Shape and Texture

Not a great weekend, but I did get most of the quilt batt stuff sorted out and a very preliminary showstring put together. Just a few additions, a few subtractions, and nothing fancy-fancy or exotic: as much fun as it is, I don’t have time for the documentation that would involve. 

Plus I found out last week that we’re all on mandatory overtime at work for the time being, which means it’s not even a matter of finding the time. There is no extra time to be had! 

I did have a few moments over the weekend to open up a few packages that have arrived over the past several weeks (don’t get me started!), including an extremely affordable Blue Christmas Zebra! 

I don’t have the complete set yet, because (as I hope you all know by now) I am a very patient cheapskate. Because the Coal is completely off the table for obvious reasons, all I need now are the Green and the Gold. (I know he is not perfect, but neither am I, so it all works out.)

(I’d like a Cave of Lascaux, too, but I’m not holding my breath on that one either.)

Another recent arrival was a little more pricey, but it was about that time of year for me to buy my one really expensive thing, and this was it: 

Although the #971 Horned Hereford Bull was manufactured in Woodgrain through 1964, he is not particularly easy to find. I suspect that his production run numbers were low because the rough texture of his coat made him difficult to paint; the only other Breyer model with a similarly bumpy surface that made it into Regular Run production was the Large Poodle, who ran – probably not coincidentally! – the same years as the Bull. 

Other models with textured surfaces that eventually came out in Woodgrain – including the Polled Hereford Bull, the Buffalo, the Elephant and the Donkey – were all likely Special Run items of extremely limited quantities.

(I’m not 100 percent sure on the Elephant, but let’s not get into that discussion today.)

The Poodle is slightly easier to find, and cheaper too, but that’s because there are fewer Breyer Dog collectors than there are Bull collectors. And those Bull collectors are why I’ll probably never be able to complete my Walking Horned Hereford collection: there ain’t no way I am ever paying $1500 for a Bunyan, full stop…

Micro Run Madness

Just another reminder here that while there have been cases where I have sometimes been extremely exasperated by the direction of online speculation about future releases, I have never intentionally revealed anything in advance that I did actually have knowledge about. 

Zugspitze is here, but like my other Christmas gifts – including a set of Carbide Scrapers, and a Mini Hand Jigsaw – he won’t be opened until Christmas Day. Not that I’m expecting any sort of surprise within, I just want to open something on Christmas besides the Breyer e-mail.

Not that I’ll be getting around to using my new customizing tools any time soon; I’m currently making halfway decent progress on several long-term sewing projects as I’m also trying to catch up on a couple years’ worth of TV shows I’m rather dreadfully behind on.

(Yes, I’m multitasking while watching TV. I know I have a problem!)

But let’s get back to the Blue Bull Bunyan. 

This is the first Web Special Micro Run in a while – since Waban, I believe, in early 2019. There have been Micro Runs since, but they’ve either been straight-up Raffle Models, Prizes or variations/surprises within larger Special Runs, or tied to Exclusive Events. 

Web Special Micro Runs have been problematic since their inception nearly ten years ago. Early examples like the Lusitano and the Moose Ghost were sold on a first-come, first-served basis, which favored people who were at the right place at the right time – and had the money on hand to make it happen.

Then they switched to the online raffle distribution method, and that’s when things really went haywire. It happened very quickly: I don’t think I need to reiterate what happened with the Polled Hereford Bull Marshall, but it wasn’t pretty. 

Collectors who didn’t give two patoots about the models in question entered anyway, because the stakes were low (entering is free!) and the short-term financial rewards for flipping were high.

Now that’ve we’ve entered this current period of massive model speculation, I am genuinely fearful of the aftermath of this particular Micro Run drawing. How bad is it going to get?

Some of the prices of previous Micro Runs have been mitigated by the fact that many of them were on molds with a rather narrow fanbases: once the handful of people who were both sufficiently motivated and financially willing to buy them at elevated prices did so, the market flattened out. Prices didn’t necessarily get better, but they didn’t get… worse. And they can still occasionally be found for sale.

That hasn’t been the case with others, like the aforementioned Marshall, and (cringe) the Brighty Cornelius. All the bullet points suggest that Bunyan will fall in the later category: a popular Decorator color, on a rarely used mold that also happens to be a Bull.

