Sometimes Angels Appear

We have now entered the portion of BreyerFest Prep where I am basically running around the house and yelling at random inanimate objects and everything I do is an EPIC FAIL.

Need to spray paint something? It starts to rain on your project.

Have to print out your Samplers? The cheaper toner cartridges you bought for that are absolute crap and you have to go back to the store and buy the name brand anyway.

Then you find a kinda significant typo in the ones you did print out so far. (Screw it, not reprinting; label them variations and get on with your life.)

The contact paper you need to finish another project? It’s out of stock at the one store that normally has tons of it, so you have to drive across town to the other... 

But at least I was able to procure an obnoxiously colored t-shirt without incident; I considered coming up with a fancy logo or something for BreyerFest back like I did in the ancient days, but I have run out of both time and enthusiasm, so its garish hot pink magenta-ness will simply have to speak for itself. 

I also purchased some Faygo Firework, for those among us for whom even Light Beer is a little much. (it’s like Mountain Dew: Summer Breeze, but without the caffeine. Tastes better IMHO but yo, native Detroiter here.)

The Sampler has been published online; printing the paper copies will be one of the 300 or so things I have to finish this weekend. The writing went relatively easy this year, which may just be because I didn’t have the time to fret over it. Deadlines can do wonders for your clarity! 

(But not your proofreading skills. Oof.)

Speaking of writing, I did actually spend two minutes reading this year’s Hugo Award nominees. I did not make the short list! Not that I was expecting to (I’m no Chuck Tingle) but hey, stranger things have happened…

In some model horse news, apparently some of the BreyerFest auctions are already in the WTF range. Except the Pacer, but I think that’s because (a) the Pacer’s never been a huge favorite even among Vintage collectors and (b) the initial photo had a freaky-weird bend on his front leg which now appears to have been fixed. 

But a lot of collectors don’t trust Reeves’s photography, so they might just be holding off until they see it in person and can confirm that it looks “normal” again. I’m skeptical it’ll stay that low, and you know my heart belongs to another. 

(I am willing and able to go up to $1500 for an auction piece, BTW.)

And finally I’d like to give a shout out to Catherine and Skittles today, a lovely reminder that when you are having an epic fail of a day, sometimes angels appear.

Ahead of Its Time?

I just realized that if I had decided to go to BreyerWest, I would have experienced another weather-related freak out with the ice storm. 

I now feel like I have somehow outwitted the weather gods. 

Whether this ends up being a good (that I dodged a bullet!) or a bad thing (that there will be meteorological retaliation somehow), only time will tell.

I’ve made much hay out of the absence of the Old Timer in this year’s assortment of BreyerFest Special Runs. I’ve made less of a fuss about the Pacer because now that we have the new Standardbred mold Constantia, my expectations for the Pacer’s return have dimmed a little. 

He’s an old Hess mold with a molded-on halter, after all.

With the exceptions of the rarities – the Exclusive Event Praline, the BreyerFest Live Hot to Trot, and Test Colors (BreyerFest or otherwise) – I have just about all of them. I could stand to upgrade a few, and while I have all of the Sulky Set colors and variations, I don’t have a NIB or MIB one per se. 

(I have pieces of one. It’s… a story.)

I don’t think I have the QVC reissue of Niatross either, but that’s not a consequence of it being particularly hard to find – it isn’t any moreso than the QVC Man o’ War, who turns up a few times a year – it’s just me being easily distracted and/or having bad timing. 

Of all the Pacer releases, none are more notorious than the Riegsecker Pacers from 1984: a set of three in Palomino, Dapple Gray, and Flaxen Red Chestnut. The Palomino and the Dapple Gray draw most of the collector attention: the Palomino is that notorious eye-watering shade of Neon Yellow that was very common in late-era Chicago releases, and the Dapple Gray was also very typical of the times with random, wild and messy dappling.

But the third member of the trio is much more sedate, and as a result doesn’t get quite the same looks:

Other models were decorated with similar Flaxen Red Chestnut paint jobs at the time, but the Pacer feels a little different. While the other two Pacers are very much of their era, the Flaxen Red Chestnut almost seems like a harbinger of the more realistic and less generic colorways Reeves would produce – after several years of mostly unsuccessful experimentation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 

None of the three come up for sale very often anymore: they only made a few hundred of each, and hobbyists like me who collect the Pacer tend to keep them. 

Full Speed Ahead

Lately it seems like I’m running 1000 miles per hour, which wouldn’t mind so much if I didn’t suspect that there’s going to be a brick wall springing up out of the road at any minute. 

The new Premier Club mold Constantia is also going full tilt, though judging from the look on her face, I doubt nothing short of Inertron will stop her: 

It doesn’t seem like it, but there have been a decent number of Breyer Standardbred molds over the years. 

Well, okay, technically four, not counting CollectAs and things labeled or modeled after Standardbreds after the fact, like the 2010 BreyerFest Celebration Horse All Glory. Halla was part Standardbred, too, maybe I could count her as half...

Even so, that’s more than many other breeds have gotten!

It started with the original #46 Pacer in 1967, followed quickly by the #51 Adios in 1969. Then we got the Stablemate Standardbred in Kathleen Moody’s G2 mold assortment introduced in 1998. In 2000, the resin version of Sarah Rose’s Hambletonian was introduced, with a Crystal and MiniWhinny version eventually following. 

