Sweetish

I spent an inordinate amount of time last night looking for an affordable wooden box or frame to finish my Joseph Cornell-inspired BreyerFest box. Then it finally dawned on me: they were assemblages of found objects, just haunt the local thrift stores until you find one that works. Duh.

In my defense, yesterday was not a good day.

Regarding the Just About Horses situation: yes, I am aware. (It’s complicated.)

As far as the popularity of the Gloss Bravour goes, I am not going to judge it by what the loudest voices on the Internet have to say. Some of the most popular and best-selling Breyer releases aren’t necessarily the ones that make hardcore hobbyists swoon, and current prices for items previously considered undesirable are also not to be taken lightly.

Things aren’t cool or collectable, until they are. And vice versa.

But just to throw this out there into the Universe: I do have a Sarong and/or a Peregrine available to anyone willing to trade for a Gloss Bravour. Or – let me dream big, here – a Brigadeiros.

And in regards to Gloss Bravours being given out for “services rendered”: they’ve been doing that with Gloss Celebration Models for years. It has absolutely nothing to do with mold popularity or desirability. They just did it to compensate some folks at BreyerFest one year, and kept rolling with it. End of story.

(FWIW, I have never gotten one that way. Probably never will.)

In other Morganglanz news, here’s another recent acquisition: the 1996 JC Penney Christmas Special Run Swedish Warmblood:

I just think he’s neat: a light, pretty Palomino with tri-colored eyes, which were not a common feature back in 1996, and primarily used for “premium quality” releases like the El Pastor Precipitado Sin Par in 1987 and Breezing Dixie in 1988. The release may have been kind of a trial-run of the infamous bi-colored eyes seen on most Regular Run releases in early 1997. 

Infamous because they were kind of creepy, not very realistic, and also not terribly well-executed. Most of that was due to scale: quality control for a single, otherwise simple Special Run is a vastly different undertaking compared to quality control on virtually every Traditional model in your product line.

And not well-received: unsurprisingly, they were quickly discontinued. Bi-eyed variations aren’t sought after today, except by mold completists. 

Another interesting feature of this release is the fact that they gave it a such an unusual breed designation for the time: Swedish Warmblood! It was obscure enough at the time that it was rather hilariously misnamed on the box as Sweetish Warmblood. 

I kind of wonder origins of this release; I always assumed that the color idea came first, then they did some research to find a breed where that was possible. When Swedish Warmbloods came up, they ran with it.

Personally, I think the mold looks more like a Silesian to me; if I ever decide to show my Gris Gris in something other than Collectibility, that’s what I’m going with.  

Gris Gris

I passed on the Collector’s Club Appreciation. I considered finishing my order around lunchtime on Friday, but I couldn’t remember my Paypal password and I didn’t feel like manually entering all my data, so I took that as a sign to just let it all go. 

Plus I have a couple of other CCA Glosses I suppose I could trade with, if the need arises. 

In less good model horse news: I have to wave goodbye to my potential Diorama Contest entry. Too many other deadlines for more important things are looming, and I am rather fond of the concept of sleep. 

I don’t feel too bad about abandoning it, since I hardly had a chance to work on it anyway. But that early pre-entry photo deadline was my downfall. I mean, I understand why they did it – it wasn’t entirely about having the photos of all the entries available online, incidentally – but if this is going to be a thing moving forward, the dream of even completing an entry anymore is likely now gone. This time of the year is just so busy for me, so pushing another deadline up three weeks does not work with my schedule, at all.

Which is a huge bummer!

Since I’ll be heading back into lurk mode again shortly, here’s a picture of a not-so-recent acquisition I hadn’t gotten around to unpacking until this weekend, literally: the 2014 Exclusive Event Morganglanz Gris Gris!

He wasn’t that expensive, mercifully, because he’s a Morganglanz: the mold is almost the definition of unloved. I don’t think there’s even been an BreyerFest Auction Test piece of this fellow since… wow, 1996? Really? Poor guy!

Even when he was something new in the 1980s, he didn’t exactly catch the hobby world on fire. While we appreciated that he was doing a (more or less) correct trot, and thus made excellent performance and customizing fodder, that’s about all he had going for him. 

He had a brief renaissance in the early 1990s as a generic, all-purpose sport horse, until prettier molds overtook him. The Gris Gris was preceded by a UK Special Run of Locarno 62 in a nice dark bay in 2008-2009, and followed by the BreyerFest Open Show Reserve Grand Prize Brigadeiros in 2016. 

These last three official production runs of Morganglanz are the only ones actively being sought by… some of us, at least. I haven’t seen a Brigadeiros for sale in forever (they only made 10, so not a surprise). The piece run of Locarno 62 was substantially larger, but since most were sold overseas, he doesn’t turn up stateside much. 

Gris Gris show up occasionally, but most of the ones I’ve seen for sale since the market lost its mind have also been priced way out of proportion to reality. 

