Circus Time: Breyer Porcelains

Breyer has produced two sets of porcelain circus horses and they are stunning to look at. Kathleen Moody was the sculptor.

Applause and Encore were released as special runs at BreyerFest in 2006. Only 500 were made and so this pair can be difficult to find. They don't come up for sale very often and when they do, they are very expensive.

The original release of the pair was called Circus Ponies in Costumes and they were only manufactured for one year in 1996.

I took their picture through the glass of the china cabinet - I am too leery of damaging them if I remove them for photos. They are lovely, too, although I think I prefer the palominos. 

I've often wished that Breyer would take the Circus Horse molds out and cast them again. Porcelain or plastic, it doesn't matter to me - I'd just love to have more of them because I like the set so much.

Tomorrow we will take a break from the circus and look at the oldest continuously held sporting event in America - the Kentucky Derby.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: Donna's Charming RubberNedz

We are back at Donna Chaney's Animal Artistry in England for today's post as we look at Donna's charming RubberNedz pieces. Below is the first picture I ever saw of a RubberNedz. A rubber circus horse with overlong mane and tail and huge feather plumes? I was all in and wanted one for my own collection.

Photo from Google Images which credits it to chestnutridgeblog.com.

I emailed Donna and after some correspondence back and forth about colors and such, she sent me this lovely piece.

This is Gingerbredz, a RubberNedz done on Donna's Tagus mold. Oh, my goodness, I was hooked! 

I had asked for a bay color with four white socks and orange and gold trim.

The detail in the horse's paintwork is lovely. This was my first RubberNedz, but it wasn't my last.

I stopped by Donna's booth at BreyerFest in 2017 and chatted with her. She told me that she had begun making her Rearing Andalusian Stallion as RubberNedz Circus Horses and showed me the one she had brought as a sample. It was beautiful, and sure gave me something to think about.

This may be that piece she had as a sample, but I am not sure. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of it, but I think it was white with blue like this one. (Photo retrieved from Google Images, I think. Maybe Facebook? It was in my files and I forgot to record where I got it.)

Later that summer, I wrote Donna and asked if I could purchase one. She was willing to take my order, and agreed to paint it bay with orange and gold tack to match Gingerbredz. I knew it would be a while before I got it; Donna once wrote that the RubberNedz were time consuming to make, but I also knew that it would be worth the wait.

Was he ever! He's big, beautiful, and like the Metlox drafters, very heavy.

The mane is long and very, very full. Donna added Swarovsky crystals to the bridle and harness, too.

I named him Mr. Nedz (those of you who remember the TV show, Mr. Ed, will catch the reference) and have had a lot of fun with him. (Did you know that you can stream episodes of Mr. Ed on Amazon?)

My hope is that Donna will use another of her molds for a RubberNedz circus horse. When and if she does, you can bet I will be ordering one.

Tomorrow, we will  head back to the states.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: the Irish Desden Circus Horse

The name "Irish Dresden" may seem like a misnomer. After all, Dresden is in Germany, not Ireland. Dresden is famous not only for its beautiful Dresden lace, but also because the historic city was bombed to rubble during World War II. 

Dresden after three days of extensive bombing in 1945.

Also damaged beyond repair in that bombing was the porcelain business of Anton Mueller. This business added the famous Dresden lace and fabrics to porcelain figurines, finding a way to stiffen that lace and fabric before firing it in the kiln. After the war, surviving family members moved the business to Ireland in 1962. Pieces made in the Irish factory are called Irish Dresden.

Thanks to the eagle eyes of Susan Bensema Young who saw this piece on eBay, I now have an Irish Dresden Circus Pony in my collection. That stiffened lace, despite having been fired, is very, very fragile. My piece was missing a part of the reins when I bought it.

A closeup of the lace reins, bridle, plume, harness, and mane ribbons.

A wider piece of lace was used to make the saddle. I love the colorful flowers on the lace.

A closeup of the saddle and its trim.

The model is covered with that fragile lace and that makes it difficult to pick it up. This model stays in my china cabinet - I do not take it to shows. The risk of damage to it is just too great.

The company's stamp under the base. A brief history can be found at the bottom of this blog entry.

The lace also makes it difficult to dust the model. I found the following directions for cleaning an Irish Dresden piece, but to be honest, I would never do what it advises.

To handle most porcelain or ceramic figurines you are told to lift them by the largest part of the body of the piece.  Because of the frozen lace on an Irish Dresden piece, this is not what you should do.  If you need to handle the Irish Dresden, pick up the piece by the head where there is no lace present.  To clean, use a large bucket filled with a mild dish detergent and water, and hold the piece by the head and submerge in the water.  Keeping the piece totally submerged, move the piece up and down, allowing the water and detergent to clean your piece.  Use extreme caution so as not to hit the side or bottom of the pail.  Allow to air dry and replace in your cabinet.  Picking up an Irish Dresden figurine by the lace will break the end pieces of the lace reducing the value of the piece. You should absolutely minimize the handling of any piece, as the lace is extremely delicate and will break quite quickly.  The beauty of Irish Dresden is in the lace, however, it does tend to collect dust and dirt over years even in a closed case. 

