The Price of Knowledge

Apparently I was for sale on eBay? 

(LOL) 

If I were to self-identify as a model horse, it’d be some type of heavy warmblood (Cleveland Bay?), the Shagya Arabian or maybe a Lipizzaner like Pluto. The rationale: I am not petite, and am of Belgian-Polish-Hungarian descent. Probably Dapple Gray too, since going gray early runs in the family…

But for $37, you’re only going to get about an hour and a half of uninterrupted in-person time from the real me. While my time is free at BreyerFest, it’s usually limited in quantity, and I often have no idea when it’s available. 

I probably should organize a meet-and-greet this year, if only to get an hour or so of time to sit for an hour in one place and just shoot the breeze. 

(Hmm.) 

Anyway, in a minor follow up to the previous post about the other eBay auction, I am aware of that many of the various Western Horse Knockoffs that exist have value, and that the Gold Foil Sticker boxes also do. I own plenty of both!

It’s just that with the recent influx of newer and less savvy collectors into the market, I’m a little concerned that some of the bidders incorrectly assumed that the items do in fact belong together, when that’s not the case. It’s been more than once that I’ve observed someone buy something on the assumption that it was a vintage Breyer Western Horse or Pony, and then discover that it was not. 

All the Black Beauty Western Horses and Ponies that I’ve seen that came with their original boxes came in corrugated shippers. All variations of the original Western Black Beauties – with markings, and without – were discontinued by the end of the 1950s, while the White Border boxes didn’t debut until 1973. 

I can see why some hobbyists might assume that they reissued the model in that color in the 1970s, because a lot of models were reissued in the 1970s, or re-released as Special Runs. And Solid Black Special Runs were also a thing in the 1970s. 

But as far as I know, there were no Special Runs or re-releases of the Western Horse or Pony in the 1970s. There are some rare variations, including a Chalky of the Palomino Horse and Matte of the Palomino Pony, neither of which are too expensive. 

I’d be on board with a Solid, Matte Black Western Horse or Pony Special or Regular Run. Don’t think it will happen, though; while there is definitely a market for vintage molds – the expanded Vintage Club membership also sold out, and some of the Breyer Breeds releases seem to be selling well – a relatively plain black Western Horse or Pony might just be a little too plain for the current market’s taste.

(Make it Charcoal, however, and all bets are off!)

Black Beauty Western Pony

Let’s see – the garden’s been abandoned, for now. I gave up on even starting the diorama yesterday. I’m tripping over almost everything in the house and I still haven’t entirely finished either the Sampler or my Sales List.

Yep, full panic mode activated!

I know I’ll pull it out like a superhero, but dang, the view is scary from here!

Anyway, here’s a little something to admire along the way – a Black Beauty Western Pony! Isn’t she cute?

She was one of my earliest in-hobby purchases, from ca. 1980: I think I bought her from an ad in Shari Struzan’s The Hobby Horse, a hobby publication that briefly became the hobby’s oasis after Linda Walter shuttered The Model Horse Shower’s Journal.

(And I only managed to get a subscription to The Hobby Horse because I managed to place a classified in either the last, or next to last issue of the MHSJ. More about that crazy story some other day…)

Back then, we pretty much bought and sold everything sight unseen: in the stores, everything except the Stablemates came in closed cardboard boxes, and it was too much of a hassle to take and send photographs back and forth while negotiating for a horse off of a newsletter sales list.

You took your fellow hobbyists at their word, and sent the money. For the most part, I wasn’t disappointed. (Sure, there were some, but not as many as you might have thought.)

I bought her along with the Black Beauty Western Horse, because even then I was kind of obsessed with early Breyer History, and why the heck not?

Keep in mind, I hadn’t even seen an actual Black Beauty Western Horse or Pony at that point, either. So not only was I buying something I hadn’t had a chance to inspect, I had virtually no idea what to expect when they finally got here.

I was obviously pleased, because they’re still here, all these years later….

As a bonus, here’s an ad for the Black Beauty Western Pony from the September 1953 issue of Western Horseman. 

Saddle Snaps

Sometimes research hunches lead to big or significant finds… and sometimes, they don’t.

This is a case of the latter, rather than the former.

I had always been curious about the snap fasteners used on Breyer snap saddles – specifically the ones used on the Western Horse, the Western Pony, and the #36 Racehorse. Was there an interesting tale to be told there?

Depends on your definition of interesting, I guess.

Most of these saddles used Klikit brand fasteners, which were manufactured by the Rau Fastener Company of Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1911, and ceased to be in the late 1990s, when it was acquired by its competitor, Scovill Fasteners.

Here’s the trademark info: https://trademarks.justia.com/714/29/rau-klikit-71429825.html

Just about the only other thing worth noting about Klikit snaps is that they were extensively used in apparel, especially on the old-timey Western-style shirts favored by Hollywood cowboys and rockabilly artists.

However, most snaps – then, and now – were used on more utilitarian articles of clothing, where buttons would be either a hassle or a liability – like uniforms, outerwear, and baby accessories.

