At least this one has a horse on it!
It’s pretty trashed, but it was cheap, and the clock mechanism works. I won’t be discussing it any further here since, by sheer coincidence, it’s a crucial part of an article I had just happened to be working on the night before for the Sampler. (Actually, I was kinda worried how I was going to illustrate the article, since I didn’t have one of the key pieces I writing about. Problem solved!) So y’all will have to wait.
(The Sampler’s about half done. As are the two contest entries. Looks like I won’t be getting much sleep for the next two weeks.)
Man, I really feel sorry for the BreyerWest Escondido. He doesn’t look anything at all like the model he’s being compared to, the inexplicably popular palomino Tesoro. The #867 Tesoro had an almost unprecedented four year run in the Breyer line - from 1992 through 1995 - at a time when many models were lucky to stick around for two.
I found it inexplicable because I thought Tesoro’s paint job back then was underwhelming. He looks great in that color, no doubt, but there was no "there" there. There were no crazy markings, shading, or hoof details to distinguish it from any other palomino paint job. He was just a plain palomino.
He obviously struck enough of a chord to be able to stick around for a leisurely four years. I haven’t picked one up yet; I have just about every other El Pastor, some of them in multiple variations, but not Tesoro. I’d hate to pay "retail" for him, only to find one for substantially less at the flea market. It’s nothing personal; it just happens often enough that I’m leery of buying almost any regular run models straight from the store, unless the shading or detail are really exceptional.
I’m still on the fence about buying Escondido. It’s not the price that’s putting me off - the limited quantity and level of detail just about justify it - but ‘Fest is just around the corner. Maybe there’ll be a few in the NPOD, or I can work a trade for one. I’d hate to buy one now, only to discover I could have saved myself the postage.