This has to be one of my most unique pieces in not only my circus horse collection, but in my entire collection as well. Delicate as it is, I am thrilled to have it.

Next up? We stay in the British Isles another day.

Prepare to be amazed!

A brief history of the Irish Dresden Company: Irish Dresden began with the late 19th century Germany artist Anton Muller, in the small town of Volkstedt, under the then banner Muller Volkstedt. Muller's skills with fine lace porcelain figures did not go unnoticed and his work quickly gained a reputation. Since his death in 1937 his family has kept up the tradition of pristine porcelain craftsmanship and kept the business alive, despite it having faced a rough history that includes the destruction of their factory during WWII, the deaths of Muller and his son, Herman, as well as the family being forced to leave their homes in what was then East Germany. The family tradition was saved by Johanna Saar, Herman's niece, her husband Oskar, and now daughter Sabina who settled in Ireland in 1962 and continued the business under the name Irish Dresden. Irish Dresden continues the family tradition to this day and its collection porcelain figures are now renown worldwide.

Let the Healing Begin!

Second post of the day.

My spinal fusion is over and after three days in the hospital, I am home and recovering. While the surgery went well, the lead up to it was a nightmare.

The day before my scheduled surgery, I got a call saying that an essential piece of surgical equipment had  broken and asking if I would be willing to go to a different hospital in town the next day for the surgery. I was, and so that call set off a flurry of other calls as my records, insurance pre-approvals, and pre-op tests were transferred. 

Friday morning Craig and I  headed over to the other hospital. I was admitted and then a very long wait began. After an hour of sitting in the surgical waiting room, a nurse came to see me. She apologized for the delay and explained that a trauma victim had come in and my surgeon had been needed to work on him. She said that they'd get me in as soon as possible. 

Three hours later we were headed home. My surgeon had come out to apologize for our long wait and told us that, even though he was done working on the trauma victim, the operating room was still not available yet and wouldn't be for some time. Dr. Jackson asked if I could reschedule for 8 AM the next day. 

As they say, third time's a charm and Saturday the surgery finally happened. 

Me with one of the nurses as I head down to surgery - I got excellent care during my hospital stay.

The surgery went well and to my surprise, I am recovering faster than I ever have from a surgery in the past. I was out of bed, walking and sitting upright just several hours post-op. 

Monday I was released and came home. Both Craig and Pepper were very happy to have me back, and I am relieved to finally have this surgery over.  (The flowers and sugar free candy are from my kids.)

Let the healing begin!

Circus Time: The Steha-Lehas

Meet my two Steha-Leha circus horses! I am so pleased that I was able to get them. They were manufactured in Germany and Reeves briefly distributed them here in the USA back in the 1960s and 1970s.

Due to their flocked coats, it is very difficult to find any Stehas that haven't been scratched or are missing large pieces of flocking

Beauty (named after Anna Sewell's famous book) is just about as pristine as they come.He is missing one of the wheels embedded into the hoof, but he still stands without it. His coat is very soft, almost like a plushie. His former owners took excellent care of him.

Moonbeam arrived earlier this year, thanks to Shannon Call letting me know that she had found one and pointing me to the person was selling her. 

She was very fairly priced so I snapped her up right away, not even haggling over the price. 

Just as white horses are tough to keep clean, white models (especially flocked ones), can be difficult, too. Moonbean wasn't dirty but her flocking was very dry and very scratchy to the touch. I am planning to keep her in a breathable wrap and out of the sunlight (I do that for Beauty already.)

Next up? A German company that calls itself Irish.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: HO Scale Liberty Horse

One day while searching online for circus horses, I discovered that Preiser, a German company that makes items for the model railroad hobby, had a set of liberty horses.

Naturally I bought myself a set.

They're HO scale (1:87) and come in a pack of six horses.

I absolutely love them, and keep one, named Mighty Mouse after the old cartoon character, out on display at all times.

As you might imagine, Mighty Mouse is Circus Girl's favorite model horse in her collection.

A quick check of eBay turned up five or six sets currently available. Even better, I found (and bought) the set in N scale. (1:160 scale.) To get an idea of just how tiny that will be, take a look at this photo of my smallest models.

The top row are Breyer Minnie Whinnies (1:64)  the next size smaller horses are HO scale (1:87), and the teeny tiny horses on the bottom are 1:160.

We will be staying in Germany for the next blog post.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: Metlox Drafters

Clinky Mayhem, a sale of the late Karen Grimm's chinas, was held in the spring of 2018 out in California. People flew in from all over the country for the opportunity to buy some of the fabulous pieces in Karen's collection.

I couldn't go, but my friend, Teresa Rogers could, and she offered to get me a few things that I was looking for. I was looking for the medium sized Metlox Poppytrail Circus Horse in white that I knew was in Karen's collection, so I passed that information on to Teresa and sat back to wait.

That piece was not available, but the large Metlox circus horses were! (Metlox/Metlox Poppytrail was a California pottery company that was in production from 1927 - 1989.) Part of the Metlox Nostalgia line, there were three palomino and one grey circus drafters available, and Teresa was able to snag three of those for me.