Right around the holidays, when a lot of people are looking for a little extra cash to spend. 

I’m not getting my hopes up, because I know better. But I seriously considered – and had, within my means – almost completing my collection of the Walking Horned Hereford Bull this year. 

All I really needed before Bunyan was the Woodgrain, the Chalky variation of the original release, and Colton. While I consider the Vault Sale Colton a lost cause, several examples of both the Woodgrain and the Chalky have turned up in the past year that I either just missed out on or hesitated about. 

I’ve had a pretty good year, model-wise, so I shouldn’t complain too much, and maybe things will be fine and people won’t be too terrible. But still, not the way I hoped to close out the year, hobby-wise.   

The Newer Guy

My preliminary inventory says that I came home with money, or at the very least broke even (if I factor in the other expenses – i.e. the car issue). This is another thing to be thankful for, right?

To clarify, I didn’t get the Marshall; other models wandered into the room or into my line of sight, and took priority. Like this guy, down front: the “Matte” Walking Horned Hereford I’d been looking for, at last!

If you were to see him by himself, you might define him as Semi-Gloss, but set him next to a true vintage Gloss – here, a real oldie straight out of the late 1950s/early 1960s – and the difference in the “soft” highlights of the Matte and the “hard” highlights of the Gloss is more obvious.

(Sorry for the weird lighting effects – still working out the kinks with the new camera. But the yellowing on the newer guy is genuine.)

I was very surprised to find him in the Black Horse Ranch Rehoming Sale room, late Friday night, I think? For a variety of reasons I wasn’t able to get into the room any earlier – aside from the scheduling conflicts, I am not a part of the Facebook scene, at all, and the first rounds were given over exclusively to the Facebook participants.

(Not something I’m a fan of, hobby-wise – the last thing on Earth the hobby needs is to wall itself off in gated communities on the Internet – but that’s a separate topic.)

But anyway, in spite of it all, I still managed to glean this treasure from the chaff. That’s sort of my thing, really: pulling that one thing out of a room or collection that nobody else notices.

The Matte Walking Horned Hereford is a genuine rarity, especially when you consider the entirety of the mold’s run before it. From ca. 1956 through the majority of the 1970s – twenty plus years – he came in Gloss, with only the very tail end of the run coming in Matte/Semi-Gloss.

Exactly how long, I’m not sure; the Nonhorse molds were slow but steady sellers, and actual production could well have ceased a few years prior to 1981.

He's another example of how Glossy isn't always all that. Though I doubt that Reeves will ever put the switcheroo on the BreyerFest Surprise Special Runs and make the Mattes variations the scarcer ones.

Matte Finishes seemed to be a thing for me this year, but I’ll elaborate on that later in the week.

The Guessing Game

Another good day at the market; there’s some stuff I can’t show you now, but you’ll be seeing it, eventually. (Heh.) Here’s all the stuff I suspect you’re really interested in anyway:

(And yes, I know the photo is out of focus. It’s the best my tired, shaky hands can do today.)

Two-thirds of a Hartland Tennessee Walker Family and a pretty spiffy Horned Hereford Bull. The bow the Bull sports isn’t original; I think his previous owner used him as a Christmas decoration. Since he looks so cute with it, I’m leaving it on him.

I have all three already - a complete TWH Family, and a Horned Hereford Bull new in the original illustrated shipper box because of course I would, so everyone here is going on the sales list.

The Bull, outside of a little yellowing, is immaculate; his previous owners obviously took very good care of him, in every respect. The Walkers are in good shape, not perfect but better than most, with a little bit greening that tends to happen on the Mare.

Like most older Breyer Bulls, the Horned Hereford ran for a very long time - from the mid-1950s through 1981 - and is a popular piece among hobbyists and nonhobbyists alike.

Unlike most of the other bulls, however, his 25 year run didn’t produce a lot of variation. Some of the very earliest had airbrushed, rather than stenciled markings and were a little bit browner than later pieces; the very last of them, ca. 1980-81, came in Matte. (And is a pretty rare piece to find, too.)

But all of the models made in-between were remarkably consistent. The brown did vary from a chocolate pudding-like brown, to red, to a coffee-with-cream color similar to the Five-Gaiter Sorrel, but this variability isn’t something we can track or date with any consistency.