And now we have Constantia! (Is it any surprise to anyone that I’m calling her Johanna?)

Considering next year’s theme is “Driving Forward”, I strongly suspect that we’ll be seeing Constantia in next year’s BreyerFest Special Run lineup, though probably in a more conservative color. 

A Dapple Gray would be lovely, I think. I’m a big fan of Standardbreds in general, so I’d buy her in just about any color, regardless. Even Lemon Yellow Palomino Roan Pintaloosa.

That’s all I got today. I haven’t been sleeping well this week and it’s just about time for today’s attempt. 

Fiero, Rockford, and Defining Vintage

Whew, another week that felt like a month here – this insane weather, the new car shopping, my ongoing horse inventory, the strange patch of creativity that’s now motivating me to braid twelve(!) yards of rick-rack to finish another old quilt project….

And, uh, I think I’m going to my first live show in over a decade. (More details about that exciting and terrifying situation another time.)

Fiero, the first release in this year’s Stablemates Club was also released this week:

He’ll be a 50-50 Gloss/Matte Split release; while I do not personally care which version finish variation I get, most of the rest of the online hobby community will apparently be treating their potential Matte Fieros like body-quality Family Arabian Mares.

(For the record, I love the Family Arabian Mare. But she’s definitely not among the most beloved of Vintage Breyer molds – even among Family Arabian collectors!)

Someday the All Glossy, All The Time Fad will fade. I hope. Not because I don’t like Glossies, but I am never keen on anything – good or bad – becoming a fad, generally. Following fads doesn’t always lead to the best decisions being made.

I have nothing much else to talk about today, other than my pleasure in finding out how lovely the Vintage Club Rockfords have turned out. (Mine’s not here yet – aside from the week being the week it was, I was also waiting/hoping for Fiero to drop.)

I know there’s been some discussion of whether Rockford – or the Charcoal Shannondell release Claude – actually qualify as “Vintage” releases.

The obvious (and somewhat cynical) answer to that is they do if Reeves says they do. So it’s not just older molds in older colors, it’s also older molds in newer colors and newer molds in older colors. Or radical (or not so radical) reinterpretations of older releases or colors, which is how I would classify the first Vintage Club release Dandy, on the Clydesdale Stallion mold.

Vintage Gloss Brown/Palomino Pintos didn’t look much like Dandy did.

On a more philosophical note, limiting themselves to just Vintage molds, colors and techniques prior to an arbitrary date would have led to creative stagnation. After a relatively short while, you’d simply run out of color and mold combos to explore.

And truth be told, the market for premium Vintage-style releases – the current Gloss fad aside – is not that large. It’s in their financial interests to be more expansive with their definition of Vintage.

And so far, so good this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rockford turned out to be my favorite VC release ever, but I already loved the Pacer mold, so it wouldn’t have taken much to get it there anyway.

Rockford

You know what? I’m going to let the two Gambler’s Choice models I received – and opened – yesterday remain a mystery to you all. A Schrödinger's Cat, if you will, with twelve different possibilities, rather than two. 

The more interesting item in that box was the Vintage Club 2019 Renewal flier, featuring the debut model for 2019, a Gloss Silver Bay Pinto Pacer named Rockford:

He’ll be only the third production Gloss on the Pacer – after the 2010 Web Special Pace Yourself, and this year’s BreyerFest Special Gloss Reissue of the Foiled Again. And the third Pinto as well, the others being the impossible-for-me-to-acquire Exclusive Event Praline and this year’s BreyerFest Open Show Reserve Prize Hot to Trot.

And the first Pacer release that is both Gloss and Pinto! 

Incidentally, he’s not named after the TV show character Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files – that went off the air a few years before the “White Frame” style of box debuted – but after Rockford, Illinois, which was the mailing address for Just About Horses for a while (as was neighboring Loves Park, and Walworth, Wisconsin.)

That’s probably all I can/should say about next year’s Vintage Club releases, at this point. Other than if you like what you see so far, wait until you see what’s coming….

(Yes, knowing he was coming did soften the blow of Hot to Trot, just a little bit.)

These Old Racehorses

Nothing at the flea market this weekend, just the usual strays and bodies. As my sales list is already overflowing, the lack of stuff was more of an annoyance than a worry. I couldn’t even muster up any interesting craft supplies, produce, or groceries of questionable provenance to buy…

Another annoyance: people who allegedly got picked off some “wait list” for the Scottsdale Event. You guys and your imaginations!

It’s not like I had the money for it anyway. And if I did, I’d be dropping it on this guy instead:

I was just wondering the other day where the old #36 Racehorse was going to show up at BreyerFest. I had some amusing thoughts that it’d be the Volunteer model or Dark Horse Surprise, but nope. At auction, naturally – and in Gloss Charcoal!

Come on guys, just one more kinda-sorta obtainable release for us old coots who neither lucky, nor made of money? Please? I can’t afford either the Daisy or the Dixie.

I’m not real fussy on color or finish either, but Web Special pricing or under would be great.

Another model making me grit my teeth:

The BF Live Open Show Reserve Hot to Trot. Now there’s not one, but two Pinto Pacers I can’t afford? Just when I was getting so close to completing my Pacer collection?

