Blue Chips

It’s going to be a bit rambly today; dealing with more paperwork. I’m also trying to get a head start on my taxes this year because hokey smokes, I had no idea I sold so much stuff last year!

First, let me congratulate Vita’s distant cousin for winning Westminster yesterday.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/story/_/id/10441487/wire-fox-terrier-wins-best-show-westminster

"Her personality is she loves to kiss people and she connects with everybody," Rangel said.

That’s Vita, too.

As far as whether I’d recommend this breed to anyone, it depends. Aside from being adorable and incredibly personable, she’s also high-energy, bossy and a demanding little attention hog who likes taking long walks in blizzards. Like a cat, she only cuddles when she wants to cuddle, and sleeps where she darn well pleases. Which we all like (except for the blizzard part) but we can completely understand why some would not.

Anyway, back to horses.

When I opened up the e-mail for the Vintage Club Mr. Chips earlier this week, my first reaction was "Should I go ‘Ouch’ or ‘Moo’?"(My second reaction was "Time to start selling more stuff!")

Boy, Reeves has been throwing a lot of stuff at us awfully early this year.

My fondness toward the original Pony of the Americas release is well-known, so I will probably be getting him in spite of his slightly higher than expected price tag. I have a feeling that he may follow the same trajectory of another Web Special - the Rose Gray Smarty Jones release Riley - and become more popular and desirable after the fact.

I think a few too many people in the hobby gamble that way, though, and the problem with gambling is that most people lose, in the end. (Confession: I did eventually sell my Glossy Riley for a slight profit last year. My shelf space is limited, and it came down to either him or my Daytona, and I liked Daytona’s matte chocolatey Bay a little better.)

I could well be wrong with my assumption, and I’m okay with that. I’ll be buying him because I like him, not because I’m betting on any potential financial rewards down the road. That’s just the butter to my bread, if it happens.

It’s been said before, multiple times, because it’s true: you can’t go wrong buying what you like.

I have no opinion on the BreyerFest Special Run Andalusian Jubilee, in Gloss Silver Bay. I can say that I wasn’t all that impressed with the initial photos of Special Run Andalusian Galahad in 2005 either, but now he’s one of my office desktop horses.

Stripes

I finally found one of my most coveted grails:


It’s the #154 "Bay" Blanket Pony of the Americas, with the factory striped hooves. It’s the version that appears in the Dealer’s Catalog and Collector’s Manual in 1979, the year it was released, as well as on the original version of the box it came in (which I also have, but can’t find at the moment.) Here it is in the Dealer's Catalog:


This is what a more typical Bay POA looks like, with dark gray-brown or black hooves:


You’ll notice that the color appears to be different too - it’s definitely darker and richer in the striped hoof version, with darker splash spotting. However, I haven’t seen enough of these variations to tell if this is an actual characteristic of this particular paint job, or a consequence of the natural variation that occurs over the length of production.

I had’t noticed much variation in the paint job of the Bay POAs before, but I it’s also true that that’s not the first thing I’ve been looking for when I’ve been looking at them. It’s those darn hooves that have transfixed me ever since I saw them on the darn box, ca. 1979. The Bay POA that came in that box - the same non-striped one you see above - was by no means deficient qualitatively, but it wasn’t the one I really wanted. I wanted the one with those cute little striped toes!

After several years of looking, I had become convinced that the striped hoof versions were, like so many other items seen in the catalogs and manuals of the times, preproduction or test pieces that were either long gone, or now beyond my reach. Those striped hooves, I reasoned, must have been deemed a detail that was deemed too fussy, or funny-looking, or too expensive for long-term production.

Then eBay came along, and I started seeing just enough of them to convince me that they may have been a legitimate - albeit very briefly issued - variation. Or possibly used on the original salesman’s sample pieces: I have noticed that salesman’s samples do seem to turn up on eBay with a greater frequency than normal, due to the very nature of the site.

In either case, I realized that my "grail" wasn’t completely unattainable.

Alas, I wasn’t the only one who was looking, apparently. I always got outbid or outmaneuvered, until now. Now I can exhale, and find another possibly-not-unattainable grail to obsess over now.

Just Say No. To Mullets.

Technical difficulties today. Sorry about that.

I got all excited the other day – I found another test color splash spot Pony of the Americas! Well, okay, he was in the 1976 Dealers Catalog and Collector's Manual, and I wasn't actually looking for him, per se. I was researching another topic entirely, and I just happened to notice that he wasn't the same pony on the white picture box. That's how research works sometimes: you make discoveries while you're busy looking for something else.

