Darned If You Do

I haven’t joined the Premier Club, but I’ve entered into a partnership with a friend to purchase any releases she doesn’t want or need. It’s a win-win situation for the both of us: she won’t have to go through the bother of finding a buyer, and I’ll occasionally get a random surprise model, which is always fun.

The first of these new purchases was Firefly and Hawkeye!

The Foal is just as cute in person as I thought it would be, and the Mare in much nicer than the photos let on. I think it’s the paint job, mostly: it distracts from her lovely silhouette. 

It highlights the one problem I do have with Premier Club releases, and a lot of higher end Breyer releases in general: unnecessarily complex colors and patterns. 

If you don’t put a “fancy” paint job on a higher-end release, hobbyists complain that they’re not getting their money’s worth on it. But then you have other hobbyists complaining that the fancy colors and patterns are either unrealistic, or not breed accurate.

It’s a darned-if-you-do, darned-if-you-don’t situation.

Taking breed standards out of the equation, some molds look better in solid colors, and others in patterned ones. For example, I think the San Domingo looks better spotted, rather than solid (with the one except being the No-Spot Appaloosa Oxydol, maybe because of his uniqueness?) The opposite is the case with molds like the Traditional Man o’ War, whose admittedly odd proportions can look even odder when enhanced with strategically placed whites. 

As much as I want to love him, the 2016 Vintage Club Man o’ War release Storm just doesn’t do much for me. I would have been so much happier with a solid Charcoal, Gloss or Matte Palomino, or even (sigh!) Gloss Dapple Gray or Dapple Black.

(Though if I were offered a Test Color Pinto or Appaloosa Man o’ War, I would take it in a heartbeat, because one does not turn down a Test Color Man o’ War.)

I think that’s why I’m still a little hesitant about Elbe and Spree, the Pinto BreyerFest releases of Firefly and Hawkeye: while I’m sure they’ll be great in person, all I can imagine is how much more I would like them in more common/boring colors – like the original Thoroughbred Mare and Suckling Foal, in plain old (kinda-sorta) Bay and Chestnut.

While I think that would make an ideal future Vintage Club release, I can also see a lot of collectors dismissing them much as they dismissed the recent Barrington – on another Morgen Kilbourn mold, no less. (I thought he turned out fabulous, but I am pretty much a sucker for all of Morgen’s molds.)

(Just a head’s up: I’ll be on more-or-less mandatory overtime through the month of March, so free time will be even harder to come by for me until April-ish. I’m not thrilled that most of my creative life will be on hold until then, but I’m definitely not disliking the paychecks.)

Roman

Believe it or not, I just opened up my Vintage Club San Domingo Roman. Not for lack of wanting, but… you know, long stories.

Of all the 2018 Vintage Club releases, Roman was the one I was most ambivalent about. In spite of my love – or maybe because of – my fondness for the Medicine Hat Pinto pattern, I’ve had surprising difficulty finding just the right #67 to add to my herd.

Though this difficulty hasn’t soured me on the mold itself, as I appear to have quite a non-San Domingo San Domingos hanging around this joint: the no-spot Appaloosa Oxydol, the 1994 BreyerFest Bright Zip, the original Montgomery Ward’s Special Run Black Gold from 1985, the QVC Special Run Traveller, and the Happy Canyon Trail Horse Domino…

I even contemplated buying a 1997 Volunteer Model Moccasin at one point, when one came up on the market a few years ago at a not-unreasonable price. I am very fond of my Commemorative Edition Domino, and having his Buckskin “twin” had a pretty strong appeal to me.

Until I looked at my bank account, and came to my senses.

Another point of ambivalence I had with Roman was his color: it was extremely similar to the Sham Quinn from the year before. There were significant differences – Quinn had dappling, pearlescence, and a less extensive pinto pattern – but releasing two models in such similar colors in two consecutive years felt odd to me.

Then a third point of contention came out of the blue earlier this year. I learned that my Grandfather Louis Jankowiak was good friends with a man named Roman.