I know a lot of people aren’t all that excited by him, and wouldn’t hesitate to sell me theirs at the “right” price, but that’s not a game I play. I did not bite when I was offered Marshalls at prices I really could not afford, and the Pacer will be no different.

(I briefly flirted with the idea of showing this year, but financially and logistically I couldn’t make it work.)

For the record, outside of the Praline, the only other Pacers I’m actively looking for are the QVC rerelease of Niatross, a boxed and complete #2446 Sulky Gift Set, and at least one of the Christmas Sulky sets. (I have all the Pacers that came with, but everything else, not so much.)

Of all those, the Christmas Pacer sets will probably be the toughest to acquire; boxed Christmas Catalog releases in general are kind of a thing now (as they should be!) It’s just a matter of unfortunate timing on my part that they happen to be at the end of my want list.

I managed to get all of the other Pacer rarities before they got out of hand, so I may have to bite the bullet at some point if a set comes up any time soon.

Glossy Foiled Again

To be euphemistically coy as possible, a personal matter (completely unrelated to model horses) that started in fire ended in fire this past Friday. While it was not entirely unexpected, it did hit me a little harder than I expected, and left me largely out of sorts most of the weekend.

But this helped soften the blow: a Glossy Pacer Special Run Foiled Again for BreyerFest!

This Foiled Again Special Run was also not completely unexpected: I suspected as much back in December, when it was quietly announced on the USTA web site that the horse himself would be making an appearance at BreyerFest.

While I was hoping for changes like these, what I was expecting was that they’d only make a small change or two – some special packaging perhaps, and/or maybe a commemorative backstamp, blanket or button. Hurray for happy surprises!

It’s interesting that in the 50+ year history of the Pacer, there have only been two other Gloss releases – the earliest examples of the original #46 Dark Chestnut release, and the 2010 Web Special Pace Yourself.

The halter color appears to be the same lime green as the headstall on the Vintage Club Appaloosa Balking Mule release Lucy. Although most Pacer halters have been some shade of brown or black, there has been a fair assortment of more cheerful colors too, including the bright lemony yellow of the original Foiled Again release.

The blog post about the release is a bit vague on specifics: we don’t know where or how the model will be sold (Pop-Up Store? NPOD?) and all we’re told of the quantity is this:

BreyerFest fans will have the first opportunity to add the Special Edition Foiled Again to their collection. If models remain available after BreyerFest, they will be offered for sale to the general public on BreyerHorses.com.

So – more than the average BreyerFest Special Run, but still kind of limited? So 2000 pieces or fewer?

Whether it’s 200 pieces or 2000, all I know for sure is that this is the first release in this year’s lineup that I will absolutely, positively have to have. There is no negotiating on this.

My only (slight) disappointment is that this eliminates the possibility of the Pacer being the Surprise SR. Although there have been a few dilutes – like the infamous Riegesecker Palomino – we haven’t seen much in the way of spots, dots and speckles on the Pacer. The only Production Run pinto, I believe, has been the Exclusive Event Praline, and they only made 48 of him.

But hey, I'll happily take a Glossy Dark Bay Pacer in the meantime....

Foiled Again, Again?

Since I am still a bit grumpy because of my back troubles, aggravated by a slightly-more-traumatic-than-expected trip to the dentist today, I decided forego the research and decompress with a bit of retail therapy. Among my treasures:

A Border Fine Arts Yorkshire Terrier and a Hagen-Renaker Great Dane Hamlet!

A quick scan of my records tells me that I found them at the same Salvation Army Store where I made my first hobby-related purchases of the year, so that’s some nice symmetry.

Wow, it’s been such a good year for me with breakables: six Hagen-Renakers (four of them horses), a Boehm, four vintage Royal Doulton dogs, a smattering of assorted European clinkies, two BFAs, and two Walker-Renakers.

Oh, and I almost forgot those Maneki Neko cats!

Usually I just find a smattering of minis, a few Japans, and maybe one or two higher-end pieces. So I have nothing to complain about here, other than the fact that I am rapidly running out of room in my china cabinets.

In lieu of the now-delayed franchising/DreamWorks discussion, here’s a bit of BreyerFest 2018 news to overanalyze: Foiled Again has been announced as a guest!

http://xwebapp.ustrotting.com/absolutenm/templates/article.aspx?articleid=78140&zoneid=1

The last sentence of the press release is of particular interest:

Please join Ohio Standardbreds & Friends and New Vocations at Breyerfest 2018 and get your Foiled Again model horse signed and your photo taken with the richest Standardbred in history.

The Traditional Foiled Again release was discontinued at the end of 2016, but is still appears to be available on the Breyer web site:

http://www.breyerhorses.com/foiled-again

I don’t know if that means it became an online-only item, or that they’re selling down discontinued warehouse overstock, or something else entirely is going on. If I had more space and money to play with here, I’d buy one of those online Foiled Agains just to check the VIN number for a 2017 production date.

Since the press release hints that there will be Foiled Again models available at BreyerFest next year, this suggests to me that if he hasn’t been in production lately, he might be shortly.

They could change it up a little – by glossing it, chalking it, changing the halter color, or going with another mold entirely – but even if it’s not substantially different, these hypothetical Foiled Agains might still qualify as Reissues or Post Production Runs.