(And costumes, too. But I’m not thinking about that right now, I’m really not…)

Even though the Klikit brand has been out of production for at least 20 years, old warehouse stock can still be found on eBay – if you’re especially keen about restoring Breyer snap saddles or vintage clothing.

Snaps aren’t all that hard to assemble/attach, incidentally, as long as you have the right tools for the job. Easier than sewing on a button, actually!

Dear Flea Market: The Cowboy Cull

Originally I was just going to whinge about the new Unicorn Stablemates and how I am super annoyed that I will probably just have to order a box of them from somebody just to get some at a halfway decent price, but then I went to the flea market and this happened:

I found an authentic ca. 1950s Breyer Cowboy Cull.

With his hat.

(That was the best part. I didn’t even see it when I picked him up, and the vendor was “Don’t forget his hat!” If he had pulled out the guns or a box, too, you would not be reading this because I would be in the hospital right now still recovering from the shock.)

Seriously, flea market: we need to talk.

I thought we were safely out of range of Chicago for this sort of nonsense to happen.

The closest I’ve heard of such things happening was Lansing and Lansing is, at best, two hours away. We’re close enough to Canada that the occasional Beswick or Royal Doulton piece wanders by, and that I’m totally cool with and grateful for.

You might remember that I found a New Jersey Cull (the Quarter Horse Gelding Splash) here last year, which is why I’m understandably a little freaked out about this.

The rest of the flea market shopping experience was fairly normal. A few body-quality Classics, some craft supplies, a few groceries. I did end up leaving some stuff behind, including a pretty decent Gray Plastic Donkey, because after the Cowboy I was pretty much “I can’t even, anymore.” 

Technically there’s not a huge market for this thing: Culls are a bit of a niche item, and so are the 1950s-era Rigid Riders.

So a niche of a niche is what, exactly? Is it like a nook or cranny?

Since I dwell in that subniche – I own a Test Color Roemer, over a half dozen Black Stretched Morgan variations, and a three-legged Dapple Gray Family Arabian Mare that I’m not even sure I know what she is anymore – it’s a moot point. It’s not going anywhere.

Interesting way to get “model horse holy week” off to a start!

I have to go finish packing now. It is not going well, but I’ll manage.

Brown Pinto Western Pony Slip-On Saddle?

Here’s the other interesting piece in that recent box lot purchase, a Brown Pinto Western Pony:

It’s the later, more Palomino version as opposed to the earlier and more Chestnut ones. This variation had been another low-priority want for me, and I was hoping that it would come in a box lot, eventually.

And she did! She has a few flaws, but nothing I can’t live with.

The second interesting thing about her is the saddle. Normally Brown Pinto Western Ponies come with the “Snap-Cinch” saddles, like my earlier example here:

Since the Brown Pinto Pony was discontinued at about the same time that the Slip-On saddles were introduced (ca. 1966), I always assumed that the Brown Pintos never came with the Slip-Ons.

However, this came out of the same lot as the Western Prancing Horse with the Gray Transitional Saddle, so it’s entirely possible that this was another case of saddle switching.

The only things making me hesitate writing it off that way is the fact that this is, indeed, an earlier and more neatly painted version of the Western Pony Slip-On Saddle – and that the saddle itself fits the model snugly.

As anyone who has tried to replace a saddle on a Western Horse/Pony/Prancer knows, it’s not as simple as taking a saddle off one and putting it on another. Every model is very slightly different, even ones within the same production run. After a while, the saddles that come with the model – especially if they are left on the model indefinitely – will conform to the subtle contours of the model that it is on.

It could very well be that the saddle switch happened very early on, and my musings are moot. The only way we’ll ever be able to confirm that it did happen at the factory is to find a Mint in (Unopened) Box Brown Pinto Western Pony with the Slip-On.

While this is not an impossibility (says the girl who has a Mint In Box Breyer Cigarette Host ca. 1950!) the best I can do for now is note it as a possibility in my files.

The Things We Value

I was doing a little pricing research on eBay this week – a few pieces are already up on MHSP, with more to follow throughout the weekend – and I have to say that I am utterly befuddled by the high prices Flockies are commanding there.

I’m not talking of the rare Regular Runs or Special Runs ones, or the occasional Test pieces that show up, but the undocumented “free range” ones that I had thought the hobby had all agreed were basically Customs.

It's no secret that I am not a big fan of Flockies: they creep me out, especially the ones with the glass eyes. But I will also admit that the ones made by the Riegeseckers for Breyer – the Miniature Series in the Regular Run catalogs, and all the assorted pieces available via holiday mail-order catalogs – have both historical and monetary value. And some people have taste different than my own. (Whatever you want to keep on the shelf in your horse room is your own business!)

These custom ones have some, too – they were sort of a thing in the hobby for a while, oddly enough – but the prices I’ve been seeing seem way out of proportion.