So unless he comes with documentation, a sticker, a box, a tag, or in a group of models that we can triangulate a date on, it’s very difficult to determine how old an average Horned Hereford Bull is.

This guy is no different. He was a singleton, from a dealer who had no other Breyer pieces, and who possibly bought him second hand as well. (The Hartlands came from another vendor.) I have a hunch he’s from the early 1970s, but that’s just a hunch.

Regardless of how old he actually is, he’s a beautiful boy, and if I didn’t already have my Mint in Box one, he’d be staying.

Zzzzzzzzz

Blizzards, man. Just something about having to drive in ‘em while they’re busy blizzarding that messes with the whole day. Makes me antsy and weird. (No snickering!)

I’m off ‘til Monday, so I have the entire weekend to work out that nervous energy, and I have no plans of geographically venturing any farther than the mailbox until then. Got lots to do around the house, anyway. (The usual: paperwork, e-mails, the finishing touches on another dusty old sewing project.)

The title is/was my reaction to the latest Web Special Zeus, which is yet another Silver. I love the color, and the theme (Greek Mythology), but I’d rather see it on another mold that doesn’t get quite as much love. Like the Western Prancing Horse, Stud Spider, or the Trakehner. You know, someone just a shade on the dull side who could really benefit from a punch of color.

I’ll do my one and done entry. With my luck, I’ll probably win him. If I do, there’s a greater than 50/50 chance I’ll sell him. I don’t want to be one of THOSE people, though, so no guarantees. But I have way too many models hanging around as it is that I thought were just short-term rentals…

I have no clue about the identity of next week’s upcoming Collector’s Club "Made to Order" Special - I’ve been too busy freaking out about the weather, or the dog, or astronomical events to give it more than a casual glance.

They’re hinting at something fantastical - something with wings or a horn, I presume - which would disincline me from ordering it. (Unless it’s a Newsworthy Pegasus. Don’t ask me why or how, but I’ve been quite taken with the idea. And in possession of a body.)

I’ll deal with him/her/it when I see it.

I see that the Vault Sale Consolation Prize SR Coltons are shipping out. Pretty boy! Some says the color reminds them of the old Gloss Palomino Family Arabians, but my first reaction was "It’s the Texas Longhorn Bull’s cute second cousin, twice-removed!"

(Not saying this guy isn’t cute. In fact, he’s gorgeous. One of my better restoration jobs, too!)

Colton’s neat, I like him lots, but I’ll wait until Reeves drops the leftovers somewhere surreptitiously, because you know they will. And you know where they tend to dispose of small, slightly controversial, and awkwardly distributed Special Runs?

(Remember folks. BULLWHIP. That day, a couple of weeks ago, when it was really warm? Totally gave the neighbors something to talk about. No, really.)

In other somewhat-hobby-related news, I have been reconsidering my stance on the local Zuni-enhanced live show. I feel the need to shake up my hobby routine a bit, and simply reshuffling the shelves hasn’t been doing the job.

The only thing hampering me is that the task of prepping and documentation may not fit into my already overscheduled life. On the other hand, I actually like socializing in meatspace, especially with people where the phrase "not the ice cream" never enters the convo.

I have a few weeks to sleep on it.

Sitting It Out

Due to some glitch in the inventory company’s own inventory system, I find myself sitting at home for a couple of days this week, without work. During the busiest time of the year, when there’s literally work to be had all day and every day, and everyone (else) is complaining about the massive amounts of overtime they're putting in.

Normally I’d raise a stink because, hello, I don’t get paid to sit at home: no work, no pay. But I decided to turn this liability into an asset, and get some other work done in the meantime.

(Model horse related, mostly.)

The "Consolation" Special Run Bull Colton does appear to be being made specifically to cover the oversells on the Logans at the Vault Sale. I’m not sure if they’re going to make just enough to cover the oversell orders, or exactly the same amount as Logan, or what.

On Reeves’s inventory issues and the Vault Sale, I will speak no further. Not because I have nothing more to say, but because of diminishing returns. There’s no point in making an argument once everyone’s made up their minds.

The other big news this week is that all the BreyerFest 2013 stuff has hit the Breyer web site in a big way. A bunch of different Specials were announced, including a Desatado in Dun, a pretty chestnut pinto Haflinger, and another pinto Nokota Horse (as the Early Bird Special).