Specifically, Roman Gribbs. Who was, for four years, the Mayor of Detroit. Someone with a rather complicated historical legacy.

Finding out – twenty years after his death – that Grandpa Louis was ice-fishing buddies with the Mayor of Detroit was (and continues to be) kind of disorienting, and I’m still not quite sure how or what to think about it. It certainly explains some things, but still leaves other things a mystery… (not all that unusual for that side of the family, to be honest.)

But then I opened my Roman today – because it was that kind of day – and most of my ambivalence was washed away, at least for the moment. Gosh, he’s pretty!

Sometimes a pretty horse is a pretty horse, and it should be left as that. There’s no need to make it complicated, or conditional.

Good Enough

It just occurred to me that the two items I ordered late last week – the Vintage Club Weather Girl Grace, and the Stablemates Club Finn – are both Gambler’s Choice items. I just paid out a decent chunk of money and I have no idea what I’ll be getting.

Out of the 12 different possible combinations (three of the Grace, four of the Finn) that is.

And you know what? I’m fine with that. I grew up during the “picture box” era of Breyer collecting – pre-1985 – and most of the time you had no idea what you’d actually be getting inside that box. It wasn’t just a solid, opaque cardboard box either: they were shrinkwrapped too!

(Handpicking? Hah!)

Breyer was in something of an experimental phase with retail packaging in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Prior to then, toy stores generally kept out display pieces, and you had to ask the clerk to bring you your selection from their backstock.

By the end of the 1970s, most stores – toys or otherwise – had switched to a self-service mode as a cost-saving measure, which necessitated a move to more decorative and informative packaging.

The history of Breyer packaging is, of course, much more complicated than that, but I don’t have the time or the mind to deal with the intricacies today. Another day, perhaps.

Aside from the packaging issues, a lot of the time you couldn’t trust the catalogs or manuals, either. Case in point: the Stock Horse Stallions from the 1981 Dealer’s Catalog:

Well, okay, I am still a little mad about that one: I want that minimally-marked Black Pinto San Domingo, dangnabit! I probably have a slightly better chance of acquiring one of the numerous Stock Horse Stallions Tests, like this one:

Seriously, there’s like a bajillion different Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallions out there, and I like them all better than the pinto we actually got, but that just might be a “wanting what you can’t have” thing. Or that I’m always up for another Test Color or Oddity, no matter the mold or color. I already have two Stock Horse Stallion Tests, and don’t really need another.

But back to the original point: everyone has gotten very spoiled since the advent of display boxes. We can be picky now, instead of later!

However, the ability to be pickier isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially if we find ourselves becoming so picky that nothing less than perfection is good enough. And since perfection is an arbitrary and abstract concept, what happens is that eventually, no model is ever good enough.

The perfect is the enemy of the good. 

I’m not saying y’all should accept a substandard model, but sometimes, life is easier and a lot less stressful if we just accept that everything comes occasional ding or flaw, whether we like it or not.

Just a Few

A Few Spot Appaloosa on the True North mold? You’re killing me!

Aside from the fact I just think Few Spot Appaloosa are kinda neat, I’m also of the opinion that the Appaloosa as a breed has been done no favors by the aggressive quest for color.

Once I get around to customizing again, one of the projects I’m very eager to get to work on is an Appaloosa Performance Horse in a Few Spot Appaloosa, since it’s unlikely that they’ll ever get around to giving us a Regular Run one anytime soon.

As much as we carp about virtually every release nowadays being spotted, the fact of the matter is that’s what sells. Unless the model is exceptional in some other way – glossy, with extra or extra-special detailing, or is a Portrait Model of someone historical/noteworthy – it’s been in Reeves best financial interest to make it as fancy as possible.

And fancy means spots.

Though it is true that many BreyerFest Auction pieces in the past few years have actually been previews of future releases (in other words, truly Tests!) I’m still skeptical of more Few Spot releases in the near future.