Or they could all be leftovers, and my back pain is making me spin the most elaborate theories, just because it can.

Some Early Speculation on 2018

According to a flier now circulating the Internet, next year’s BreyerFest Celebration Horse is going to be Brass Hat, on the Carrick mold: http://www.brasshat.us

That’s pretty much what I expected the Celebration Horse to be: a former racing Thoroughbred now living a very active retirement. On the Carrick mold!

While it feels a little unusual to get a picture of the prototype this early – nearly two months before tickets even go on sale – it shouldn’t. When you think about all the Special Runs they have to crank out in time for BreyerFest (lately they’ve been averaging about 30 distinct releases, not including the Gloss Prize Models), it only makes sense that they’d get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

Other than thinking about non-Thoroughbred racing breeds – Arabians, Standardbreds, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses, Orlov Trotters, Finnhorses et al – I hadn’t given much other thought to what we’ll be seeing in Kentucky next year, until now.

What would I like?

A Pacer, of course: preferably in a Roan or Tobiano Pinto. Gloss Dappled Black would be pretty sweet too, but I’d take that paint job on almost anything.

I’d also accept a new release of Sarah Rose’s popular resin Hambletonian.

I really, really want an Orlov Trotter of some sort: twelve-year-old me found them so exotic and pretty, and even now I still pine for one. I don’t know what currently existing mold would be most suitable however, and this is one release where I would definitely have to go picky on the execution of the dappling.

While we’re likely to see an Appaloosa in the Surprise SR mix, something that honors or commemorates Stud Spider in some way would be awesome: not only was the real horse a racing Appaloosa, it’s the mold’s official 40th anniversary next year. (Well, technically: the Gift Set was available in the 1977 JC Penney Christmas Catalog.)

A Reissue of the Sham would be fun too, especially if it comes with a Grimalkin on a Companion Animal cat. Sham is popular, the Companion Animals are popular, and the Dally and Spanky set was a big hit this year. And if the Sham comes in the correct shade of Golden Bay, even better.

Alternatively, they could just give us a Grimalkin release on the Kitten mold as the Nonhorse release! Or maybe a “Barn Buddies” Store Special Gift Set featuring one of the cats, one of the dogs, and the Goat.

I don’t know what they’d do for a Quarter Horse release. The first thought that entered my head was a Smarty Jones, since I believe the mold was planned as a racing Quarter Horse in the first place. Put him in a pretty Dilute or Dun, and I would totally be on board.

On the other hand, I could go on forever about potential Thoroughbred releases. Some of the releases I’ve fantasized about include a 12-piece Stablemates set featuring all the Triple Crown Winners, an Ageless Bronze Traditional Man o’ War to commemorate the statue at the KHP, or something honoring the famous Hungarian racehorse Kinscem.

Oh, and I want to see a return of the #36 Racehorse: in almost any color, I don’t care. They could use up whatever bodies they have left knocking around the warehouse, and that should cover the 12 to 15 of us who’d actually want one. (Gold Charm/Gold Chestnut would be great. Just putting that out there.)

The last larger-scale production BreyerFest Special Run on the Ruffian was 2007’s very popular Gloss Appaloosa Heartland. She would be my first choice as the Surprise Special, with either Giselle or Strapless as my second choice.

We’ll also likely see at least one SR on a recent Premier Club release, so I hope that’s True North. I’m not too fussy on the color or finish: I find him adorable and all of the existing releases are utterly unaffordable.

So that’s what I’d release, if I were in charge. Maybe add in a racetrack/companion pony into the mix, and another hunter/jumper for the OTTBs.

Whether or not we get any of this is another matter entirely. My prediction track record (no pun intended) has not been so great lately.

Strike Outs

Whenever I set a goal for myself, I tend to set a backup goal, just in case the first one doesn’t work out. I am always working toward the primary goal, but if the opportunity arises to achieve the backup, I go for it.

Generally, my success rate is about 50/50: one or the other gets completed, but I’m never sure which one, until it happens.

This year one of my Breyer goals was work on my Duchess collection; while I’ve managed to make a few nice purchases here and there, the backup Breyer goal snuck up on me and completed itself.

That goal was finishing my Pacers.

Aside from the QVC Niatross release (who is kind of hard to find with the original box and paperwork, which is what I would prefer) and the Exclusive Event Praline (unaffordable), all that’s left are upgrades and a few minor variations. A Test Color would be nice too, but I have a Quarter Horse Gelding used to test the Dan Patch paint job, so I suppose that’s close enough.

In the midst of catching up on my inventory, I finally had the opportunity to compare and contrast my Reissue Strike Out with my newly-acquired Original Release. The Reissue is on the right, and the Original Release is on the left:

The subtle difference in the color, and the issue of the VIN number (the Reissue has it, the Original does not) were already known to me, but I what really struck me were the differences in the head details.

The Reissue has a dark muzzle and a glossy black handpainted halter, while the Original Release has a much lighter muzzle and a matte black airbrushed halter. Neat!

As for my lack of difficulty in completing this collection, I have to say that I was fortunate to be around when all the “rare” Pacers were originally released, and purchased most of the others when the rest of the hobby wasn’t as keen on him. What I had to add here was a handful of common pieces I had not bothered to acquire before because other distractions kept popping up.