(Checks MH$P out of curiosity. Someone is asking $8,000 for a Blue Banner? Oh, lordy….)

This one was in a price range I was comfortable with, and since I’ve made some pretty good deals in recent years, I decided to splurge a little. 

And you know what? He’s so gorgeous in person! I am so glad he is here. Now to find a place for him on my very crowded shelves. 

Now let us end with some good gardening news: while the sunflowers are a lost cause, some of the milkweeds I started last year have finally returned, and there may be beans after all. (It will be dependent on how persistent the deer are.) 

The Rest Of Them

The connection between the 2016 BreyerFest theme and this year’s BreyerFest theme is a little stretched – Oktoberfest is just like Carnivale! – and I’m okay with it only because it gives me a Mini Me of Caipirinha and the chance to own teeny versions of both Brigadeiros and Polomar, who are both so rare they don’t even qualify as Grails. 

(Brigadeiros hurts a little more than Polomar, because I wrote an article in a Sampler about the Morganglanz that advocated for a Pinto release, not long before that. Sigh.)

I was wondering when the Arabian/Arabian-adjacent component of BreyerFest would show up, and here he is!

Technically he’s inspired by the crest of the House of Wittelsbach, but for about 98 percent of us who first took a gander at him, we immediately thought of the 2018 BreyerFest Special Run Newmarket, on the Flash mold. That particular release didn’t go over so well – I bought one on Sunday afternoon during the sale of the leftovers, hoping that I’d eventually fall in love, and I didn’t – but the pattern looks way cuter and more appropriate on this flamboyant little Eberl Arabian.

The Stablemate that surprises me the most, though, is Torlinie, who is another Online-Only item:

I am not a fan of either form of Football – my childhood was spent grimacing through Detroit Lions games – but I have to say that I think Torlinie is my favorite of the Stablemates releases for BreyerFest this year. 

I know a lot of hobbyists feel this mold has been overused and are so over it by now, and I get it, but if there’s one mold that looks like he’s kicking a soccer ball down a field, it’s the G2 Clydesdale. The mold choice is just so spot on. (No pun intended!)

And like the pattern on Wittelsbach, it’s not something that I think any other mold at any other scale could pull off, except maybe the Brishen. 

All in all, this is a nice crop of BreyerFest Stablemates; I’m going to ignore whoever/whatever the Stablemate is going to be for the Finalist prize in the Customs Contest, because I’m a little too wrapped up in getting all my Quilting UFOs done this year to either start – or finish – anything worth entering. One of these years, I swear...

Das Model

Today’s going to be a bit of a mixed bag. I spent most of the weekend pulling weeds and dodging tornados:

https://weather.com/storms/severe/video/possible-tornadoes-leave-trail-of-damage-near-detroit

Armada is where my infamous local flea market is, the place where many of the things you see here were found. Though I haven’t been there since the pandemic began, for many reasons.

And for obvious reasons the paper Samplers are still delayed. Just a few more days though, I think.

But back to happier thoughts! Like a thing I bought!

Although superficially similar to the 1987 Just About Horses Special Run, this Trakehner appears to be a Test for the Samsung Woodstock, on the Morganglanz mold. And since I’ve been casually window shopping for both Trakehners and Morganglanzes, I kind of had to have him.

In terms of Trakehners, the only ones that seem out of my reach are the Gloss Hicksteads, and the Solid Chestnuts that randomly popped up in Grab Bags back in 2008. I’m not sure I am even going to count the Trakehner Society Trakehner, because unless it comes with paperwork or an ironclad provenance, I am going to find all of the ones advertised as such extremely suspect.

This Chestnut Trakehner is also slightly suspect, but there was enough there to hang my hat on, so I went with it. I try to limit myself to only a handful of extravagant purchases a year, and this was it. I wanted the Classic Andalusian Stallion Unicorn from the same sellers too, but I decided not to push my luck after winning the Trakehner.

I am not going to see him as a portent of next year’s German-themed BreyerFest; I am a little skeptical that they’d pull the mold out again after it was used last year for Thorn. Morganglanz might be a nice choice for a Diorama Contest prize, but I’ve already committed myself to getting my ENTIRE STORAGE UNIT OF CRAFT PROJECTS (no lie) done instead. 

Besides, all the ideas I already have in my head are either too obscure (making a Breyer look like a Steha!) or kinda terrifying (I don’t have the legs for a Klaus Nomi costume anyway.) Kraftwerk, Fritz Lang, Der Blaue Reiter….

(Am I the only one that thinks a Wedgewood Blue Cleveland Bay with a darker blue mane and tail would be perfect for the Decorator offering, though? Pretty please?)

I am also thinking that if BreyerFest next year (crosses fingers) is in person, that it might be time I host an Ice Cream Social/Meet and Greet at the Kentucky Horse Park at some point during the weekend. The idea is only notional at this point, and dependent on my getting my nonsense together. But if it looks possible, that’s where my extra energies will be directed.

My Three Emmas

And for a few brief glimmering moments, my Emma collection is complete….

