QVC Justin Morgan and Candy Apple Bay

All those Calvin pictures are making it very hard to resist hitting the “Buy Now” button. And I’m really warming up to the Bay, which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering who is my favorite BreyerFest find this week:

A lovely Gloss Justin Morgan on the Sherman Morgan mold, one of the many Special Runs done for QVC in 2002 – and another one of my Saturday afternoon NPOD finds, box and all.

It’s funny that of all the Sherman Morgan releases that there have been – many of them being Decorators of the “over the top” variety – it’s this relatively sedate Gloss Bay that’s finally made me “get” him.

Or it could just be the color. One of the handful of Traditional Silvers that I’ve kept is the BreyerFest Special Run Valentino, who comes in almost the same shade of Glossy Shaded Bay.

I sometimes refer to it as “Candy Apple Bay” even though, ironically, I don’t particularly like Candy Apples. I’m more of a Caramel Apple person. (I am neutral on the addition of nuts, sprinkles or chocolate drizzle.)

I briefly considered putting him on my saleslist – I am dead serious about getting the horse pile up in the office under control, and almost no one is safe – but once I popped his box open again earlier this week, I knew he was a no-go.

I have only one other Revised Sherman Morgan mold – the 2014 BreyerFest Silver Filigree Celebration – but I doubt I’ll be going crazy trying to play catch up with the mold anytime soon. Too many of them are on the unobtainable side, anyway.

Calavera and Decals

It was too darn cold to go to the flea market Sunday morning, so I channeled that early morning energy into cleaning the office and reorganizing the storage boxes I ravaged my way through just before BreyerFest, searching for various pieces for assorted purposes.

And paperwork. There’s always paperwork to do!

While I didn’t get to see a Markus today, I did see a Calavera – the new Dia de los Muertos horse on the Ethereal mold. I was somewhat indifferent to the release initially – in terms of Decorator Ethereals, I don’t think much can top the BreyerFest Special Run Times Square – but the sample I saw at BreyerFest made me reconsider.

http://www.breyerhorses.com/calavera

I had heard some horror stories about decal issues with the Calavera, but I didn’t see anything significantly wrong with the example I saw. There were the usual bits of overspray and rough edges you’d see on any of the more complex paint jobs, but the decaled areas looked clean and smooth to me.

I left him behind, for a couple of reasons. Aside from wanting to stick to my budget, future condition issues were weighing on my mind. Extensive decals are a relatively new decorating technique, Breyer-wise, and how well these models will age is unknown.

The earliest decaled Breyer, incidentally, was in the 1950s: some Breyer Canadian Mountie sets sport tiny Drewrys Beer decals on their saddle blankets. Whether it was a formal Special Run that was produced at the Breyer factory, or something that Drewrys cobbled together for their own promotional needs, I don’t know.

If Breyer did manufacture it, Drewrys would be one of a small handful of companies/licenses that have done/did business with both Breyer and Hartland. (Hartland did a lot of promotional beer signage, including Drewrys.) Another topic to add to the research list!

I don’t have the Drewrys Mountie, but I’d love to get one eventually: my step-grandfather was a delivery driver for Drewrys, way back when. You’d think our proximity to Canada would make finding Canadian Mountie memorabilia a little bit easier to find, but alas, this isn’t so.

Arrivals and Departures

The Calvins look great, the Goblins really do glow purple, and the Markuses are just arriving in stores, too. Alas, I won’t be in the vicinity of a Markus-participating store until Tuesday, at the earliest.

And then there’s the Premier Club Duende.

You already know I was not overly enthused by the arrival of yet another Andalusian to the Breyer line, when so many other breeds and types are underrepresented, poorly represented, or not even represented at all.

But as to the Duende mold itself, I think I still need a little more time to collect my thoughts. To be honest, I haven’t really had much time to give him much thought at all...

The biggest Breyer-related news of the week, of course, is not an arrival but a departure – that of longtime Breyer employee Kerstin Chalupa.

I probably knew of her a little bit before everyone else in the hobby only because my local post office had a habit of misplacing my Just About Horses on a rather frequent basis. So a month or two after the issue was mailed, I’d find myself call Kerstin again to get a replacement issue mailed to me.

(The local post office had no problems delivering any other of my periodicals. A most curious situation, it was.)

It was always a delight whenever I’d call Breyer about something else unrelated to the location of my current issue of JAH, and hear Kerstin’s cheerful voice on the other end of the line.

