I keep my hobby closet pretty orderly. The problem, though, is that so much is in there that if I want to get something, I have to move lots of things to get to it. And since I have been documenting my MIJ chinas who rarely see the light of day, that meant that I had to take 3/4 of the closet out to get to them. (Orderliness and efficiency have their place... until you need something. Sheesh!)
The MIJs are in those two cardboard boxes on the top shelf way back in the far right corner of the closet.
In front of them was a lot of showing and sewing supplies. (Sewing is my other hobby. My horse room doubles as my sewing room.)
Nearly everything on the top shelf had to come down so I could maneuver the boxes that I wanted out of their corner and out of the closet.
And there are always distractions to slow me down!
Like this 1998 Made in Japan reference book! Since I was doing research on my MIJs, I simply had to stop and look through it.
This reference book which was tucked into the other's binder. I think it is a separate reference guide - if I remember right, you could buy different sections depending on your collecting interests. This section was about Marx, metals horses, clocks, and other more unusual horse collectibles.
I found my original hobby binder from 1971 when I formally joined the hobby (which was in its infancy.) That's when my 1960s play stable, Pawnee Stables, became my collecting stable, Windsong Stables. (Named for the sound of the wind in the cottonwoods on our property down by the Wabash River.)
Forty-seven years later, it is still the name of my stable.
I have it embroidered on my show tablecloth. (My colors changed from blue and yellow to orange about ten years ago.)
In the binder were old records from photoshowing my collection in the 1970s. This is for Diamond Dindy, a Lefton foal that I still have (and love.)
Diamond Dindy was in those two boxes I pulled out. He is one of my earliest pieces in my collection, and was played with heavily (see that repaired leg and the chip on his head?)
Pace's Hi Hopes was a customized Hartland done by Sherri Cook in 1971 and was one of my best showers. I still have him and have shown him in vintage classes. Often he is the oldest custom at the show.
Pace's Hi Hopes at Hoosier Pony Live, April, 2016. Those are his old 1970s show photos - how far we have come in this hobby!
Among the distractions as I worked my way through the closet and boxes was finding the tiniest pieces in my collection.
A set of six horses that were produced for the railroading hobby. I have had these since the early 70s. (The Breyer is there for scale. And, because I am still so excited to have gotten him that I cannot bear to put him on the shelf with my other Semi-Rearing Mustangs!)
Finally I got to the boxes of MIJs and took some photos of them and their labels and markings for documentation.
I love this old mini Lefton set. There's a standing foal that goes with it - I guess I'd better start checking eBay more frequently!
This isn't from my childhood - I found it a couple of years ago on eBay and bid on it. (I have a weakness for the old charcoals and black and white horses, MIJs, Breyer, or otherwise.)
Pulling out those MIJs and going through their boxes took me two days. (Good thing we had a snow day Friday and I didn't have to teach.) It was so much fun to go back through some of my oldest hobby materials as well as look at some of my earliest horses in my collection.
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