Doing Some Antiquing

What do you do after you go to the dentist? I usually go antiquing before going home. I have no idea why; I just do. 

So, after having my teeth cleaned yesterday, I headed to one of my favorite antique shops to do a little wandering and to see if I could find anything interesting.

I always smile when I see one of the vintage Family Arabs. I didn't need another one, so I left this grand old lady in the glass display case where she was safe and protected.

The Classic Shire A in a homemade harness and cart. That's Tristan, a model from the 2005 Breyer Fun Days. From what I can see, the tag lists the cart as tack maker H Custom Designs. A search online turns up a D & H Custom Designs who makes carts, carriages, and wagons for model horses. Perhaps that is who made this set?

My Little Ponies can almost always be found in an antique shop. I actually have some of my kids' MLPs. Some day I will dig them out and see if I can identify them.

The beautiful old metal boy almost came home with me. He's pretty but he was also heavy and more than I wanted to pay. Besides, I collect enough things; I don't need to start collecting metal horses!

Although truth be told, I do have four or five that are tucked away.

Two Trail of the Painted Ponies were available.

Not at $125 apiece.

I don't collect them, either, although I do have Apple-loosa, a combination of my favorite breed, my teaching career, and the apple orchard that my family owned for decades.

Artists in the model horse hobby do a wonderful job of training our eyes on correct conformation, proportion, scale, and biomechanics. So, when I look at a piece like this one, I can't help but compare it to what I have seen the artists in our hobby create. And usually, the piece I am looking at just does not measure up. 

A souvenir piece from the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus. I already have this one and their Western Horse knock-off in my collection.

Another horsey piece being kept behind glass was an old Trigger lunch box.

 

$300 originally but now on sale for $150. 

A Classic sized knock off of Maureen Love's Arabian Stallion. Although it's more likely that it is a knock off of Breyer's iteration of this piece and not Hagen Renaker's china one.

This Napcoware horse head planter almost came home with me. I actually have one of these in palomino, but the brown coloring is lovely on this one. But it was very dirty, and had some chips, so I left it behind.

My Napcoware planter, still sporting water droplets from having been washed.

I didn't buy anything this time, but that's often the case when looking for HSOs. I still had fun wandering the aisles and seeing what was out there. My next dental appointment is in May, but no doubt I will visit this shop again long before that!