather carelessly, distorting the market in the process and make life difficult for collectors of more modest means.

Second Chances Sale

Something short again today. The best way to describe where I’m at is that I’m in the middle of a lot of things? And I’m finding that transitioning back to the night shift is a little harder than I anticipated? There was a dental appointment this week that also threw me off, as it usually does. 

In case you were wondering, I did redeem my Marzipan ticket at BreyerFest. When I saw the lovely Chocolate/Burnt/Bay variant, I thought I’d give it a shot, especially since he didn’t seem all that rare – and he wasn’t! It turned out that it was a simple 50/50 split, just like the Gloss/Matte variant tends to be. 

(Who was Ländler, but I’ll get to that in a moment.)

Of course, I still got the Palomino Marzipan instead. While he was a perfectly lovely specimen, I immediately turned around and sold him at the hotel at cost. Even in person, he didn’t do anything for me. Thankfully, he was gone by the end of the day: no harm, no foul.

(It’s interesting that the post-BreyerFest blog post about the Special Runs referred to Marzipan as “this years color split”, hinting that this will be a regular thing going forward.)

When the Second Chance Sale came up earlier this week, I decided to take a chance on the Ländler instead: unlike Marzipan, I still like him in his “less desirable” (Matte) variation. I’d still prefer the Gloss, only because getting the Gloss is still something of a rarity for me…

I also bought a Rapunzel, because I thought she was cute and I love Red Roans, and a Rotating Draft Surprise because as I suspected, he was the Cleveland Bay and I liked most of the colors he came in.

While I did manage to finagle myself one at BreyerFest, he turned out to be the one color out of the bunch that I did not like at all: Gloss Silver Bay. I don’t think any release that’s come in this color has held any appeal at all to me, from the Strapless Uncalled For to the 2017 Web Special Swaps Scotty. I’ll sell him off eventually, whenever my schedule allows.

Fortunately, I’m not so enamored of the mold that I’ll have to get all ten variations. I think the Buckskin Pinto is my favorite, and luckily he is not the rarest of the bunch. 

Being Chill

Oof, rough couple of days here: work’s been crazy, and it’s been hotter than the surface of the sun outside. I crashed and burned yesterday out of sheer exhaustion. Alas, it’s pretty much the only day I’ll allow myself the luxury: I just finished one big writing project and I have another one due next week. And after that, I’ll finally be able to get around to BreyerFest prep. 

(And that’s why the Diorama Contest thingy went where all my other Diorama Contest thingies have gone the past three years: back into the craft closet.)

But you know what? I am feeling pretty calm about all of it. Maybe because I haven’t the luxury of being able to worry. 

The same goes for the ever-changing particulars of BreyerFest this year that everyone seems to be fussing about.  

The Special Runs don’t really matter, nor is the distribution plan. The theme doesn’t matter (well, a little: not looking forward to drunken spouses in lederhosen). Other things that don’t matter – to me, anyway: the price of gas, the price of food at the KHP, the heat, the humidity, the flippers, people who try to strongarm you into selling something at half-price on a Thursday, and the crankypants know-it-alls who lecture you about things you’re the expert on. 

All that does matter to me is being in the place appointed for us with the people we haven’t seen in three years. There will be lots ugly-crying, people.

I’ve saved my pennies, I’ve had all my shots, all I have to do now is get all my paperwork done and figure out exactly how much sales stuff I’ll be able to squeeze into my car, because I have to save some space for my volunteer displays, too.

(More on that later!)

On the plus side of that conundrum, however, is if anyone needs a place to sell and couldn’t get room at the Swap Meet, I might have space available for the cost of room-sitting. (Excellent location! Lots of foot traffic! Free candy!) You’d also have to bring your own shelves…

I need to sleep a little, so I will now close with a pretty pony: since I didn’t participate in the latest round of Collector’s Club Appreciation Glossiness, here’s a photo of the last CCA Gloss I did get who I finally unboxed for the last live show – the Black Pinto Smarty Jones!