One of the Raffle models is the Traditional Totilas in a Star Dapple Gray, which makes about as much sense to the "Denim & Diamonds" theme as the Early Bird Special Stretched Morgan did to last year’s "British Invasion". The paint job looks a little weird, but it's also a not-good photograph of a test piece, so I'm not fretting over it.

There’s going to be another SR "satellite" store, too: one of the Specials available in it will be a Bucking Bronco in a quasi-buckskin color with kerchief-style decals on it. It’s very similar to the Home Decorating Show Paisley Rearing Horses that broke my heart a couple months back. I love the Bucking Bronco mold, so heck yeah, it's on my must-buy list.

The two Store Specials were also announced: a Black Tobiano Pinto Bluegrass Bandit named Lady C, and a pinto Brighty named Tennessee Titan. Titan is similar, but not identical to the still-incredibly-desirable 2005 Fest Special Run Oliver. Judging from the reaction I’ve been seeing to the Brighty, I’m guessing we’re in for another very quick sellout. (Keeping mine, if I get a hold of one.)

They also announced the themes and rules to the contests, and honestly, I just can’t get all that worked up about either one of them right now. I am utterly indifferent to the charms of most country music. I’m more Motown than Hoedown: I like some of the old-timey stuff, bluegrass, yodeling cowboys and stuff like that, but most modern stuff makes my eyes glaze over.

If I can come up with something, I’ll do it, but I just can’t get as emotionally involved as I did last year, where I ended up flaming out rather painfully. (When other people win with your same ideas - not once, but twice in the same year - yeah, you do tend to take it rather personally.)

Unresolved Issues

This year’s crop of resolutions includes: buying less stuff (horses and otherwise), eating less sugar, being a little more efficient with my use of time, answering my e-mails/messages in a more timely manner, and reading more.

I’d also like to get caught up on the quilts. I had no idea I started somewhere between 30 and 40 new projects in the past year and half! (They’re not all bed-sized, but when you hit the double-digit mark, size is moot, y’know?)

Since we’re on the subject of unexpectedly bad inventories, today is apparently manure-hits-wind-generating-machine day at Reeves. They just didn’t oversell the Silverados, they oversold them by a lot, judging from the number of cancellations I am hearing about. (A lot of other things were oversold, too, but apparently not quite to the same degree.)

It just occurred to me today that there was a portent of these inventory problems back in July: remember what happened with the 2012 BreyerFest Celebration Horse, Mariah’s Boon? They oversold him, too - the first time ever that that sort of thing ever happened.

Doesn’t look so anomalous, now. (And on another Othello, too!)

I am not belittling anyone’s anger at the situation - anyone who knows me personally knows I can be pretty righteous in defense of my compatriots, even some of the more aggravating ones - but this is one of those rare cases where I do kinda-sorta understand why Reeves is behaving the way that it is.

I’m not saying that the way they are handling it is completely acceptable, or that anyone’s anger is unjustified, but that my personal indignation is tempered by the fact that I’ve seen it happen all too many times before.

Inventorying? It’s my job.

(Have there been instances where I’ve inventoried Breyers? Yes. Very distracting! As are shoes and books. And craft supplies.)

Nobody "loves" doing it, but it’s a necessary part of being in the retail business. If you don’t have the right stock to sell - or too much, or too little - you’ll lose customers, and money. Lose enough of them, and you lose the business, too. End of story.

I have wondered, on many occasions, how Reeves measures their own inventory - is it by overall financial value, or by the value per unit?

From my observation of and participation in the Tent Sale/NPOD at BreyerFest, it appears to me that they may be measuring it financially, rather than by SKU (Stock Keeping Unit). It’s not that they don’t keep track the SKUs sold, it’s that keeping track of the specific items isn’t as important as keeping track of the amount of money their inventory generates as a whole.

In the end, money is money, regardless of the way you count it, but some methods are better than others - depending on the type of stuff you sell, how you sell it, and who you sell it to. Obviously, whatever system Reeves has been using, they need to fix it. ASAP.

(And if they happen to need any assistance in that matter, I’d be more than happy to help, too!)

It appears that Reeves is contacting the customers on the oversold list for Logan and are offering them another SR Bull instead - same mold, in a somewhat different color, named Colton. It’s unclear if this was something that they made to fix the problem, or was another special item for another event, past or present.