Am I missing something? Is it something I should be glad I missed? Was there a rumor of them being Tests/Culls/Decos under the fake fur-like substance? Is it a bit of bad intel multiplied by a surplus of fun money?

It seems so weird to me; sometimes I understand completely why something becomes popular, desirable, or expensive, but this one makes me shrug my shoulders.

It’s one of the many reasons I try to avoid giving out advice on value and pricing. If I were able to shape the universe as I saw fit, something like this would be more valued than it is:

It’s a Matte Black Pinto Western Pony. Like its Palomino counterpart, the majority of them are Gloss, not Matte. It’s actually a rather scarce piece, in any condition – even body quality, as here.

The Black Pinto is slightly more common than its Palomino counterpart – I see a small handful of them in the wild every year, while the Matte Palomino is about as common as the Matte Walking Horned Hereford Bull, and that one took me nearly a decade to acquire.

She came in what wasn’t supposed to be – but ended up being – a body box lot. She wasn’t the only interesting piece in the lot, but I’ll get to them when the time and moment is right.

Prune Brown

Head’s up: I’ll be starting to sell stuff again within the next week or so. The outdoor flea market season opens soon here, and I will need some walking-around-money for that.

The Special Run we thought would be a vintage model turned out to be the Croi Damsha in Dappled Sooty Palomino: it’s the very antithesis of a Vintage Model. Huh. I wasn’t expecting another release on that mold until the Fall.

You know, from a distance, in passing, and if I wasn’t wearing my glasses, a Palomino Croi Damsha could pass for a Palomino Family Arabian Stallion. There’s that, at least.

(Hmm. A Reissue Palomino FAS in Dappled Sooty Palomino. I had not considered that a possibility until now.)

The final model in the Ticket Special Lineup will be a Gloss Dappled Rose Gray Wixom, if the rotating banners on the Breyer web site are to be believed. (A Percheron, finally!) Unless it turns out to be a different kind of something, like a Store or Souvenir Special.

Regardless of what she is, I doubt her inclusion there is an accident. It feels more like a way to drum up interest for the last weekend of Early Bird Ticket sales: Let’s drop a previously unknown/unseen Gloss Special Run on the front page!

Back on topic. Here are a couple of actual Vintage Models: a pair of Western Ponies in Dark Brown and Black Beauty:

The Dark Brown variation is comparatively rare; it appears that it was only issued ca. 1956, or shortly after the discontinuation of the Davy Crockett Horse and Rider set. It really was listed as "Dark Brown" on at least one piece of ephemera from the era, so it was a genuine release, and not a variation.

My theory for its existence - and relative rarity - is that the #40 Dark Brown release was created to help use up the "Plum Brown" acetate that was purchased for the manufacture of the Davy Crockett Horse and Rider set. The Davy Crockett fad faded almost as quickly as it rose, and Breyer may have been stuck with a load or two of Plum Brown plastic.

But not too much: the Brown Western Ponies aren’t easy to find today, and (as far as I know) there aren’t any other Plum Brown models floating around, other than the Fury/Prancers. The "Brown and Gold" Western Horses that occasionally cause a stir on eBay are just early (and not very good) knockoffs.

The color of the Brown Western Pony is dark enough that in the right setting and the right lighting, it’s almost indistinguishable from the Star-faced Black Beauty, so it might be slightly more common than we actually think. And the Star-faced Black Beauty slightly more rare.

Through the 1950s and early 1960s, Breyer seemed to have an "as above, so below" policy when it came to the Western Horses and Ponies. Except for the Dark Brown - and the Star-faced Black Beauty Ponies, who share the same item number. That, and their decorative similarities lead us to the conclusion that the Star-faced Black Beauty Western Ponies were the variation - of the Dark Brown, created when the Plum Brown plastic finally ran out.  

Due to the ephemera gaps of the 1950s, we can’t be sure when the transition happened. It was somewhere between 1956 and 1958, since the No. 40 Western Pony is listed on a 1958 dated price list - and is shown in a ca. 1958 Dealer Catalog - as "Black Beauty". I tend to believe it was earlier rather than later, hence my "ca. 1956" dating.

On a final note, I have to admit that I snicker a little bit every time I see or hear the term "Plum Brown" used to describe this brown plastic we’ve been discussing today. "Plum Brown" has always struck me as a very pleasant euphemism for the word "Prune".

We’re very fond of describing horse colors using food words: Olive Bay, Mulberry Gray, and Peach Dun. But Prune Brown? It doesn't sound quite so yummy.

Making a Splash

Can you see why I think this Sample of the Retro Release Western Pony is so awesome?

Actual Splash Spots, yes!

I knew Reeves had seriously considered, at one point, going with actual Splash Spots instead of the masked ones: the Sample/Test on the back of the Retro Release box has them. Every time I’d go to a new or more familiar toy store with an ample Breyer selection, I’d always check out the Western Ponies to see if they might have slipped a few in the mix just to mess with us.

(My pony is not That Pony, though.)

