Pottery Barn Specials

As you may know, the only Pottery Barn item I have is the Sample of the Gray Kennebec Count that appeared on eBay during that brief window of time when rumors were swirling about that Special Run’s potential cancellation:

Fortunately I didn’t pay too much for him; most either decided to wait out the rumors, or just give it a complete pass altogether because it was Kennebec Count. (Which I have no problem with: more for me!)

There were (or are, so far) only four horses in the Pottery Barn lineup: the 2007 Kennebec, a lovely Dappled Bay loose-tail Strapless released in 2009, the Classic Best in Show Thoroughbred in Black, and the Classic Johar in Chestnut Appaloosa. The Classics are still up on the Pottery Barn web site, though they were released in 2012, and are no longer available from them:

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/breyer-horses/

They also sold the Classics Scale Horse Trailer:

http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/doll-horse-trailer/

None of the models had “official” names, and the two Classics are indistinguishable (as far as I know) from the Regular Run releases, aside from the special packaging.

The Kennebecs are relatively easy to find, though I don’t know if that’s because they made more, or he’s liked less than the Strapless. (A dislike that has struck me as much personal in nature, as conformational.)

On the other hand, the Strapless mold is currently quite the fashionable little darling now, no doubt aided in part by the well-received BreyerFest Store Special Oration last year. (Good luck finding one those pretties for less than $100!)

The two bay Straplesses are relatively easy to distinguish from each other: the PB Strapless is a little darker, dappled and more shaded, with a loose tail and three stockings; Oration is a lighter and redder bay with a braided tail and four stockings.

Of the two, I prefer the Pottery Barn Bay, partly because I still don’t have a loose tail variation yet. I have a funny feeling she’ll be on my newly-revamped want list for a while, however. (Eh, no money to spare at the moment anyway!)

Signal-to-Noise

Still cleaning, still sorting. Took a couple more extended naps, too.

The signal-to-noise ratio on BreyerFest rumors and gossip is never great, but this year it was positively abysmal. The "intel" I received prior to Fest was good - right on the money, in many instances, down to specific pieces - but the information getting passed around at the actual event ranged from "kinda off" to "not even on the same planet."

It got so bad at one point that I thought sunspots might have been involved. (There was a full moon. I’ll blame it on that.)

One of the rumors floating around prior to the event was that Samples from the Sample Room cleanout earlier this year would be present. It was not an unreasonable one: not only had they dumped Samples in the Pit in years past, they had made the announcement earlier in the year on their Facebook page, requesting hobbyist help in regards to the Sample Room cleanup.

Anyone paying the least bit of attention could have put it all together.

There’s been some controversy over what distinguishes a "Sample" from a "Test Color." In the case of the pieces in the Tent this year, most of them would be considered "Samples," which are pieces identical to the production run, made prior to full production for minor corrections and approvals. "Sample," basically, is just another term for "Preproduction." (There are some minor differences, I guess. I’m still in no mind to finesse these.)

Prior to the introduction of the VIN numbers, Reeves Samples/Prepros were almost indistinguishable from Regular Run items. Occasionally you’d see some dating and notations on some - "VQS" meaning "Vendor Quality Sample," for instance. Sometimes you’d see some minor change or correction to the piece, added detailing on the hooves or eyes, etc. The kind of little subtleties even most nerds wouldn’t pick up at first glance.

Because the differences are so subtle, provenance is absolutely essential with items like these. Sadly, in the case of many of the Samples thrown into the Pit in prior years, their specialness has been lost to the ages.

Luckily for me, I’ve been pretty anal about keeping most of the loose, free-floating goodies I’ve found in the Pit over the years. That’s because I get picky: I try to stick with molds and colors I already have a fondness for. That way, if it does turn out to be something truly ordinary, it’s no crushing blow. One such example, from this year: a Kennebec Count "Chili"!


I’m pretty sure he is a Sample, but I’ll still love him if he ain’t. You know me and the Kennebec mold.

Still trying to decide on a name, though. I keep thinking I should name him after a Red Hot Chili Pepper, but he looks more like a Bono to me...

Down with the Count

I received my Connoisseur Kennebec Count last week: mine’s #108. He’s really faboo. So much nicer than the promotional photographs let on, but that’s not too much of a surprise: seriously, people at Reeves, either invest in a better photographer, or spend more time tweaking and color correcting the photos. They sure aren’t selling the product the way they should!

His color is really neat - it’s sort of a richer, updated version of the infamous chocolate milk sorrel of Five-Gaiter fame. My guy is a little less red and more yellow-brown than what I’ve seen posted around the Internet; but that’s might be a result of my monitor’s color calibration and the automatic color correction on most people’s digital cameras.

I was really surprised at the level of quality of the masking. It’s on par - or even slightly better, actually - than the Mosaic in terms of detail and intricacy. All of the elaborate cuts, curls and swirls in his mane are especially delightful, and make me wonder if he was an experimental piece for more intricate paint jobs to come - like the BreyerFest Sprinkles, maybe?

Also impressive was the extremely short ship time: he we literally on my doorstep within a month of the drawing date. Near-instant gratification? Awesome!

I’ve suspected that at least a little bit of the antagonism towards the Kennebec Count mold stems from the stories and rumors swirling about his alleged origins. I haven’t really followed any of that all that closely, since I’m not a starry-eyed devotee of any current model horse sculptor (well, Eberl to a small degree, maybe.)

And it’s not that I’m unaware of any of his shortcomings: I’ve explained before that realism isn’t my primary, overriding criteria when it comes to selecting pieces for my herd.

What Kennebec does have - for me - is an over-the-top rock star outrageousness to him. He’s big, he’s loud, he’s got the long and wavy metal-god hair: is it any surprise that I’ve taken all my Kennebec’s names from the pages of Rolling Stone? (The new guy’s name? Elton, of course.)

Now, for no reason than I had the camera ready, a few random shots of the upstairs wing of the collection. Consider it a preview of future topics to come.