The question then becomes - what becomes of the leftovers of this consolation SR? Gah! I don’t need to be thinking about that right now. I need to take a nap before my next two inventories, that’s what.

Hello Kitty

Another one of those "didn’t get diddly-squat done" days, but I had a good excuse: I’ve been napping and drinking a lot of fluids, since I feel like I’m on the edge of being unwell. Things are going to get crazy around here in the next few days, and I really don’t have the time to be sick, period. Might as well enact some preemptive measures while I can, right?

I received my Vault Sale package Thursday afternoon, quite literally as I was heading out the door to go to work. I didn’t have time to turn around and drop it off someplace secure in the house (Vita likes to open packages. ‘Nuff said.) So they went on the road with me for a day and a half.

Unopened. Because the roads weren’t optimal, not because I thought anybody would steal them.

The Logan is quite lovely - even prettier than the picture on the web site, though that’s never a shock. Here’s a fresh picture of him, if you haven’t seen a non-stock photo of one yet:

There’s no VIN apparent on either him, or the Kitten.

And oh, the Kitten. He’s gorgeous!

Pearlescent, lots of hand-airbrushed striping, and there are even spark dots on his eyes! If they had ever gotten around to doing a Connoisseur release of the Kitten, this is what it would have looked like. Not the least bit creepy at all!

Well, to be honest, I can see why some people could find the mold a little on the freaky side, especially in large groups. Those big buggy eyes staring at you from that oversized head? It’s funny when your own real-life kitties engage in staring contests with you, but they eventually get bored with it, and move on to other annoying pastimes.

The only Kitten I don’t have is the Tom Foolery. It's not that he’s hard to get; I just keep getting him confused with the Presidential Kitten "Socks", who has a very similar paint job. I also need to upgrade my Siamese, but the story about how I ended up with him is rather amusing, so I’m in no hurry to do so.

That story’s a long one, though, so I’ll have to leave it for another day. Along with how I was kinda-sorta responsible for having the mold re-released back in the 1990s. Later this week, maybe.

Oh, and it appears that my suspicion that a few of the Vault Sale items (Silverado, and Logan) were oversold might be true. So far, nobody’s received any Silverados, and a number of orders for the Logan are also AWOL.

As someone who actually works in the inventory services industry and has worked on hundreds, if not thousands, of inventories (retail and nonretail) I know all the ways an inventory can go bad. Otherwise well-run companies can have some pretty bad inventories. It could be something as simple as a mistyped number, or something as stupid as the boss’s dog eating a thumb drive with all the previous year’s inventory numbers.

And I’m not trying to be a fanny kisser here, but I’d give them a few more days to resolve the problem before we start sharpening the pitchforks. I’m pretty sure they were working with a rather reduced staff last week - and will be for the beginning of this one.

From what I’ve been able to gather, Reeves will be doing a physical inventory this week; whether this was something that was already planned, or a part of the contingency plan to solve the problem at hand, I don’t know. Whatever the reason, it should be resolved by the end of the week - just in time for the next outrage du jour, I'm sure.

Back to Work, Again

Back to work today, more or less - the paying kind, not the around-the-house kind. In the business that I’m in, things don’t get super-crazy until after the first of the year, but because I’m one of the more (ahem) experienced employees in the district, busy season starts a few days early for me. They’re not the most plum assignments, but money’s money, and I have a new car to save up for. 

This year, though, I kind of wish I did have a couple extra days off to finish all the projects I restarted this month. In the midst of cleaning out the craft supply closet yesterday I rediscovered a few more "lost" projects, and not just the ones I was looking for. (Some of those are still missing. Of course.)

Christmas, by the way, was quiet and not unpleasant. Dinner included Rio Grande Pork Roast, Braised Stuffed Flank Steak (aka Bavette Farcie a la Jacques Pepin) and another obscure but tasty gelatin mold/salad. (Mom has a rather large collection of recipes that we joke - only halfheartedly - include ingredients that are now either illegal, or extinct.)

I received money and chocolate, two gifts that are always appropriate, regardless of the season. Vita received several squeaky, crinkly and crunchy things, all now covered in a liberal application of doggy slobber. The beaded Christmas tree was (very) well-received by its recipient.