 

One of the palominos had a very hard to see repaired break on its leg, and its price reflected that.

The grey drafter is harder to find and I felt very lucky that Teresa was able to get it for me. It was in mint condition.

Look at that neck! I just love this sculpt in all it chunkiness.

The third drafter was also mint. It differs from the first one in that it has some shading on the ends of its mane. 

All three pieces have some crazing which is common in pieces this old.

And they all have this fun braided forelock. Plus they are HEAVY. As heavy as they are, I think they must be solid.

If you are very, very lucky, you might find one of these drafters with a circus ballerina sitting on their backs. I've had some great finds, but this piece has eluded me. I bid on one once on eBay, but the bidding went far higher than I wanted to spend. Still, I hope to come across one someday.

A history of the Metlox/Metlox Poppytrail Company can be found here. And tomorrow we will look at something a little smaller than these big boys.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: Cybis Poppy

Cybis was a company with a long and interesting history. It closed for good in 2019, and over the course of its lifetime produced high quality porcelain figurines, both human and animal. During the 1970s, Cybis did a collection called Cybis Goes to the Circus.

One of the offerings in that collection was Poppy, the Performing Pony.

Poppy is beautifully done. Instead of the bright, almost garish colors used for the other pieces in the series, Poppy's colors are soft pink, turquoise, and gold.

She really is lovely. I like the bowing pose that she is in, too.

 

The view of the piece from above. Such beautiful detail on her harness.

Poppy was introduced in 1976 and closed in 1979 as a limited edition of 1000. Originally she sold for $325. (I got mine on eBay a few years ago for far less than that.)

The Cybis circus series had one more horse in it, and it is an absolute stunner. Called "Equestrienne Extraordinaire," originally it was to be a run of 500, but due to production difficulties, only about 150 were produced.

Photo from Google Images.

Equestrienne Extraordinaire was available 1979-1981 with a retail price of $2775 - $2995. I doubt that I will ever find one, and if I do, it will be above my budget limit. Still, a girl can dream, right?

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at some California pottery pieces.

Prepare to be amazed!

Circus Time: Animal Artistry

Donna Chaney sculpted a mold that she named the Striking Arabian. It was pretty, but I did not purchase one until she turned it into a circus horse.

She produced these circus horses in china but they were way out of my budget. I was drooling over them online one day and discovered that Donna was also offering the piece as a resin. It was much smaller (curio sized) but it was affordable. Quickly I ordered one.

The plumes on it are very, very fragile and one broke off during shipping while another broke when I took it to a show. (Not Donna's fault - her packing jobs are terrific.)

Of course, I kept going to Donna's web site to see if there were any new circus horses that I could afford. One day, I again got lucky. She was offering a mini version of the rearing Arabian as a circus horse in china. The edition was limited to 25 worldwide, and I was lucky enough to  snag one.

I named it Misty Dawn after a pony I once knew, and while I have taken it to shows a couple of times, it is so delicate that I have decided to keep it at home from now on.

Finally, fast forward to just a few years ago when I went to a swap meet and discovered this full sized resin on a sales table. Painted in 2002 by Lisa Rivera, it is an older piece but still quite lovely and affordable. Home with me it came. Knowing that I would never own the piece in china, I was soooooooo excited to have the china-sized resin.

And then, disaster struck. I was reaching around it in the china cabinet to retrieve another piece. I must've bumped it and it tipped over and out the open cabinet door. Despite the carpeting on the floor, I heard it break into pieces as it tumbled onto the ground.

I couldn't look. I stood frozen, my arm still inside the cabinet and my eyes squeezed shut tight. Craig came rushing into the living room from another part of the house, asking me if I were hurt.

Still not looking, I asked him what he saw on the floor. "It's bad," he said quietly, and I felt my heart shatter, just as the horse had. Craig helped me find all the pieces (one had actually bounced back into the china hutch and was on a shelf - it took forever to find that piece!) and I set the pieces together on my desk.

Fortunately I was able to send him off to Jennifer Danza for repair and he looks as good as new now.

Tomorrow  I'll show you a porcelain piece from a company that was on the east coast. Any guesses as to who that company might be? It isn't Breyer, but it did call New Jersey its home.

Prepare to be amazed!

 

Circus Time: Susan Bensema Young Begins It All

Tack maker and hobbyist Susan Bensema Young once said to me,

"Really, the restriction of your collection to one subject seems to have resulted in the most amazingly unrestricted explorations imaginable!!  It's almost like magic to me, the way one theme expands to touch so many others."

She was referring to my collection of circus ponies, and while I do collect other horses, my fondness truly is for circus horses.

Me with one of my Freeman Leidy circus horses at a Great Lakes Congress show several years ago.

The Hagen Renaker circus ponies and the Breyer porcelains are only the beginning of what can be found.

One of my favorite live show entries that I ever pulled together was this one that had examples of some of those lesser known pieces.

Sue's right about how limiting something actually expanded it - I was surprised at just how many circus ponies I actually had. I've tracked down every last one of them, taken photos, and will be doing a series about them here on the blog called Circus Time.

As they used to say under the Big Top, "Prepare to be amazed!