They are, by definition, not fancy enough.

There haven’t been many Breyer Few Spot Appaloosas in the past, either. There are the occasional extreme variations of the #115 Appaloosa Western Prancing Horse, and I’ve seen a few older Gloss Gray Appaloosa with spots sparse enough to possibly pass as one (later examples of the Fighting Stallion, for instance.)

But the only intentional Few Spot that immediately comes to mind is the San Domingo Oxydol, who was from about 20 years ago.

(I have one, he just happens to be in storage right now.)

I think they tried to pass off the Dappled Liver Chestnut Running Mare from the 2009 Fun Foals Treasure Hunt as a “solid Appaloosa” too. Which I thought kind of muddled the color genetics lesson the Fun Foals promotion was supposed to be about. (Would it really have been that big a deal to toss a couple of stray spots on her? Mottle her nose a bit? Add a couple of hoof stripes? )
 
Back to BreyerFest prep…

Random Test Color Day: Appaloosa San Domingo

I’m tired, not feeling particularly well, work has been running long, and what little free time I’ve have over the past two days I’ve spent researching carousel horse restoration.

(The only decision I’ve made on them is that since Sparky is a Herschell Indian Pony, he needs to be painted like one – specifically, like the Brown Pinto Breyer Indian Pony, warpaint and all!)

So anyway, while I attempt to get caught up on my sleep, my bills, my mail and so on, here’s a random picture of a Test Color from one of Marney’s albums, for your enjoyment:

I have no idea where this San Domingo is, or what happened to him. I just happen to find his big old splashy spots very fetching right now. I have always preferred my San Domingos to be of the spotted variety – though I wouldn’t turn down one of those really scarce BreyerFest Special Run Buckskin Porcelains from 1999 if the price wasn’t too high…

There’s a nice old Appaloosa Gelding on eBay who has spots even bigger and splashier than that, but I am trying my best to resist the urge to bid. I doubt he will go very high, but I need fewer horses and more money right now, not other way around.

Reinterpretations

A little over a month to BreyerFest, and I don’t even have my sales list done yet. (About the only thing going remotely well is my diorama entry, for some strange reason.)

Sigh.

I am guessing that there is not going to be much sleep for me between now and then?

One of the pieces I have managed to pull is my 1995 QVC Gem Twist. I have a lot of Jumping Horses as it is – including one Test and a Sample Kiowa – and I’d like to make room for a State Line Tack Jumpin’ Jupiter, because I think it’s just flat out the prettiest Jumping Horse release ever.

The QVC Gem Twist wasn’t technically a rerelease or reissue of the original Gem Twist – the former USET team member and Olympic medalist was still available in his original color and mold #495 – but a reinterpretation, I guess?

I found it very strange.

In 2002, they did another QVC “reinterpretation” – this time of the #718 General Lee’s Traveller. Instead of using the original Traditional Man o’ War mold, they used the San Domingo:

In this case, it made some sense to use a different mold, since he had been discontinued for a while (since 1999) and they also reissued the Traditional Man o’ War for QVC that year, too – as Man o’ War. Two releases on the same mold in the same year probably wouldn’t have flown with QVC.

Normally I’m not a fan of San Domingo in solid colors, and I had been having a hard time finding an acceptable Man o’ War Traveler to add to the herd – most of them either had weird trimming flaws or paint goobers – but I went ahead and bought this Traveler anyway.

And it turns out, I not only really liked him, he’s probably one of my favorite San Domingo releases ever, of the ones I can afford.

(The ones I love that I can’t afford? The 1997 Volunteer Model Moccasin, the BreyerFest 1999 Raffle Ransom. Or those Dealer Catalog Tests for the Stock Horse Stallion that EVERYBODY wants….)

Pinto Stock Horse Stallions

As you can tell, I haven’t been very motivated lately. It’s not just the WEG thing. It’s October, and October’s never been a good month for me: an unusually high percentage of my friends and relatives who have shaken off the mortal coil have done so in October. (So far, so good, but there’s still a lot of October to go.)