I already knew that the POA in the catalog was a test piece – I just assumed that the one featured in the ephemera was the same one that was on the box. Silly me, making assumptions again. (Alas, he was not the same fellow in my collection, either. So that means there were at least three of them.)

I'm not sure why I have this mild obsession with the POA: I remember when it came out in 1976, and there was just something about it that I really, really took a shine to. I think it was its unique appearance: roached mane, short tail, that leopard appaloosa paint job. The POA was no ordinary, generic pony!

Like everyone else, I finally managed to get a look (via the Internet) at a “live” version of the UK SR Pippin on the newly remodeled POA mold. They “updated” it with a new mane and tail. It wasn't necessary, in my opinion; my first reaction was annoyance. They took away the crew cut and gave him an equine mullet!

I don't like mullets. On horses, or people. (I don't have a preference for crew cuts, but on the right person, it works. If I had a preference, it'd be towards the Byronic. For both men and horses. Let's just leave that discussion ... at that.)

I know “big hair” is back in style, for both horses and people, but I never really struck me as either attractive, or practical. And just like people, some look good in big hair, and some don't. The mane is fine – the mold has a nice enough neck to pull off a short mane. But that tail is weird: it's not an improvement to me.

I'm already predisposed to buy the first two near-simultaneous SR releases of the POA in spite of the less than appealing tail – because of the roany paint jobs on both the UK Pippin, and the not-quite-sure-what-it-is Toby. I love roans! Speckled, freckled, or airbrushed, I'm not fussy. And I'd seriously trample people for a freckle-style black roan – you know, like the old-fashioned red roan paint job with big honking freckles, except in black.

And speaking of trampling people, rumor has it that the Toby is an in-tent BreyerFest store special, like the Porcelain Stablemate from last year. This little nugget of information, however, came in the form of a verbal comment from an unidentified Reeves employee: as I’ve explained before, that’s not the kind of information you can completely rely on.

(I’ve received neither a thumbs-up nor a thumbs-down from the powers-that-be to my attempt to organize the Ninja Pit of Death line last year. The issue has been brought to Reeves's attention, but I’ve heard nothing personally. Yet.)

Photo Shoots & Artist's Proofs

Just something short and sweet. I’m still feeling a little down today.

I thought I’d share a particularly handsome and treasured little dude here at my ranch: he’s a splash-spot test color for the leopard Pony of the Americas. I purchased him from the Nicklas sisters a couple of years ago at Breyerfest. Pam and Polly were very active in the 1980s, and had a reputation for having a rather fine collection. I have no doubts about his authenticity:


My guy is very similar to the test model that appears on the POA’s original white picture box, but he’s not identical. This is not surprising: as I’ve mentioned before, test colors were rarely unique, especially during the Chicago era. I always lusted after the model on the box - I was extremely enamored of the POA when he was first released back in 1976, and I had always hoped that I could find him, or a model just like him someday. So when I saw him, I knew that instant he was coming home with me. He ain’t mint, but I don’t care!


(I’m still very fond of the mold today, but I’m not so sure about that newly remodeled mane and tail. I’ll just have to wait and see one in person, I guess.)

I’ve always been very curious about the models that have appeared in catalogs, boxes and other promotional materials. Some of them are undoubtedly airbrush, touch-up or Photoshop creations, and therefore nonexistent, but some of them aren’t. Some we’ve been able to track down. The story about the 1981 Dealer’s Catalog test stand-ins for the Stock Horse Stallion is relatively well-known, and I have pictures of other known photo shoot models in Marney’s album, too.

I own a few other models that I have suspected of being photographic models - bought from certain folks, or under certain situations that make the notion seem at least plausible. I haven’t been able to confirm any of them, unfortunately.

I’m a little surprised that Reeves hasn’t taken the opportunity to label and sell their duplicate photo shoot models as such - at the Breyer Sales Tent, at the very least. Some of them are undoubtedly samples now residing in the sample room, but what of the rest?

They’ve been touting various "Artist’s Proofs" of the showier, more desirable specials as prizes, gifts and donations - some of whom I suspect were done primarily for photographic intentions. (I’m not entirely sure I like the term "Artist’s Proof": sounds like a bit of marketing puffery to me. If it’s a test, or a sample, or a preproduction piece, call it that: there’s no need to gild those particular lilies!)

That’s all very nice of them, but even the "proofs" of ordinary regular run models have some appeal to collectors. I have a Lady Roxana piece that I suspect might be one: I got her for less than retail - she is, after all, a Lady Roxana - but she still has a place of honor on my shelf next to the less humble treasures. Like my POA.