He’s still not all that popular, though I suspect his stock will rise a bit next year with a racing-themed BreyerFest. (There better be a Pacer somewhere in the Special Run mix next year. Right, guys?)

Runs and Drips

I’m not going to elaborate any further than this, but I’m going to pretend that this weekend didn’t happen. Nothing particularly awful, just extremely unproductive and frustrating.

For the next week or two, as I get some long overdue paperwork and spring cleaning over and done with, the posts will be a bit on the short side, length-wise.

For example, today’s topic is about drips. Drips like this one, on an otherwise very nice Chalky Pacer:

While the general consensus seems to be that runs and drips are a clear indicator that a finish has either been tampered with, or falsified entirely, that’s simply not the case.

Although they are not common, they do show up from time to time usually – as is the case here – on Basecoated Chalkies.

Every once and a while you will also see runs and drips on early Glosses, too – particularly items from the 1950s and early 1960s. I’ve owned at least one Gloss Family Arabian Stallion with factory dripping, and I’ve seen a handful of Western Horses and Ponies suffering from similar painting malfunctions.

These are a little more controversial, because Glosses are pretty easy to fake, but identifying a genuine Gloss drip or run is like identifying a genuine Chalky finish: once you see one in person, it tends to become very obvious.

For the record, I don’t try to “fix” these kinds of factory flaws if I come across them, especially if the model is otherwise presentable. It’s part of the history of the model, and gentle reminder that those “Good Old Days” weren’t uniformly so.

Here’s a picture of the whole horse, if you’re curious:

A few marks and rubs, and a bit unstable (hence the crutch) but definitely a keeper.

Pacer Madness

I wanted to write about the mold variations of the Make A Wish mold, but I’m feeling a little unmotivated in the research department, so here is a picture of a moderately interesting #46 Pacer instead:

The #46 Pacer is the other release – besides the #47 Man o’ War – where I’m trying to untangle the knot of color variations and changes that appeared during its 20+ year run.

What complicates matters with the Pacer is that he’s one of a handful of pre-1970 molds that never got the USA mold mark in the first place, so dating early ones is often a matter of either the ephemera, or the other models he might have come with.

There are some exceptions: Chalkies of course, and the early Semi-Glosses, who often have eyewhites. But those are just two corner pieces in an elaborate puzzle for which I have no reference picture.

Generally earlier models have three socks, but this three-socker has the lighter body tones and black halter of a model from the late 1970s or early 1980s. That makes sense, since he came with one of my more recent Man o’ Wars who was definitely a late 1970s/early 1980s piece.

Here’s the quick rundown of the details of the six Pacers now in my possession – and why this particular project might drive me insane in a way the Man o’ War project never will:

Gloss with Eyewhites: 3 stockings, black halter
Matte, small Blue Ribbon Sticker (1967/68): 3 stockings, red-brown halter
Matte in Gold Foil Sticker Box (1973): 4 stockings, red-brown halter
Matte (Christmas Gift 1974): 4 stockings, red-brown halter
Chalky (1973-1975): 4 stockings, brown halter
Matte Lighter variation (late 1970s/early 1980s): 3 stockings, black halter

There seems to be a logical progression in the middle, bracketed by what appear to be outliers. But I’ve also seen Matte versions of the 3 stocking with black halter that were obviously earlier than my lighter variant, but later than the Gloss.

But how much later? When? Argh!

Clearly, this means I need to buy more Pacers. Lucky for me, this guy – except in variations I already have, like the Chalky and the eyewhited Semi-Gloss – is still relatively cheap. For the time being.

Tack Masking

And my selection was…

The Traditional Foiled Again! Upon closer inspection, the Performance Horse Indian Pony had a couple of bothersome smudges in his spots, while this Foiled Again had the neatest and cleanest halter I’ve seen on the multiple examples I’ve inspected over the past couple of months. Pretty shading, too, with no obvious flaws.

I don’t know what this brings my Pacer total up to. About twenty, maybe? I lose track of how many variations of the original #46 I have. (Five?) The Pacer is one of the few molds where I give my completist tendencies free rein.

I think I’m only missing the two Niatrosses (QVC and Regular Run), the Slate Gray, Before the Wind and of course (Le Sigh) Praline. I waffle back and fourth over the necessity of collecting every possible sock and halter color combo of the Dark Chestnut. I’d like to upgrade my Sulky Set, eventually, and I have to decide if I really need another Strike Out (the one I have might be a Sample, still not sure).

I don’t have any true Tests or Oddities of the Pacer; they’re not particularly rare or unusual, I just haven’t had the good fortune of running across one in my price range. I do have a Test for the Dan Patch, but it’s on the Quarter Horse Gelding mold.

While on the whole the switch from metal masking to laser die-cut stickers has been a net positive, one of the setbacks has been the loss of the tack masking, in favor of handpainting.

Theoretically this should have been a good thing (no overspray) but molded-on tack tends to be small and elaborate, and mistakes are difficult to correct when you’re working with paint that dries in seconds.

With small quantity Special Runs it’s not too big an issue, but with a Regular Run like the Dark Bay Foiled Again and his Bright Yellow halter, it’s been a problem.

