Variations: Bay Running Foals

Due to the holidays, it's been a while since I did a post on variations within my collection. The holidays are over now, and all my kids and their families have gone to their own homes, so I have time to pull out some models, photograph them, and then take a closer look, comparing and contrasting them to each other.

This post will look at Breyer's Running Foal in bay - a long running color of twenty-five years or so on this mold.

Running Foal #1

His four socks are very high on both sides of the model. This is an early piece - in the very earliest versions, the off hind hoof was pared down for stability.

Pared hoof on left, chalky bay Running Foal hoof on right.

(As an aside, I find it very interesting that my woodgrain, glossy dapple grey, and wedgwood Running Foals all have the pared hoof while my gold charm one does not.)

 He's pretty unremarkable, and in an orangey bay that is not to my taste.

 Hooves are the old black version that Breyer used to do (which I love)

and there is some pinking in his ears and on his nose. The eyes, like the hooves, are very black and have been glossed, and he is a semi-gloss, although it does not show well in the photographs.

Running Foal #2

 I like the bay color much better on this guy.

 Like the first foal, he is also a semi-glossy model. His socks are much lower than the first piece.

 Hooves are very black but the off hind is not pared.

He has some yellowing, but you can still see the pinking in his ears and on his nose.

An interesting note: I acquired this guy from eBay in 2014 with his original box. I took him out for display and stored the box.

Running Foal #3

 This guy is definitely a chalky!

The Running Foal in chalky bay is very common, and I got him from my friend, Teresa Rogers, a year ago.

His socks are very low and there has been no hoof paring on him, but you can see some excess paint/gunk that is common on the bottom of chalky models' hooves. (Look at his near hind hoof.)

That chalkiness really shows up on his facial features, and he has the same pinking as the other two.

 Running Foal #1 has no USA mark by his round Breyer stamp

 while the other two do. This places them as having been molded 1973 or later.

You can clearly see the sock differences in this photo. (Chalky, #2, #1.)

The Running Foal mold is one of my favorite vintage molds.  While the bay coloring on him is my least liked of all the colors Breyer has produced on this mold, still I am glad to have these three in my collection.