Elephant 3 - Best Drainboard Ever!

 At first, my third elephant looks pretty unremarkable.

He has a yellowish cast to him

and his tusks, the only white on him, are in need of some sunshine.

Just your run of the mill Breyer elephant. Until you pop him onto his side to look at his feet.

Look at that drainboard pattern! Beautifully done on all four of his feet!

In the early days of Breyer, painted models were set onto a drainboard to dry. In some cases, the drainboard pattern became imprinted on the models' feet.

Some models even took bits of the wood from the drainboard with them when they were removed from the drainboard. The blue arrows indicate a few of the bits of wood on my elephant left from the Breyer factory drainboards.

Since I am primarily a vintage collector, I have more than a few models with the drainboard pattern on a hoof or two. Some of those have the wood bits as well. But I don't think any of them have the pattern or wood on all four feet nor is their pattern as clear as this elephant's.

I'm pretty intrigued now about my other models' who have drainboard patterns and I am hoping to get some time this afternoon to check their feet. If I do, I'll post about what I find.

Stay 'tooned!