No new models for me yet; allegedly I am to receive my Logan and Angel today; all the pending charges have now cleared the proper financial instruments. I have also managed, so far, to stay away from the stores and their infernal clearance sales. (One of next year’s resolutions: owning less stuff, period.)

I shouldn’t have bought the Logan and the Angel, even, but they’re exactly the kinds of molds that push my "Buy It Now" button, for better or worse.

The last Kitten was produced in 2003 - Tom Foolery, the XMAS Kitten - and the last Horned Hereford Bull was Buford, a BreyerFest 2000 SR in Gloss Black and White. It’s entirely possible that they had leftover bodies of both of these molds lying around the New Jersey facilities that long. They stopped manufacturing the Proud Arabian Mare in 2002, but they seemed to have a stockpiled enough for them to make an appearance at this year’s Passage to the Pacific Event.

I did read somewhere that the Logans don’t appear to have VIN numbers, which would support that hypothesis. It does make me wonder, though, if we might be seeing the Horned Hereford Bull mold again, perhaps, for BreyerFest. I’d rather be seeing a mule - either the original Balking Mule mold, or Brown Sunshine - in the "nonhorse" role, but I wouldn’t object to another Bull, either.

The reappearance of the Kitten mold is a bit of a puzzle. The only thing I can think of - aside from the fact that they know some of us are crazy enough to buy almost anything - is that it might have been associated in some way with this year’s ASPCA Benefit Set, the one that included the small standing Companion Cat with a very similar paint job.

Ah well, off to bed. I have to try and get myself back to a more "work-compatible" sleep schedule ASAP.

Smash and Grab

So, did we all enjoy our online NPOD last night?

For those few of you who didn’t know, Reeves had a "Vault Sale" at 8 p.m. on Thursday night; the notices for the sale went out around 1 p.m. that day, via e-mail, to all current Collector Club members.

From the description of the sale, it sounded like an online version of the fabled Ninja Pit of Death: "A collection of rare finds, limited editions and more await you behind this door."

I was half expecting some Passage to the Pacific leftovers (Like Thunders, and the Hear Me Roars) and Weather Girl redemption models (she’s been "retired to the vault", you know) and perhaps a surprise glossy or Silver Filigree. None of that showed up, but the following models did:

• Rubicon $150
• Silverado $150
• Moon Warrior $150
• Auld Lang Syne $175
• Giselle $250
• Pamplemousse $70
• Melange $70
• Valiant $150
• Gus $145
• Chestnut Esprit $300
• Silver Charm Newsworthy $75
• Logan - Gloss Red Walking Hereford Bull (40 pieces) $150
• Angel - Seal Point Tabby Kitten (50 pieces) $150

Not a bad selection! (Well, for most folks. Some people are never happy.)

The last two were Vault exclusives - Logan was a Gloss Red Walking Horned Hereford Bull, and Angel was a Seal Point Tabby Traditional Kitten (aka "The Creepy Meow"). It appears Angel is still available - because hobbyists don’t appreciate the sublime qualities of the Traditional Kitten mold, apparently - but the Bull sold out very, very quickly.

(BTW, am I the only one that thought "Where’s Xavier, Cyclops and Phoenix?")

The Silverado sold out very quickly, too - a little too quickly, I think. Looking at the poll numbers on Blab for the number of people claiming that they got either the Bull or the Silverado - 26 Silverados, and 30+ of the 40 Logans accounted for? - well, color me skeptical that all of those orders will actually go through.

Remember what happened with other white-hot super-limited online specials like Silver Snow? Cancelled orders, and not just a couple of them either. That’s what happens when you have several dozen people pushing the order button at the same time. 

(Wasn’t Silverado deemed to be some sort of horrific failure of execution on Reeves’ part when he was released? Why is he suddenly the "it" model, now? Silly collectors.)

I got a shipment notification on my order today - yes, I caved - but I’m not going to count the Logan and the Angel as "mine" until I actually open the box. (According to the notice, this should happen December 27th.) Except for a small handful of overly eager beavers on MH$P, most people seem to be following that same line of thought.

Horned Herefords, Pt. II: The Rarities

Remember when Chalkies weren’t that big a deal? They really didn’t become a "thing" until about 10 or 15 years ago. Hobbyists knew about them, and some of us even kinda-sorta collected them, but generally they didn’t elicit much of a reaction except among the true diehards.