Funny thing is, I didn’t notice that this little one was what I was looking for all along until several days after I had gotten home from BreyerFest. There were a number of items I had bought in the Pit that I hadn’t yet opened: it wasn’t that I had so many, but that I thought I’d appreciate them more at a slightly later date. Plus, it's always nice to have a few unopened packages lying around the house for a quick "pick me up" whenever a day's gone south.

This decision was made not long after I did open that Very Special Mariah’s Boon that, as I have already detailed, pretty much sent me over the edge. As much as I love that guy, I didn’t want to take any more chances of being gobsmacked, again. Those of you from Michigan know it’s hard enough driving the length of Ohio with a Michigan license plate; there was no need to complicate the drive home with an even-more-freaked-out-than-average Post-BreyerFest state of mind.

I had a hunch it was, though, and I know better than to question my hunches. Even if it hadn’t turned out as well as I hoped, I also gambled on the recent uptick of interest in "Vintage" collecting taking care of the problem, in short order. I sold a larger than average number of quality Vintage releases and molds in Kentucky this year, and it wasn’t just me: some of my friends also noted the trend.

Among the pieces I sold this year were a number of Appaloosas of the Splash Spot type, and I had several random hobbyists profess their undying love of the old-fashioned sloppy/streaky/random Splash Spotting technique to me, too.

I don’t know if there is any one factor contributing to this newfound interest in Vintage stuff, and old-fashioned techniques in general (Vintage Club, Retro Releases, or - dare I say it - moi?) but I’m glad, regardless.

Perhaps the next time Reeves considers another release in a similar vein, they’ll go all the way next time. We’re totally okay with the streaks and randomness, really.

Wabi-sabi and the Model Horse

I wasn’t expecting Halo to be the second Vintage Club release this year, as long time readers know by now. I interpreted Reeves words cleverly rather than obviously, which I should know not to do by now, considering my recent success rate on predictions.

So I won’t even hazard a guess on the mold for the BreyerFest Gambler’s Choice/Surprise model this year, except to note - as others have - that the descriptive term they’re using for it (CC Shuffle) is a reference to a style of line dancing. (So, something gaited?)

What I want is something with a saddle - Western Horse, Western Pony, Western Prancing Horse, Fury/Prancer - but realistically, I don’t see that happening. (Wouldn’t a Leopard Appaloosa Western Horse be awesome?)

Speaking of, I did finally get to see the Retro Release Roany Chestnut Appaloosa Western Pony last week and liked him a whole lot more than I thought I would. I didn’t buy one - trying to keep a tight rein on my budget, still - but if they should offer it up at a discounted price later in the year like they did with the Pinto Prancer, I just might.

The other new release that really caught my eye - and by surprise - was the latest on the Smart Chic Olena mold, a portrait of Topsails Rien Maker. I’m not the kind of person who gets super excited over Another Chestnut Quarter Horse release, especially on a mold that’s already seen a more than a few, but it was darn hard walking out of the store without him.

I loved the fact that - aside from the bang up job on the color, overall - they also incorporated the real Rien Maker’s Bend Or spots into the paint job. I’m not ashamed to admit that it’s those little details that make my heart grow fonder.

I think the first time Breyer actually incorporated a natural-occurring color "imperfection" into a portrait model was with the 1989 Limited Edition Abdullah, on the Trakehner mold. I was just as taken with it then - it being the Trakehner mold and a rather detailed paint job overall didn’t hurt, either.

(Sorry for the subpar picture - he really is much prettier in real life.)

The incorporation of these natural "flaws" has received rather mixed reviews, however, from hobbyists. While some appreciated the extra effort made to capture the unique characteristics of individual horses, others were dismayed by what looked like (to them) obvious manufacturing errors. There was quite a bit of consternation, for instance, when the 1999 Special Run Five-Gaiter Will Shriver came with only one eyewhite, and the 2003 USET Special Run Brentina came with white flecks, both reflecting actual characteristics of the portrait horses themselves.

Hobbyists are so accustomed to striving for perfection that any deviations from it - even if it’s something actually seen on the horse they’re trying to duplicate - tends to stand out. And not favorably so, in some eyes. 

That desire for a perfection that cannot be (realistically) achieved in real life is one of the reasons why I tend to think that the hobby can never truly be a "re-creation of the real horse world, in miniature". As I’ve said before, I think the hobby is more it’s own thing than just a shadow of something else. 

Striving to create the "perfect horse, in miniature" is totally fine, if that’s your goal. The wabi-sabi aesthetic is not for everyone. But surely there’s room enough in the hobby for both approaches - and the entire spectrum in between, right?

Lumpy, Bumpy, Scratched and Dinged

Looks like the Lionhearts have shipped this week after all. Which is fine by me, since I lost big on an auction I was bidding on today anyway. I sliced my finger open yesterday while walking the Vita Monster, and I deserve a pony for my suffering, darn it!