We’re entering the slow time of the year for the part-time job, which means less income - to cover the same amount of bills. More actually, because of the dental emergency. (Just got a friendly "reminder" to pay the remainder of that. By this Friday, I hope.)

Because of the money situation, I wasn’t terribly motivated to buy anything at the flea market today, beyond a few grocery items and a new squeak toy for Vita. There were things to buy: some nice bodies, and a herd of hilariously funky flockies that someone had enhanced with glitter and rick-rack. I don’t normally go for flockies of any kind, but the fact that someone went out of their way to "customize" them did bring a bit of a smile to my face.

So what have I been doing? Finishing up old business, putting some way-too-distracting craft projects in storage, filing and reorganizing. I’m a bit behind in updating my research notes, so I’ve put a bit of a hold on the library visits until I get caught up. I need to focus on the newer stuff anyhow; while I may be on the verge of finally untangling the greater mysteries of the 1950s, the past couple years’ worth of releases are mostly a blur. (There were what, like 60 some items for WEG, alone? Sheesh.)

One recent release I do plan on buying when the money situation sorts itself out: that awesome JC Penney’s Two-Horse Set - the one with the Bay Smart Chic Olena and one of the coolest-OF-pinto-paint-jobs-evar Stock Horse Stallion.

Most of the Stock Horse Stallion’s previous pinto releases have been pretty blah. The LSE "Dallas" was pretty sweet, and I love my Sam I Am, but all of the easier-to-get Pintos? Total snoozers.

I can remember being a little surprised - and a tad bit disappointed - when my original Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallion arrived on my doorstep in early 1981. I had ordered him based on the photos I had seen in the Collector’s Manual I had received from the Bentley Sales Company:


Him, I found exciting. I love black pintos - and a minimal, mostly black one? Perfection! In fact, everywhere you looked in 1981, you found a different Black Pinto Stock Horse Stallion. Here’s another one, from the 1981 Alden’s Christmas Catalog:


Marney might have designed that one specifically; she had photos of both sides of one an awful lot like it in her photo album:


Also exciting? The San Domingo test from the 1981 Dealer’s Catalog. I’m not a huge fan of San Domingo, but I thought he looked freaking amazing in an airbrushed minimal black pinto:


Clearly the mold itself wasn’t ready in time for the photo shoot for the Dealer’s Catalog, so the next best thing - the San Domingos - had to be substituted. The stores placing their initial orders wouldn’t have been overly concerned that the final product varied somewhat from the Dealer’s Catalog; while I wouldn’t say that it was an expected occurrence, that sort of thing happens enough to not be that big a deal. Most toy buyers at that time wouldn’t have noticed, or cared, that the molds or the patterns didn’t match. They ordered black and white spotted horses, they got black and white spotted horses. No biggie.

Now the Collector’s Manual, that was a different situation: that was going straight into the hands of hobbyists and other consumers. While the hobby, and the model horse market in general, was not as sophisticated as it is now, the difference would have been noticed. And commented on, either to the toy store, or to Breyer itself.

Evidently the shoot for the Collector’s Manual was put off long enough to get some actual Stock Horse Stallions in there. The paint jobs weren’t finalized by then, but at least it was the right mold. Breyer would get a slew of whiny letters (including mine) about the catalog paint jobs not matching the production paint jobs, but not in the same quantity, or intensity, that a San Domingo subsitution would have brought.

As for the wide variety of pinto patterns, I’m not sure what was up with that. I do know there was a genuine dispute over the pattern, partly stemming from the fact that Peter Stone apparently didn’t know (at the time) the difference between Overo and Tobiano. But did each version represent the actual, viable production item at the moment of that photo shoot, or were they just whatever random test pieces they happened to have lying around?

If any of these early test pintos happen to turn up in the near future, I’d certain consider pouncing on them, regardless of my current financial stake.