Aside from the fact that I knew that that meant whatever problem or issue I was having would be promptly resolved, it was also reassuring just to hear her familiar voice.

As some of you may know, I suffer from telephonophobia: it’s much better than it used to be, but you’re not going to get a phone call from me “just to talk” anytime soon!

Having someone familiar at the other end of the line is always a help, and a comfort. And now one of those someones at Breyer is going off to a happy retirement.

Don’t be a stranger, Kerstin – I’ll always take your call. Even just to talk!

Calvin

Nope Reeves, can’t make me…

I just can’t do it right now, guys. The budget says no to Calvin!

Actually, it’s more like my budget is laughing and then pointing out to me that if I really want one, I should just wait a few months when everyone who was hoping for the “Metallic Interference Blue” one tries to sell off the Bays and Chestnuts they got instead.

In the case of the previous Gambler’s Choice Classic Scotty, all three colors were more or less equally desirable: that was sort of the whole point of offering him as a Gambler’s Choice, since voting didn’t produce a clear winner.

However, the BIS Quarter Horse is not a Love Classic, and the only color that’s generating any real passion is the Blue one. (Am I the only one thinking that Metallic Interference Blue is going to be the next Silver Filigree?)

Don’t get me wrong: I’d love a Blue Calvin, too. I’ve done my share of futile blind bag groping at Tractor Supply, searching for the G4 Endurance Arabian. (When I’ve actually found any Blind Bags to grope. Sigh.)

But I really do need to focus on other things, budget-wise, and there are still a couple of recently purchased packages sitting here in the office that I haven’t gotten to opening yet, anyway. Including a grail, yeesh!

Incidentally, I am absolutely fine with the use of the Best in Show Quarter Horse; the original release’s scary bald face threw me for a loop, but the #931 Dark Bay Roan finally won me over.

Of the three “Best in Show” Classics – the Quarter Horse, the Arabian, and the Thoroughbred – it’s the Quarter Horse that’s had the most releases so far. Save for the original release and the Bay Roan, almost all of them have been Special Runs.

Only the 2010 Tractor Supply “Famous Sire” Series pieces are particularly difficult to find, though. I kind of regret not picking up the Appaloosa Prince Plaudit set when I had the chance. I’ve had some luck finding TSC Specials at the flea markets around here, so I won’t give up hope just yet.

Lovesick

I was doing so good this weekend: there wasn’t much at the flea market, I decided to pass on the darker Hwin and the Halloween Horse Goblin and its adorably cartoony germ-monsters (though that one was tough!), and so far no Chalky Hwins appear to have shown up at any of the local TSCs I’ve visited, yet. (More on that a little later).

But it was a long, rough day at work today, so on the way home I caved and bought that softly and lightly dappled Hwin at the local Family Farm and Home. I love how sassy she looks here: she’s obviously not giving lovesick Java the time of day!

Her other side is a little more dappled, but definitely less-so than the average Hwin. Just a couple of teeny touch ups and I’d definitely put her on my live show string, if I had one. (I am still thinking about that possibility, yes.)

It’s still too early to tell how scarce this variation – or the Chalkies – will be. Judging from the number of ones I’ve looked at so far, I’m thinking/hoping fairly scarce?

I would have bought her regardless, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Incidentally, Family Farm and Home is a Michigan-based farm store chain that tends to carry a pretty decent selection of Breyers for the holidays – more than the average TSC. Remember when the first run of the Zenyatta release sold out at the Reeves warehouse just before the holidays, and everyone was scrambling to find her?

The then-local FFH in Richmond – not far out of my way, but not a direction I usually go to shop – had at least four cases of them sitting on the floor, still leftover after Christmas.

Then a few years back, the store up in Almont had at least a couple dozen S Justadreams on the shelf. I remember looking at them thinking to myself “Is this another Zenyatta situation? Should I buy one just in case?”

(Yes it was, and no I didn’t. D’oh!)

Anyway, that’s why I’m moderately excited about having one of these stores in town now: while they don’t tend to get exclusive Special Runs, their buyer obviously knows what they are doing! I’ll be checking out other FFHs for more as time and travel permits, mostly to determine if this Hwin is an aberration, or an indication of something else going on there, again.

All the Chalky Hwins that I have heard of or seen so far have been found at Tractor Supply stores, and there’s some talk that this is perhaps related to Chalky/Nonchalky situation that occurred with the 2015 Tractor Supply Special Run Jesse.