He did place – I think he got a fifth in his class? And I was good with that: black horses tend to be pretty hit and miss when it comes to showing, and that’s largely dependent on the amount of shading and the quality of the mold involved. I calculated that the combination of him being a Chase Piece, and Glossy, and a Smarty Jones would earn at least a lower placing, and I was correct.

Kings and Queens

Tosses two more bodies back into my project box, waves goodbye to my Diorama Contest dreams.

I’ve just completely run out of time for them. I just have too many higher-priority projects to do between now and BreyerFest to be able to spend any more time necessary to complete them. 

My “clever” idea is turning out better than I expected, too. The only comfort I have with it is that if I take my time with it, maybe it can be salvaged as a Customs Contest entry for next year.

The other one, I dunno. It’s more of a craft project than an actual custom, but it involves solving a technical issue that’s running headlong into my poor spatial awareness skills. 

Think about it this way: I have an easier time folding a map than actually reading it.

Sigh.

(And another thing: I don’t want to hear anybody tell me they’re bored. Unless you can come over sometime this week and weed my flower beds, I just can’t even with you people right now, okay?)

Since I’m short on time, again, here’s another picture of another recent purchase: a Glossy King! No, not a vintage Bay or White Fighting Stallion (I wish!), but the Stock Horse Stallion from the Collector’s Club Appreciation Sale:

He wasn’t the most popular choice among the Glossies offered that year, but I still thought he was pretty neat. Like the Glossy Bandera, I was hoping to find one at a not-unreasonable price, eventually. And that eventuality was last week!

I’m not too keen on the long tail, though. I’ve never been a fan of the whole “short mane/long tail” look that’s so popular in the Stock Horse world: it reminds me too much of mullets. 

I don’t care that they’re back in style again, nobody looks good in a mullet. Not Superman, not David Bowie, and definitely not horses. 

UPDATE: I just did a slapdash, ten-minute mockup of the second diorama, and it looks like I’m being a drama queen. I just may have the time to finish this one after all. I’d still rather go with my clever idea, but that would necessitate the invention of a 36-hour day. In other words: toss it back in the box, Andrea. The Sampler is not going to write itself!

Glossy Thorn

He took the scenic route, apparently, but my Gloss Thorn is finally here, yay!

Other than the “impossibles” – the Grab Bag Chestnut, the Gloss Hickstead, and Test Colors (naturally) – all I am down to are either easier to acquire releases and variations I haven’t gotten around to yet, mostly because of space issues. 

I don’t count “The Trakehner Society” Trakehner because I think 95 percent of the models being claimed as that are wishful thinking. The same way everyone was claiming back in the 1980s and 1990s that their lighter-than-average Sham just had to be a Golden Bay Kansas City Sham. 

Yeah. No.

Occam’s Razor, people: the simplest explanation is usual the correct one. 

The original #54 Trakehner release came in an insane number of variations – from light sandy bay to nearly black. If you find a random Trakehner that’s different than the one you currently own, it’s probably just another variation of the #54 Trakehner. 

And when you think about it, the likelihood that your Trakehner is a Trakehner Society Trakehner is almost vanishingly small, especially when you consider that when it was allegedly released, hobbyists (for the most part) were unaware of its existence. 

Look at how hard it is to find the Spiegel Catalog Pluto. Most hobbyists assumed from the photograph in the catalog that he was a garden variety Chalky Alabaster Pluto, and not actually an unadvertised Special Run. And consequently didn’t buy him.

They still managed to sell over a thousand of them – five times the higher end of claimed run of the Trakehner Society SR – but you’re lucky to see one for sale in any given year. That’s what happens when you sell something like that to the general public: for all intents and purposes, they disappear! 

I only happened to get mine because I literally logged onto eBay less than five minutes after it was posted at a cheap-enough-to-take-a-risk Buy It Now price. Back when my eBay luck was absolutely golden.

If I do happen to run across an exceptionally nice or distinctive Bay Trakehner, I’m certainly not going to pass it up. But I’ll just be happy that he’s a variation; and not hang my hopes on him being something even better.