You all know that I am rather forgiving when it comes to small flaws. But seriously: I am lucky enough to live in an area where it’s actually possible to handpick. and it still took me until nearly the middle of December to find a Foiled Again I was happy to take home with me.

Foiled Again

In case you didn’t get that e-mail a few days ago, there is/will be another Special Run for Stablemates aficionados to hunt down. They hid it at the bottom of the promo e-mail for the new Pacer release Foiled Again:

Don’t miss out on a special Stablemates Version of Foiled Again available at the Hambletonian! For a day of family fun, visit Harness Racing’s Greatest Day, the $1 Million Hambletonian Day. Breyer’s special edition Stablemates version of Foiled Again will be the kid’s giveaway item, Saturday, August 8, at The Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ. Visit The Hambletonian at the Meadowlands for more information.

The link should be active. What it says:

Giveaway: 2015 commemorative Hambletonian baseball cap to adults and special commemorative kids gift - a limited edition Foiled Again Stable Mate (with paid admission, while supply lasts).

(Yep, that’s how they spelled it.)

There was a similar promotion for the Hambletonian’s 75^th anniversary back in 2000, but in that case, it was just the Regular Run Stablemates Standardbred in Red Roan, with a specially printed sticker slapped in the center of the rosette portion of the packaging. I’m not even sure if that Reeves had any involvement with it, beyond filling the track’s order. 

Those are not that hard to come by, and not too expensive, but I think that’s largely a function of the fact that it is just a slightly repackaged Regular Run item. That’s part of the reason why I haven’t gotten around to adding one to my collection yet.

A Special Run item of a well-known racehorse that Breyer is cross-promoting may be a different order of thing.

I’d love to get one – a limited edition Stablemates Standardbred? Please and thank you! – but I am not physically a child and I can’t take yet another day off from (paying) work for horse business. I’ll just have to hope that they are plentiful enough to not be too expensive later on in the year.

The Stablemates from last year’s WEG are hovering around the $25 range, which isn’t too bad, considering especially since they were sold overseas. (Expensive for me is anything over $30 for a single item.)

Actually, I am a tiny bit fearful that some of the surprises that await in the Ninja Pit this year will be of the Stablemates variety; perhaps some of those leftovers from the 2014 WEG, and maybe even some of the Highland Pony keychains that caused a bit of a stir at Toy Fair the year before last.

Darn it, just when I was thinking it was safe to start dipping my toes back in the Stablemates pond! Another thing I have to tell myself not to worry about…

Tacked Up

It may have been a holiday weekend, but model horse business kept me occupied for most of it. I purchased items for the costume, tinkered with the diorama, rewrote several articles, reworked the sales list, did a bit of design work on the BreyerFest paperwork, and I just finished archiving about a year’s worth of hobby e-mails, because that’s ephemera, too: it just happens to be of the electronic sort.

FYI: as far as the Midyears go, many online dealers already have them listed on their respective web sites. It’s not my policy to recommend one online dealer over another, because I am fortunate enough to have several local toy stores from which to handpick, and my experiences ordering online (beyond the Breyer web site) have been rather limited.

If you need any other assistance, the Halloween Horse’s name is Ichabod and he’s a Fighting Stallion covered in skulls. And he glows. So awesome.

Some of the other Midyears include the Best of British releases, and a Pacer. Others, too, but I noticed the Pacer because it is a Pacer - with a yellow halter! I love it when they use more unusual or flamboyant colors on halters like that. My favorite, in that regard, would be the beautiful "Payne’s Gray" halter on the Matte Bay Quarter Horse Gelding in the 2001 Riding Academy Gift Set release for JC Penney. The funky colors used on the 2009 Surprise Quarter Horse Geldings are also cool, though maybe a shade less so because of the unattainability of the Silver Filigree, Smoke and Charcoal ones.

Molded-on tack is definitely not a thing with collectors nowadays: they want their horses clean and unadorned. All of my first three horses - the Man o’ War, the Pacer, and the Western Prancing Horse - came with molded-on tack, so I have not had much of an issue with it personally.

It’s been years since any new Breyer injection mold has come with molded-on tack or accessories (excluding ribbons and braids); the Balking Mule was the last "new" mold with any, in 1968. It wasn’t until 1995, with the release of the Fine Porcelain Premier Arabian Mare, that we started seeing new molds with molded-on tack again. Just about all of the newer molds with molded-on tack have been Nonplastic releases designed to appeal more toward the "home decorating" crowd than the collecting-playing-showing ones.

Two factors put an end to mold-on tack on plastics. The first was the moving away from the questionable practice of adapting and appropriating of molds from other companies for their own use; as I explained before, most of those early tacked-up molds were based on preexisting molds from other companies.

The second was hobbyist influence: by the late 1960s, Breyer was taking the hobbyist movement, and the advice of the individual hobbyists, more seriously. We didn’t want molded-on tack interfering with our own tack, for play or for show. 

The Same, But Different

Another day that was longer than necessary. Sigh. But I did find another BreyerFesty thing at the Salvation Army on the way home. And when I did get home, I channeled my remaining frustrations into something also necessary - and overdue: I cleaned off the deck.

I’ll call the day a wash.