I think…maybe there’s a correlation? It could just be coincidental one: I am assuming that Tractor Supply’s purchases/factory shipments occur at the same time every year, and maybe it happens to be the same time the factory in China “chalks up” slightly flawed bodies to repurpose from production runs earlier in the year.

So, in other words, the Chalky Hwins might be a de facto Special Run for TSC, in the same way the Black 75th Anniversary AQHA Horses became a de facto Tuesday Morning SR. One of circumstance, not intent.

While I’d love to find one, I’m not going to go out of my way to find it. One Hwin is enough for now!

Infinite Variations in Infinite Combinations

The Breyer Fairy is just flat-out messing with me now.

While I was out running a few errands yesterday, I decided to make a quick stop at the new farm store in town – yes our little town has not one, but two farm stores that carry Breyers, don’t hate me – and guess what they had?

The other variation of the Hwin I’ve been looking for: a pale and very lightly dappled one. Of course!

So I’m just not going to get out of this week without buying something, is that it? (I have not bought either/any. Yet.)

I was planning on stopping by a couple toy stores in the next week (Markus hunting!), but now I’m afraid I’ll find a Chalky Hwin in one, and a Hwin with no dapples at all in the other…

But here’s a tale of me resisting temptation and showing some restraint when it comes to variations and such: so far I’ve only bought one of the Man o’ War re-releases!

They had a big pile of them in the NPOD at BreyerFest for me to choose from. Qualitatively, they were pretty much the same – I saw no glaring factory flaws or overspray. Most were more on the Matte side, but some were Semi-Gloss, too.

Circumstances made it impossible to judge relative rarity: it was at BreyerFest, shortly after the release had been released, and late enough in the day on Saturday that the sample I was working with was undoubtedly skewed. What if a big chunk of the Semi-Gloss ones were already sorted out and sold?

The safest bet would have been to buy both. But after briefly consulting with a few of my compadres in the NPOD, I went with the Semi-Gloss. It didn’t matter if he was the scarcer variation or not, he was the one that caught my eye (like that extra dark and Chestnutty Bandera!) so in my buy pile he went.

The release has been popular enough that if time and space opens up, I can get a few more.

But right now I am afeard that the space I’m trying to make in the house will now be occupied by Hwin variations.

Well, That’s Inconvenient

I guess it’s a good thing that there hasn’t been much at the flea market recently? Other than some adorable maneki-neko banks I found on a dollar table last week:

I’ve always wanted one – I even attempted to sculpt one in my Pottery class in high school – and now I have an instant collection!

And judging from the Java, they do work! 

(Incidentally, if I ever manage to snag some distressed Breyer Kittens for customizing someday, a Maneki-neko custom is high on the list. Along with the Silver Filigree, a Pink Panther, a Chartreux, a Glow-in-the-Dark Halloween Kitty…)

The problem now becomes: do I sell him, or sell someone else? The extra money would come in handy, but I haven’t been winning a lot of Web Specials lately, and rumored existence of “black panthers” are a local urban legend that I am very fond of. 

The plan for now is to sell someone else in his stead. I was already doing some herd culling anyway, so it’s just a matter of adding an extra one or two to the sales list, whenever work finally lets up for a moment and lets me do it.

In other news, I spotted the Tractor Supply Specials today, too. I wasn’t as impressed with the Lakota Black Beauty as I thought I would be – they were well-executed, but they not metallic or shimmery enough for my tastes. Silly me was hoping for something more along the lines of the BreyerFest Smart n Shiney or El Pastor Prize Model Sona. 

I found the Jacy Geronimo much more appealing in person: he had flea bites! If I happen to see an especially pretty one in my travels, or on clearance (not likely, here!) I will definitely consider it.

They also had the Mystery Surprise Stablemate Blind Bags, the same assortment as Cracker Barrel, apparently (save for the TSC-standard VIN numbers on their bellies, I assume). After a couple minutes of groping I was able to determine that none of them were the Metallic Blue Arabian, so that saved me a trip back to my car to get my wallet... 

One model I did almost pull my wallet out for was a Hwin. I’ve been doing a lot of shopping on this release; I want one that’s either exceptionally light or dark, or distinctive in some way. This one was: she was very dark, and her dapples were so insanely unrealistic – perfectly round, and covering every inch of her body – that it bordered on Decorator territory. 

I’ll be in that part of town again on Saturday, and if she’s still there, I don’t think my willpower will hold.