(Finger got caught up in the leash just as the Fuzzy Little Ball of Rage happened to spot vermin running across someone’s yard. She's usually pretty good about not taking off like that on her walks; the cooler weather does put a bit of pep in her step, though.)

I didn’t win a Luna, either. I only entered for her once, so it wasn’t like I was heavily invested in winning. Would have been nice, but we have the "Winter"/Black Friday/Cyber Monday Web Special to look forward to in a few weeks, right? (Who shall wear the lovely Silver Filigree coat this year?)

Reeves put up the "official" sneak peeks of some of the 2013 releases yesterday, too, confirming my suspicions about the Vintage Western Pony. Sigh. I’m sure she’ll be quite pretty in person, but the only thing "vintage" about this release is the fact that it’s a Western Pony. She looks more like a glossed 1990s release, almost a "Mini Me" of the Western Horse Royal Te.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=2921

If they wanted "Vintage Appaloosa" they could have gone with the Western Prancing Horse Black Splash Spot Leopard, the Performance Horse Roan Semi-Leopard, or even a Glossy Gray Whatever a la the Fighting Stallion or Traditional Mustang (provided they get away from the polka dots that plagued the Harlequins, of course.)

It just feels like Reeves is conceding to the "Glossy = Vintage!" people. Fooey.

You think I’m being a whiner? The online commentary about the Northern Dancer release makes me look like an amateur: you’d think that Reeves just committed a marketing disaster on the same level of "New Coke".

I really do not understand the antagonism in some circles of the hobby over the John Henry mold. Other than the lumpiness - which has been largely remedied - the only great sin I see with the mold is the uninspiring paint jobs he’s come in: Bay, Bay, more Bay, Bay Pinto, Bay Roan. Bleh. (The ELCR releases on Red Dun and Gray did break the pattern a bit, but the point holds: the dude's got a rather limited wardrobe.)

To be fair, some of those Bays are pretty nice. I’m still trying to track down - for a reasonable price - an early "Brindle" Bay John Henry. All the ones I find are either beat to heck, or out of my price range. It didn’t help that he was also a rather unexpectedly popular mold among the younger set at BreyerFest this year. Don’t know why that was, it just was.

(Though nobody saw fit to make an offer on my rather nice Cincinnati. Their loss!)

As with most new Thoroughbred releases, we’re being bombarded with the usual arguments about how This Very Important Race Horse needs - no, DEMANDS! - an entirely new mold of his/her/its own. Anything less is a travesty of justice, yadda yadda blah blah. 

Look, I’m not arguing that a few more nice Thoroughbred molds wouldn’t be appreciated, but we go through this discussion Every. Darn. Time. If Reeves had to create a new mold for every latest and greatest legend in the racing world, they’d be doing nothing but Thoroughbred molds.

I don’t know about you, but I'd rather they get hopping on a new Draft Foal, a more correct Akhal-Teke, and a few more Ponies of the British Sort, first.

On a positive note, I do like the Sergeant Reckless on the Galiceno. That mold deserves more releases, and the chestnut paint job  - what can be seen of it - looks appealing. Might have to make some room on the shelves for that one.

And the sparkly, translucent Stablemates are so full of win, it hurts. Now that’s the kind of "girly" stuff even this self-confessed tomboy can squeal about.

Candy Packers

It’s a mostly-pictures kind of day: too tired to string a lot of words together.

Montgomery Wards, 1956:


Aldens, 1956:


Montgomery Wards, 1958:


Mmm, candy! These fellows are part of a smaller subset of the value-added models that populated holiday mail order catalogs in the 1950s and 1960s. Hobbyists are more familiar with the other sets - the Grooming Kits, Sewing Kits, School Kits, and so on - because their "added value" was not meant to be eaten.

The "Candy Packers" most commonly appeared in the Montgomery Wards catalog, and is from where I derived the name. No specific name or brand is attached to the half-pound of hard candy that came with them; it was probably some generic store-brand mix.

It’s not likely that an "intact" Candy Packer is going to be found because - well, it’s candy! I’m also pretty sure the first thought of anyone finding a horse with a fifty-year-old bag of hard candy is going to be more like "Ew, ew, throw it out, throw it out!" rather than "Hey, let’s put this on eBay!"

(I know, I know, that’s not the case with vintage PEZ. But I think that stuff has a shelf life measured in centuries.)

If Reeves wants to get some slower movers off the shelves, throwing in a free bag of candy wouldn’t hurt (unless it’s Spearmint Leaves or Circus Peanuts. I’ve been known to indulge in some questionable eats to satisfy my sugar cravings, but that’s where I draw the line.) M&Ms in a custom blue and gold mix? Suckers in the shape of the Breyer logo? I’d go for that.

One thing I wouldn’t go for? This:

What is it with the Shoes?

That last post about Sea Star really took the wind out of me. Here I thought I’d just toss off something short and sweet about an often-overlooked mold, and it just about turned into my magnum opus. The darn thing had footnotes, at one point! Sometime the depth of my knowledge about Breyer minutiae scares me a little.