The one good thing about Chalkies being not all that cool back then was that you could amass a fairly decent sized collection of them, at unscary prices. I can't recall exactly how many I have at the moment, but it's definite in the dozens.

One that I do regret not acquiring - back when I could - was the Horned Hereford Bull.

Some Chalkies are more rare or more desirable than others, and he certainly falls in that category. He’s not the rarest of Chalkies, but he inspires the kind of prices that make it seem so. Part of the reason so is because he’s what I call an Anomalous Chalky - Chalkies that weren’t made during the "Chalky Era," ca. 1973-1976.

A lot of hobbyists tend to think of these Anomalous Chalkies as being even more desirable than the standard Chalky Era Chalkies precisely because ... they’re anomalous. Chalkies from the 1950s and 1960s just have to be more rare and more valuable than the ones from the 1970s!

Actually, it’s hard to determine. I think they are a little scarcer than later Chalkies because of the way the technique was employed back then. A substantial portion of the Breyer line - not all, but most models - were made as Chalkies during the Chalky Era out of sheer necessity. Some of those Chalkies are definitely harder to find than others, but finding any Chalkies from that time period isn’t all that difficult. I picked up three or four of them this year, alone.

(I know, I know, my flea markets are better than yours. Blah blah etc.)

The Anomalous Chalkies - especially the earliest ones, from the 1950s - were made on a case by case, as-needed basis. Ran out of white plastic? Mold them in whatever color we’ve got, and paint ‘em over. Need a few pieces in another color to fill an order? Repaint the overstock.

Is it possible that some of the individual Chalky releases from the 1970s might be more rare than some from the 1950s and 1960s? Yes. The problem in determining that isn’t just one of time (its ravages, and the distance) but also of knowledge. There are a lot of low-information hobbyists out there that do not know what they have. Look at how many collectors still can’t tell the difference between the Family Arabians and the Old Molds, especially when the consequences of not knowing are so darn high!

The other Horned Hereford rarity may come as a surprise: it’s the Matte version. Yep, they made them in Matte, albeit very (very) briefly at the end of his very long run in 1981. Hobbyists are accustomed to assuming that the Glossy version of any given model is the rarer or more desirable one, but that’s not always the case.

The Horned Hereford Bull is one of those special cases. I know he’s rare, because I’ve been searching for one, unsuccessfully, for several years now. I don’t know if he’s more rare than the Chalky, but I think I’ve only seen one verifiable Matte in the past ten years. It wasn’t in the best condition, so I passed him by.

Silly me won’t be making that mistake again.

Horned Herefords, Pt. I: The Commons

I actually found some models at the flea market this weekend. Nothing super-special - an Appaloosa Performance Horse, a Five-Gaiter, and a Red Roan Scratching Foal - but good finds still, especially when I thought the outdoor markets were tapped out for the year.

The vendor in question actually had more, but being a little more strapped for cash than usual this week, I had to leave them behind. They were good bodies at an even better price, but financial issues aside, I had just cleared out most of my bodies, and I really didn't want more cluttering up the office. (Hey, I didn’t spend all that time cleaning and organizing for nothing!)

Let’s try something short and uncomplicated today: Horned Hereford Bull variations. There are four significant variations on the original #71 in Brown and White - more if you count the different shades of brown, but I usually don’t. Today we’ll talk about the two most common variations - the airbrushed, and the masked.

Here’s an example of the airbrushed variation: the head and neck are masked, but the legs and belly are not.


(Yes, it's the one I have up for sale on MH$P. Any takers?)

The earliest photographs of the Horned Hereford Bull, however, show it completely masked. As it is here, in the November 1956 issue of Toys and Novelties:


So you’d think that would mean the partially airbrushed version is rare, right? Not really. Airbrushed Herefords are a little uncommon, but not uncommon enough to attract a much higher a price. He appears to have been in production in this variation as late as 1960, judging from his appearance in the 1960 Dealer’s Catalog.