I only had a chance to open up one of the Reissues, but it was the one I was most excited about - the Pacer! And he didn’t disappoint:

Dark, more shading, more metallic, a differently colored hoof - and just look at that beautiful face! If you’re a fan of the Pacer mold, I highly recommend going forth and buying one.

I already have a Strike Out - the model that this is a Reissue of - though there’s a slight possibility that I don’t. It was a model I picked up in the sales tent many years ago, before the NPOD became a "thing". Back then they’d occasionally have loose (bagged, not boxed) recent Regular and Special Runs just sitting in unsorted piles on tables.

They didn’t look any different from the models they claimed to be on the bag labels - and back then, we didn’t give too much thought otherwise. There was no way to tell if these were true "Samples" or just loose models that they happened to have lying around the warehouse or offices.

This was pre-VIN numbers, and before anyone put much effort into looking for handwritten notations. I did find a few with notes or initials on them, that most of my hobby compadres found more curious than noteworthy.

Being a fan of the Pacer mold, and in need of that particular release, I bought the Strike Out. I picked up a few others, too; Pretty Buck, and the Bay Quarter Horse from the 2001 JC Penney’s Riding Academy Set both come to mind, both purchased mostly because I liked the coloring on them. The prices were good - comparable to Traditional Regular Runs, perhaps a tad cheaper - so whether they were something special or not wasn’t that much of a consideration. I bought them because I liked them, plain and simple.

So I may, or may not have a Sample Strike Out. One of these days I’ll have to pick up another and see if there’s anything significantly different from mine. I doubt it, but you never know, with these things. (Yes, I kept the labels they came with. Because ephemera.)

Oh No, Not Again - Again!

I had heard rumors about as-yet-unreleased Reissues being spotted at the Factory Tours during the latest Exclusive Event, but I hadn’t given them much thought. I assumed that they’d spring them on us the way they did last year. You know, just setting them out in the Sales Tent, no announcements or nothing.

Nope. Say hello to the latest Warehouse Finds.

I swear I did not know they were being released on the web site this week, just a few days after I mentioned my hunch. I had a hunch something was coming because we had the White Moose Ghost in March of last year, and the Buried Treasure Lusitano in April the year before.

Logic and recent history.

Sometimes, though, I feel like Reeves is punking me. (Decorator Khemos? Let’s do it! Another web site surprise? Let's move it up to this week!)

So anyway, I bought a Pacer and an Old Timer. because those are molds on my "Approved to Buy" List. I picked up a Sucesion and LeFire too because I’ve been wanting to upgrade my set for a long time, and the prices for them on eBay have been out of my league.

430006 Quarter Horse - Blue Roan (AQHA Horse)
430007 Standardbred - Chestnut (Pacer)
430010 Thoroughbred - Chestnut (Halla/Bolya)
430011 Arabian Mare and Foal (Sucesion and LeFire)
430012 Redmond - Bay (Midnight Sun)
430019 Paint Horse - Bay (Cody/Ranch Horse)
430020 Old Timer - Appaloosa

The Old Timer is sans blinkers and hat, like the Palomino, but it’s too soon to tell just how much the other Reissues vary from the originals, outside of the VIN numbers and better executed paint jobs.

I have a feeling that the Midnight Sun will be the Huck Bey of this group - different enough from the original it was inspired from to qualify as a distinct release on its own. It even has a "real" name as opposed to a generic descriptive one, which I find interesting.

Plus, it’s been 25 years since the original #704 was discontinued, back when Reeves was still having some significant quality control issues. He’ll be different just by virtue of that. (I remember liking the release back then, and having a very hard time finding one that did not have major issues.)

It might be worth noting that this may represent the last official production release of the Midnight Sun mold. Due to the ongoing issues within the real world of Tennessee Walking Horses, there hasn’t been an official production release of the Midnight Sun mold since the last Special Run was made for WCHE in 2002.

The only other Midnight Suns we’ve seen in the meantime have been either auction pieces, or the Unpainted ones Reeves has periodically tried to sell us at BreyerFest.

Those "Whiteware" collections might be the key to figuring out what Reissues may be coming down the pipeline in the future. (There are gaps in the Reissue numbering system that still haven’t been accounted for yet. Seems inevitable to me.) The last boxed Whiteware sets included the following molds:

• Sucesion and LeFire
• Gem Twist
• Belgian
• Cody/Ranch Horse
• Midnight Sun
• Clock Saddlebred
• Clydesdale Mare
• Family Arabian Stallion
• Stock Horse Stallion (original tail)
• Shetland Pony
• Western Prancing Horse

Six of the twelve have turned up as Reissues! So I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the other six show up soon. Gem Twist seems the most likely choice, but I would be most excited about the Western Prancing Horse. (Another one on my Buy List!)

Reeves has disabled the parts of the inventory system that allowed us to figure out the rough counts, but (no surprise) the Sucesion and LeFire sets are already gone. Everything else still seems to be available, though.

Holiday Shopping

I won’t be putting my name in for Vignette this time around. I got my JAH in time to mail it in, but I made a decision a few weeks ago to refocus the collection: fewer "ooh, pretty horsie" pieces and more "historical/significant" ones. Part of that refocus includes having at least one example of every mold: that was the rationale for my attempt at Alpine.

