Wite-Out Cooper

I have a most unusual Cooper.

It all started when I was looking for bits of masking that might be left on him post-production. He felt rough all over, not only around the edges of his spots, but actually ON some of the spots as well as in the white areas of his coat. (Cooper is a chalky, so some of that is to be expected.)

I began to look much more closely at him and the more I looked, the more surprises I discovered. This poor guy just couldn't get a break!

Look at the spot in the center - you can see the outline of what it was supposed to look like, but you can also see that it has been hand painted over in a thick black paint. 

The flashlight on my phone showed that this poor guy had a lot of painting errors that someone tried to fix.

From his ears, down his neck to his shoulder, and then behind his off front leg, someone had "fixed" something by painting over it. (Maybe some more messed up spots?)

There are bright white spots on both sides of his body although they are barely visible without the flashlight.

 The off hind leg has two of the overpainted, rough white areas.

The near side hip, flank, and back.

The near side head and neck - the black paint under the eyes is crinkly and shows evidence of having been roughly painted over. You can see that at the base of his ear as well as more of the white paint blotches.

The off side of the head.

Near side throat latch, neck, and shoulders.

Off hind leg hock.

Off hind fetlock/pastern area. The paint is crinkled similarly to the crinkly black paint under his near eye.

Just when I thought I was done examining him, I noticed one more surprise.

He's got a USA stamp - something that none of my other Vintage Club pieces have.

Is that a nod to the chalky era and deliberately included as part of the replication of the 1980s Brenda Breyer set? Or was Cooper actually made here in the United States? The VIN number under his hoof did not help answer that question.

Last night I had a "teacher dream"and I was using some Wite-Out to fix a mistake on something. In my dream I suddenly thought, "Wite-Out would be a great name for my Cooper - those spots and splotches look just like the Wite-Out on my paper!"

Wite-Out it is.

I am interested in insights any of you might have. Email me at horsiemama8@gmail.com if you do or if you have heard of any similar "Wite-Out" Coopers.

And for the record, I really like my quirky guy.

Cooper's Acoutrements

There is more to Cooper than his paint job or his mistaken belly stamp (Kingfisher.) The belly stamp gives a clue as to one of the models to come for the year, and you can see the 2022 stamp in this promo photo by Breyer.

Smoky! This vintage mold is tippy and I only have two of them in my collection - the original Smoky and Northern Lights. Still, I am looking forward to seeing the Vintage Club offering of the mold.

Cooper is a big nod to the Brenda Breyer Gift Set that was produced 1980 - 1985. 

I was a bit disappointed that Breyer did not include a Brenda Breyer doll with the 2022 iteration, but it does have the tack.

I like the color red, but I also know that red can bleed when used in fabric, so I will be leaving the bareback pad in its plastic bag.

Breyer backed the bareback pad with white felt which will help protect the model from staining, but I still prefer to keep mine in the bag.

Every Vintage Club model comes with a certificate of authenticity and information sheet chock full of history about the mold, colors, another tidbits of Breyer history.

I put these into protective sleeves and save them into a binder. This year is the Vintage Club's tenth anniversary, so I had to make a new binder as the other one was full.

I still have been unable to take the photos of Cooper's issues - not only did we get together as a family Saturday, but we were together again on Sunday. Hopefully I can take them today.

Stay 'tooned!

So Much for Spring

So much for spring.

Yesterday morning we woke up to winter's last (I hope) huzzah.

Pepper still wanted to walk across the street to the park and play frisbee despite the snow that was still falling.

But after just a few throws, she was ready to go home. So was I.

When we got home, I took a few snaps of my stepping stone garden.

All my flowers are up but they were snow covered and cold. I hope they still bloom!

The snow melted and was gone by evening but then the temperature dropped again.

This morning as I write, the temperatures are very cold with the wind chills even colder.

Here's hoping Pepper doesn't feel like playing frisbee this morning - the temperature is 13 but there are strong winds and it feels like -9. Brrrr!

I'm looking forward to that warm up on Sunday for sure.

More on my Vintage Club Cooper tomorrow. I am still working on photos and the more I take, the more things I discover and want to write about.

Stay 'tooned!

Vintage Club Cooper

The first 2022 Vintage Club piece, Cooper, arrived a few days ago. Cooper is the Appaloosa Performance Horse mold done in black leopard Appaloosa. 

In the past, the belly stamp on the first Vintage Club offering of the year has been a clue to another model that is to come that year. I always flip that first model to see which model is on the stamp.

Kingfisher?? From the Birds of a Feather series? What was this?

Aside from writing my blog posts, I had not been on social media for a few days. I hopped onto my desktop and discovered that other hobbyists were finding the same stamp on their Coopers.

Yesterday Breyer acknowledged the goof on its Vintage Club blog and said that all 750 pieces have the Kingfisher stamp. You can read the full article here.

I think the Appaloosa Performance Horse looks good in this color.

But, with all those spots, I wondered if, like I did with Dani this summer, I would be finding bits and pieces of masking that had not been removed in the factory. I began to check my Cooper over carefully.

The more I looked, the more things I found that were disappointing. Look closely at this photo - there are four flaws that can be seen. And those flaws are big enough to be seen despite the poor quality of the photo. Sadly, that was only the tip of the iceberg.

More on that tomorrow, so stay 'tooned.