So after that, I decided to take a day or two off from pondering the mysteries of the Breyer Universe and just noodle around the house. I finished up some minor projects, did a little crafting, and tidied up the office a bit. I did a little retail therapy, too. Most of the pickings were rather modest, with one exception. Behold:


Disco Fairy Shoes!

A pair of rhinestone encrusted clear vinyl slingbacks with plexiglass heels, size 11 - straight off the clearance table of our neighborhood Salvation Army! I’m not normally that big of a shoe maven, but my recent experience has told me that when the Shoe Gods offer up the gift of garish footwear, it’s wise to accept it. I just wasn’t expecting to get started on my Costume Contest entry for next year this early ...

My favorite find this week, though, was a hardcover copy of the book Doodlebug, by Irene Brady. Because it had this interior illustration:


I decided to keep this book for this illustration, alone. More proof of the depths of my depravity, I guess. (Even worse: I think the Western Pony in the illustration isn’t actually a Western Pony, but the Kroll knockoff of the Western Pony. I need to pick up one of those knockoffs to confirm my suspicion, however. I’ve been wanting one anyway, but this sort of underlines and puts and exclamation point to my desire. Just one exclamation point, though.)

This book, like most horse books I find, was originally slated to be tossed into my resale pile. My bookshelves are also near maximum capacity, and I have to be extremely picky about what gets to stay. Like the actual horses, though, I feel obligated to "rescue" them from wherever I happen to find them.

And like the horses (and the pony in this particular book) I sometimes discover that one of my rescues is also a treasure in disguise. At least I can kinda-sorta justify this one as "research material."

Illustrated Shippers

It was a dark and stormy Saturday, so I spent it finishing the collection repacking. It’s all over except for the dusting, and I’m in no mood for dusting.

For those inquiring, there’s nothing super-duper rare, old or weird in my sales stash. There’s definitely some nice quality models here, possible LSQ, but most of them are in the sub-$50 range. (Unless I get lucky at the flea market in the meantime!)

Since my financial condition is slightly less tenuous than it was at this time last year, I’m in no rush to sell; I don’t want to deal with MH$P or eBay right now, anyway. There’s some talk going on about a local swap meet/hobbyist-to-hobbyist sale (local = Southeast Michigan), and if/when it comes to pass, I’ll let y’all know.

It was a bit of a strange experience packing up the last few horses. I decided that a couple of my oldies had to be taken out of the rotation, and since I just so happened to have their original boxes, back into their original boxes they went. One of the boxes in question: an old illustrated Clydesdale Shipper Box:


Now there’s something you don’t see every day!

Shipper boxes were the "de facto" Breyer box prior to the introduction of the White Picture Box in the early 1970s. There were a couple of experiments prior to the White Boxes - the clear Showcase boxes, and the Touchability Boxes. (I covered Touchability Boxes in a post quite some time ago, in fact.) A few select items - like the Horse and Rider Sets, and the licensed products like Lassie and Rin Tin Tin - did come in specially designed packaging, but those were very much the exception, not the rule, prior to the 1970s.

Most Shipper Boxes were pretty plain: a brown corrugated box, with Breyer’s address printed on one side, and "From:" and "To:" spaces printed on the other side. (And yes, they were used for shipping; I’ve owned a few that made it through the postal system!) The name and model number of the item inside was usually inkstamped across the top of the box, on the paper packing tape that sealed it.

Some, but not all Shipper Boxes were illustrated. Why some early boxes - but not others - were illustrated is a mystery. Some are quite common - such as the Fighting Stallion - while others, like the Clydesdale, are rather rare. My guess is that Breyer decided early on to standardize the box sizes, and only the boxes that were designed for one specific model were allowed to retain their unique graphics. Everything else just got the standard plain shipper, with the inkstamped identification across the top.

The graphics on the early boxes are quite pleasing aesthetically; I particularly like the Poodle:


The Western Pony is nice, too:


Illustrated shippers continued to be used until quite recently, mostly for the non-equine models that couldn’t fit in any of the standard packaging schemes. Some of the graphics were nice, but others, not so much. Not quite sure what was going on with the Charolais Bull box, for example - a bad reference photo, maybe:


Illustrated Shippers were also a common feature of holiday mail-order items. The graphics on the Holiday Shippers were all over the map, too - some pleasant, some plain, and some downright weird. This Legionario Gift Set box from Sears is a fairly typical example:


Shippers are still being used today, mostly with items sold factory direct - like the Connoisseurs - or with some of the Holiday Catalog items. They’re sometimes illustrated generically with a repeating running horse (not the "Running Horse") graphic.

Shipper boxes are still a bit of an undeveloped territory as far as Breyer Box research goes - presumably because of fugitive nature: the boxes had to be literally torn open, and torn boxes didn’t make for the best storage.

The Original Black Beauty

I have a small confession to make: I don’t like Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty. Most of my attempts to read it ended with me throwing my copy against the nearest wall. It’s not something I normally do with any book that displeases me, so I’ll just chalk it up to my low tolerance for Victorian sentimentality.