But when did the completely masked version finally make its appearance? I couldn’t tell you. That version of the Hereford - one with the true production paint job, and not the obvious test piece from 1956 - finally appears in the 1963 Dealer’s Catalog. Whether the masking was new for that year, or something that happened in the time between the two Dealer’s Catalogs, is currently unknown. There’s no documentation from that period reliable enough to make that determination, just those same stock shots from 1956. (Those darn stock photos - the bane of my existence, they are!)

It’s strange that it took so many years for Breyer to change the masking to reflect the original concept. If it was selling just fine before, why bother tinkering with it later? Boredom? A make-work project? Did the original mask get lost in the factory somewhere until the cleaning lady found it?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Next time: the rarer variations.

Boehm's Bull (The Hereford Edition)

No, I wasn’t participating in NaNoWriMo or anything like that. I just have a mild case of the flu that, aside from the sore throat and achy limbs, has made me incredibly lethargic. It’s a little hard to type when your face keeps hitting the keyboard.

Like everyone else who fantasizes about writing the Great American Novel (and hasn’t yet succeeded), I’ve considered participating in NaNoWriMo. My resolution to finish all of my old quilting projects takes precedence, and I’m close enough to realizing that goal that I don’t want to mess it up with another huge time-suck. (Another plus: quilts are softer than keyboards.)

It’s one of the universally held truths of the literary world that one has to get the first million or so words before your writing stops (for lack of a more delicate word) sucking. One of the goals of NaNoWriMo is to give you a deadline and force you to write every day and get those words out of your system.

This blog was started, in part, to help me focus on my writing skills. I may not be dealing with plot, characterization or narrative, but I’d like to think it’s helped me work through a small portion of my "million-words-of-suck." So whenever I finally get around to tackling those big, meaningful writing projects, they’ll go just a little bit smoother. I hope.

Which brings me to the Boehm biography I found at the flea market last week.

The author and editor was a close personal friend of Boehm and an employee, and it shows: it’s more of a hagiography than a biography. The word fawning came to mind in my several attempts to get through the text. Here’s a brief excerpt:

"The next six years were to provide moments of excitement and depression for the Boehms. In retrospect, the hand of God surely over them for there were too many critical times in this period when it appeared the porcelain venture would fail. The great determination and endurance of Edward Marshall Boehm, working seventy to eighty hours a week, coupled with the courage, faith and enthusiasm of Helen Boehm, somehow carried them through each crisis."

He was also loved children, was beloved by Kings, Queens, Presidents and Pontiffs, and could peer into the very souls of animals. (Why, he knew animals so well that he was better at diagnosing the ailments of animals than the vet he worked for!) He was also handsome, talented, selfless, athletic, entirely self-taught, and probably good in bed.

Yeah, it reads does read like bad teenaged fanfic.

It was published a short time after Mr. Boehm death, and Mrs. Boehm undoubtedly had a hand in shaping the final manuscript as a final tribute. It’s not entirely unusable as a resource - there are a lot of lovely sketches, rare personal photographs, and descriptions of his working processes. Here’s a photograph that might look a little familiar:


It’s the presentation piece of the Hereford Bull, given by Mrs. Boehm to President and Mrs. Eisenhower in the spring of 1954. That date is … interesting.

Boehm’s Hereford was introduced in 1950. He was among the first Boehm pieces to be produced for general sale, but he wasn’t the first Boehm Breyer decided to adapt: that would be the Boxer, who was also among Boehm’s earliest releases.

Breyer’s adaptation of the Boxer was available by early 1953: I have a short article from the January, 1953 issue of Playthings announcing his arrival. ("Tenite Boxer Newest Breyer Animal Creation." p.169.) Why Breyer decided to adapt the Boxer first is unknown: his sleek, simplified contours probably made him an safer and bet. Safer and easier than the Hereford and Brahma, anyway.

We’re not entirely sure of the initial release date for Breyer’s adaptation of the Hereford. It was possibly as early as 1955, though the earliest datable reference I have for him is an appearance in the 1956 Alden’s Christmas Catalog (the Boehm-inspired Brahma appears on another page in the same catalog.)

The biography points out repeatedly that Mrs. Boehm was the promotional whiz of the company, constantly seeking out new photo ops, arranging exhibitions, and pestering local media outlets. It makes me wonder what the level of publicity was surrounding the presentation of the Bull to the Eisenhowers, and if any of it made into the Chicago press.

There’s probably nothing to it, but I’ll make note of it on my research-to-do list.