I love the CWP mold, I really do, but I have lots of Cantering Welshies already.

I’m thinking I’ll probably spring for a Grab Bag: based on the $350 estimated value, there seems to be a high likelihood of porcelains showing up. Party Time, Dances with Wolves, Romantico: we know those guys are cluttering up the warehouse. I don’t have many of the porcelains - because, you know, I’m a big clumsy Buffalo - and this would be a good way of getting one at a price that won’t make me hyperventilate when I do eventually break the poor thing.

Speaking of Buffaloes and Connoisseurs, I’m not sure what’s up with everyone’s insistence that there’s just going to be Connoisseurs this time around, specifically Taima. Wishing for them - nay, almost counting on them? Seems awfully cynical, if you ask me. There’s plenty of other stuff kicking around the warehouse: WEG, recent discontinues, old XMAS stock, Fest SRs, Treasure Hunt items, Fall Dealer SRs, old plushies…

With my luck, I’ll end up with the assortment with all the stuff I already have, like Red Carpet Royalty, the Pink Poodle, and Buttercream. Now that I think about it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing: my sales inventory is getting a bit low. But I wasn’t planning on doing any more selling until Spring, and I hate having too much money tied up in inventory.

Maybe I should take my recent lack of horsebuying success as a hint, and blow my teeny-tiny year-end surplus on something more practical, like socks or antibiotics. (If I don’t have whooping cough, then whatever I do have is doing a darn good impression of it.)

In other news, I’m still being kept somewhat preoccupied by the Tack/Accessories Project. I made another discovery today: the Wood Corral was a mid-year or Holiday 1982 release, not a 1983 one. Something didn’t quite seem right with that date, so I skimmed through my Christmas Catalog binders, and voila, there it was in the 1982 Aldens Christmas Book:


As most hobbyists know, the Aldens company ceased operations in December 1982: the company itself didn’t "go bankrupt," but its parent company Wickes did. They sold off as many of the divisions as they could while reorganizing, but a buyer couldn’t be found for Aldens:

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/18/business/wickes-closing-its-aldens-unit.html

The infamous Black Pacer - and I assume, all of the other Breyer merchandise - was shipped back to Breyer, who then passed it to other mail-order companies, most notably Bentley Sales.

Early Eyewhites

Prior to the mid-1990s, eye detailing was a relatively uncomplicated topic. You had earlier, overpainted two-stroke eyewhites, the slightly later underpainted "masked" eyewhites, and a few examples (usually among the non-animals) of eyeliner eyewhites, which were really just a variation of the two-stroke eyewhites. That were sometimes pink.

Overpainted eyewhites consist of two near-translucent paintstrokes over the back corner of the eye, painted over the black dot eye. As seen on this Bay Running Mare:


Underpainted eyewhites are done by painting the entire back half of the eyeball white, and painting the black dot eye over it. It gives a sharper, more masked look. As seen on this Pacer:


There were some notable exceptions - many of the Dogs, including the Boxer, Poodles, Bloodhound/Bassett Hound and the St. Bernard - had unique and detailed eye treatments. Some of the Dall Sheep and Mountain Goats had a type of brown bi-eye. And the earliest versions of the Fighting Stallion had a little extra airbrushed pinking around the eye (most of which have faded and disappeared over time.)

Nowadays it’s a rare model that doesn’t have some sort of fancy eye detailing - even Stablemates aren’t immune, though mercifully Reeves is backing off on them a little bit (presumably for cost, but also probably because of the freakish scale issues.)

The standard eye treatment, from the mid-1960s until quite recently, was the simple black dot eye, usually glossed. Some of the smaller scale models would have the entire surface of the eye painted black, but most Traditionals got a round or oval shaped dot that left part of the eyeball unpainted, giving the impression of eyewhites. I call these "unpainted" or false eyewhites. They’re most obvious on lighter-colored models, such as this Running Stallion:


Overspray on these types of eyes is common, often giving the appearance of gray or black eyeliner. It may or may not have been intentional.

Setting aside the Dog molds, the earliest known painted eyewhites didn’t appear until ca. 1959. It’s important to note that Breyer was not consistent with the application of eyewhites in its earliest days; some models got them, some didn’t, and there was little rhyme or reason why. Some early models are pretty rare to find with painted eyewhites, like the Buckskin Quarter Horse Gelding and Buckskin Mustang, while others are relatively common, such as the Gloss Charcoal Fighting Stallion. Early glosses are a little more likely to be found with eyewhites than early mattes, but there are exceptions to that rule, too (i.e. the Stretch Morgan!)

Some colors were less likely to have painted eyewhites, too. Virtually all white and Alabaster molds that I’ve seen have had the unpainted variety, and painted eyewhites tend to be rather rare on the whole spectrum of gray-based paint jobs (except the Smoke Belgian. Go figure.)

I haven’t done any elaborate charting of eyewhites to determine timing or rarity; there might have been an eyewhite gap between the earlier overpainted eyewhites and the later underpainted ones, but I haven’t been able to verify or deny it because of the consistency issue.

Painted eyewhites of all types - again, excluding the non-horse exceptions - seem to have been discontinued by 1968; the Traditional Man o’ War and Pacer, both of whom debuted in 1967, were the last regular run horses issued with factory eyewhites until the 1990s.