When you grow up in an environment encrusted with Victoriana, you either learn to love that particular aesthetic, or ignore it … and I don’t love it. I’m more of a gee-whiz, streamlined, hope-for-a-better-future Art Deco gal. (A bit of a contradiction for someone who researches history, I know.)

On the other hand, I do like Breyer’s early Black Beauties: not the seemingly endless reissues and reinterpretations of the horse from the book, but the color itself.

The color "Black Beauty" first appeared in the ca. 1953 catalog sheets, in reference to the Western Horse and Pony: the Western Horse is #58, and the Western Pony is #44. By 1958, the number on the Western Pony changes to #40, the Western Horse disappears completely, and the Fury/Prancer is now listed as being available in this color. From the 1958 price list:


The term is not used as a color descriptor, but as a proper name. Here’s another part of that 1958 price list that clarifies this point: the model doesn’t come in "Black Beauty," it is Black Beauty:


The Black Beauty terminology is dropped in the 1960 Dealer’s Catalog, and the color simply becomes "Black." The Western Horse reappears in this color, too, as #50. A Mission Supply House mailer from ca. 1961 still refers to all three as "Black Beauty," but Red Bird Sales pages from roughly the same time period call them "Black."

Confused yet? It gets worse: there are at least three different variations of this color!

The earliest "Black Beauties" - the #44 Pony, and the #58 Horse - were solid, glossy black plastic, with metallic gold hooves and trim. The Prancer never came in this variation, as far as I know. It may have been discontinued by 1955, but it’s difficult to tell precisely due to the lack of paper evidence.


The second version of "Black Beauty" was the version I discussed in my last post, with four white stockings, gray hooves, and a masked star or blaze. Only the Western Pony and the Fury/Prancer came in this color. Since the #27 Fury has nearly the same paint job as the #P40 Black Beauty Prancer, it can be hard to distinguish between the two. Black Fury/Prancers are usually only identified as #P40 Prancers if they still have their original chain reins and western saddles.

Both the Western Pony and the Fury/Prancer were used in Horse and Rider sets in this color, adding to the confusion. Some of the Horse and Rider set Fury/Prancers had the wider, Davy Crockett Horse blazes, but not all. This variation appears in the 1958 Dealer’s Catalog.

Dating this color variation is very difficult, especially since they share the same issue number - and markings - as the Plum Browns. The Plum Browns predate the Blacks, and probably "evolved" into the Black Beauties once they ran out of the colored acetate: all they had to do was change the name on the pricelist, and carry on.

All three models came in the third and final version of "Black Beauty." This color is quite distinctive, and in my opinion is the most attractive of the three: bald face, 4 stockings, a white tail tip, and silver trim on the saddle and molded on tack:


This color also varies the most of the three: the markings can be white plastic, or overpainted, or some combination of the two; handpainted eyewhites are also sometimes seen.

A Western Horse in this variation appears in the 1960 Montgomery Wards catalog; it’s possible that they may have started manufacturing it up to a year earlier, but until more evidence shows up, we can never really know for sure.

The same can be said for their discontinuation dates: all we have are rough boundaries here. They all appear in the ca. 1960 Dealer’s Catalog, and are all gone from the 1963 Dealer’s Catalog. I’m pretty sure the Fury/Prancer mold, with the exception of Fury himself, was discontinued in 1961. But according to the Red Bird Sales pages, the Western Horse was still available in 1962.

All three variations are fairly rare; I’ve been told that the solid blacks are the rarest of the three, but it’s hard for me to judge. I purchased a primo pair back in 1980 (one of my earliest "hobby" purchases) and consequently haven’t paid too much attention to their market prices.

I’ve had the most trouble finding the silver-tipped third version, but I think that’s mostly an issue of condition, not availability. Since most third version models were molded in white plastic, and not black, rubs are just more prevalent - or noticeable.

Plum Brown

I’m still suffering from a motivational deficit. I tried to brush it off with a marathon of paper shredding yesterday, but the enthusiam didn’t stick. I think it’s the weather: not the lack of sun, but the lack of heat. I don’t get a lot of projects done in the wintertime, because it’s incredibly difficult to get anything done when your swaddled in a half dozen blankets and quilts (unless what you're working on is actually a quilt!)

Laugh if you must, but I was secretly hoping I’d get a zebra-print Snuggie from Santa this year. Nope, just a peachy keen new laptop and some fancy chocolates. And speaking of chocolate…

Here are two different pre-1960 Western Ponies. Notice anything different between the two?


It's a little hard to tell, but the one with darker hooves is dark brown. It’s a color hobbyists call "Plum Brown" because it often comes with purplish undertones, though mine is more dark chocolate-colored. The base color is colored plastic that, as we’ve discussed before, was not an uncommon Breyer painting shortcut in the 1950s.