… except for the one BreyerFest Auction Test Color, at least one Sample that I know of, and any inevitable Prize or Raffle models that are probably in the pipeline because we know how that goes.

But, it’s still pretty remarkable to be able to keep up with all the (technically) available releases of any mold for over four years.

It helps that she’s not insanely popular, and has had only three releases since her introduction in late 2015. And that I was lucky enough to attend Chasing the Chesapeake in 2016 to get a Black-eyed Susan first hand.

Everyone else was gunning for the Brishen Sagamore Rye or the Shire Testudo, but the heart wants what it wants.

With more popular molds like Silver or Othello, the sheer number of releases overwhelms all but the most resilient of hearts, minds and budgets. And with molds like Esprit, you were pretty much out of the running before you even got past the starting gate.

Actually, I was just thinking about this a few days ago: for collectors, most (but not all) Breyer molds that debuted from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s are not particularly challenging to collect. Sure, most have one or two really tough ones – the Pluto has the “stealth” Spiegel Special Run in Dapple Gray, the Stud Spider has Stetson, and even Morganglanz has Brigadeiros!

But being able to get most of the way there without emptying your bank account – and in the meantime possibly being able to save up for the one or two that just might! – is a not unappealing collecting strategy. One that I’ve been considering as I mull over what I might want to add to my BreyerFest want list this year.

Now that I have somehow, inexplicably, found most of my Man o’ War grails.

Locarno 62

It’s that time of the year when everyone is cleaning closets, slashing prices, or listing their otherwise unlistables in order to pay off their bills and/or stay on budget. I’ve been trying to be good about my budget, too, but some of the deals I’ve had to pass up have nearly killed me.

I finally broke down and bought a box lot. The price was right, and after I resell the bulk of it, I’ll be left with this handsome fellow free and clear:

It’s a Special Run #1406 Morganglanz Locarno 62! I had been wanting one for a while; I have a bit of a soft spot for this largely unloved mold, and his Mahogany Bay paint job is so dark and pretty.

This release is one of the best illustrations of why the most important component of “Collectability” is Desirability. He has all the points in his favor, on paper: he’s a relatively scarce Special Run, distributed overseas, in a genuinely beautiful color.

But he is not considered particularly desirable. While his coloring does give him a bit of reprieve from the antagonism the 2014 Exclusive Event Gris Gris receives, he’s still not beloved or sought out by many. A lack of interest translates into a lack of listings, so you hardly ever see them for sale stateside – and that’s most of the reason why it took this long for me to get one.

It’s mostly about the mold: there’s never been a lot of love for awkward and ungainly Morganglanz. He’s a tough sell even when you dress him up in pretty clothes, like last year’s BreyerFest Reserve Grand Open Show prize Brigadeiros.

http://www.identifyyourbreyer.com/images/brigadeiros1.jpg

That might change in the future. The original Decorators were a huge bust in the 1960s, and molds like the Classics Mestenos and Brishen have gone from “not” to “hot”. So as unlikely as it may seem, it could happen.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the fact that rarities like Gris Gris and Brigadeiros are within the realm of possibility in my budget.

Ugly Horse Cooties

I feel sorry for Morganglanz. I’m tempted to buy a Big Easy Bash Gris Gris; I have money in the Paypal account, and they’re not going for much more than the issue price ($165.00). I already have a tiny cohort of Exclusive Event models he could join - one I received as a gift, two from the NPOD - so he wouldn’t seem totally out of place.

He wouldn’t necessarily be the designated "rare" Morganglanz of the herd, either. That honor would go to this sample/test shot piece I bought at BreyerFest a few years back:

The black bits aren’t paint, they’re plastic - likely from some partially painted regrind. If they were testing/tweaking the mold settings, it would have been a waste to use fresh plastic that would have ended up in the regrind bin anyway.

This is also why some hobbyists find "ordinary" plastic underneath Basecoat Chalkies. They’re just not scratching/cutting in the right places to find the color swirls.

There was some discussion at the event about "remodeling" molds like the Cantering Welsh Pony and the Performance Horse. This I didn’t quite understand. Why rework already modestly popular molds, when you have homely wallflower Morganglanz sitting in the corner, unloved and scarcely used?

He doesn’t have a big or fanatical fan base that would get overly dramatic over any alleged improvements either, as I’m sure would be the case with the Cantering Welsh. (That they’re even suggesting that idea on that mold, frankly, is heretical. Ne pas toucher le CWP!)

And he’s really not all that homely - a new tail and some buffing/surface polishing of the mold, like the Trakehner, would go a long way towards ridding him of his "Ugly Horse Cooties". Here’s a quick silhouette of him in his original state:

Here he is with a different tail (one I did in 5-10 minutes - thus the lack of finesse):

Dress that up in some nice clothes - a simple yet sophisticated Dun Pinto like last year's Surprise Roxy - and I’m fairly certain that you wouldn’t have seen half the run on eBay or MH$P.