There are only two models known that came in this brown color: Davy Crockett’s Fury/Prancer horse from the Horse and Rider set, and the Western Pony. Both are painted with masked facial markings, 4 stockings and dark gray hooves.

For the longest time, we didn’t know anything at all about these Plum Brown models, and just assumed that they were a color variation of the Black. We didn’t learn that they were separate and distinct releases until copies of an undated catalog page/flier started circulating among collectors. From the reverse:


It was widely presumed that Breyer also made a Brown Western Horse. It was a logical presumption to make: they did make a brown Fury/Prancer and Western Pony, and our fragmentary documentation from the 1950s didn't rule out the possibility. Why not a Western Horse? Some collectors even claimed that they had one in their herds.

Then I saw one of those alleged Western Horses in person and realized it was just a copy, and not a very good one at that. The plastic was wrong, the color was wrong, the hooves were poorly sculpted - even the reins were wrong! They also have metallic gold shading that’s not seen on either the Plum Brown Fury/Prancer or Western Pony. It’s as if they were actually trying to imitate a bronze finish; I believe the manufacturer of these odd and early knock-offs was probably taking its design cues more from pot metal carnival horses than the plastic Breyer versions.

The Fury/Prancer is far more common than the Western Pony in this color, possibly because the Plum Brown Fury/Prancer was not only used with another Horse and Rider set - the Canadian Mountie - it was also sold separately. The Western Pony mold was used on a few Horse and Rider sets, such as the Indian, the Cowboy, and Kit Carson, but I can’t recall ever seeing an original set with the Plum Brown Pony.

Not much is known about the Plum Brown Western Pony, other than its appearance on that single, undated (ca. 1956) catalog page and his hasty retreat: he was gone from the 1958 catalog and price list. Maybe, as I hypothesized with the Pink and Blue Elephants, he was designed to use up the colored acetate they had lying around the factory.

It may be that the Plum Brown Western Pony’s rarity isn’t as profound as we perceive it: in low light, and at first glance, they can be indistinguishable from the somewhat more common Black Beauty version. None of the Black Beauties are really "common" either, but I’ll discuss that in my next post.

It's Glossy Season!

It's that time of year again … when Reeves glosses up some regular run horses as live show prizes, and hobbyists collectively lose their minds. I'm always amazed and dumbfounded how a little gloss can turn a boring $40 regular run horse into an scintillating $500 one.

Don't get me wrong: I love me a shiny horse as much as the next girl. I just can't imagine paying that kind of moolah for one. And since I'm not motivated enough to enter the shows where they hand out those kind of goodies, it's not likely I'll ever win one either. I've never been really strongly live-show oriented anyway – and from some of the shenanigans I've heard some hobbyists go through in the pursuit of the almighty SR Prize Glossies – no thanks. The Ninja Pit seems like a saner, safer bet to me.

There used to be a long standing notion in the collecting community that Glossy = More Valuable. It's true in some sense: the Glossy Finish was largely, but not entirely, discontinued around 1966/7. And some, like the Bay Fighting Stallion, were discontinued in Gloss much earlier than that. But a lot of Glossies were made well into the Matte Finish era, such as the Glossy Charcoal Mustang, Fighting Stallion and Running Stallion. While they are certainly quite lovely, they are not necessarily rare – or at least the kind of rare that attracts a high price tag, like a Dapple Black Belgian or a Gloss Bay Fighting Stallion.

What I find especially amusing is that there are actually MATTE finished models that are significantly more rare than their Glossy counterparts. These were usually models that were originally made in Gloss Finish, and only happened to switch to Matte near the very end of their runs. Since they were likely not selling well by then, these pieces are numerically quite rare, especially when compared to the models entire production run.

One notable example may be surprising: it's the Palomino Western Pony. In gloss finish, the Palomino Western Pony is one of the most ubiquitous of vintage Breyer models: it was made from ca. 1953 through 1973, and was the horsey component of the vast majority of the Grooming Kits sold in holiday catalogs during that time period.

Like its bigger brother the Western Horse, most assume that the Palomino Western Pony also made the switch to Matte Finish. And he did. Good luck finding one though: he's so rare that even in the 1997 edition Breyer Molds & Models, Nancy Young thought he was nonexistent.

I have one in my collection, of course:


I hadn't thought him especially rare before then, either: I had found him several years earlier at a local flea market, and being the mildly obsessive variation enthusiast that I am, he was incorporated into my collection without much fanfare. If I had had to go looking for one to fill that hole in my chorus line, I might have noticed his apparent rarity. But I had one already, and not much motivation to upgrade.

I have made it a bit of a game at BreyerFest every year to spot at least one Matte Palomino Western Pony: I don't always succeed. When I do run across one, I often tell the seller about his rarity: it usually results in rolled eyeballs and skeptical eyebrows. A matte finished model that's rare? And it's a Palomino Western Pony? Yeah, right.

There are others, too, but some of them are still on my BreyerFest want list. I will have to demure; I'm on a tighter-than-average budget this year, but I haven't scaled my collecting ambitions back entirely.