Yuletide Photo Challenge - December 3

Today's topic is Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins: a purchase you made on a whim. Been there more than once, but the model featured here is the one piece in my collection that I regret buying the most. 

(Although, looking again at the prompt, it says nothing about it being something you regret. It could be something you bought on a whim and then discovered you'd hit the jackpot.)

People who know my collecting habits know that I have a fairly large collection-within-a-collection of circus horses and ponies. And it is not unusual for people to direct me to ones they've found on eBay, Mercari, Facebook Marketplace, and elsewhere. Today's model is one of those.

This misshapen porcelain piece by Enesco is my Cotton-headed Ninny Muggin purchase. I'll be honest, when I unwrapped it from all its bubble wrap and toilet paper mummification, I thought, "Oh, gosh. What have I bought? This is awful!"

You can read the original post that I wrote when it arrived here: https://horsiemama.blogspot.com/2021/07/circus-time-enesco-circus-horse.html. Several  people posted comments back then that they loved this piece and thought it was cute. Not me.

All I could see was that giraffe neck topped with a scraggly feather

and a faded pink satin bow on the tail.

It actually has a companion piece, one that I have not gone looking for.

It reminded me initially of Poppy, the Performing Pony produced by Cybis

and I wrote a comparison post of this piece to Poppy here: https://horsiemama.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-look-at-model-horse-colors.html.

My Cotton-Headed Ninny Muggins horse was made by Enesco in 1987 but I have never bothered to look for more information on it. I regret buying it, and I honestly do not like it. But, since I value model horses, I keep it tucked away in a corner of the china cabinet. It's behind some other pieces where I can't see it without doing some digging.

And there it is going to stay.

Stay 'tooned for tomorrow's prompt, A model that you would never let go. Got a couple of those!

A Look at Model Horse Colors

Imitations and knock-offs are not uncommon in the model horse world, especially with pieces produced during the early days of the model horse manufacturers. My newest circus piece, the Enesco Circus Horse on Drum, is very reminiscent of another company's work. 

It was the soft pink and gold coloring on a bisque white horse that made me think of another piece in my collection.

Poppy, the Performing Pony, made by Cybis from 1976 - 1979. Note the same bisque body and pink and gold trim (with additional pops of turquoise.)

Other Cybis pieces from the era followed the same color scheme. Note that the Enesco piece is dated 1988, while these Cybis pieces were all made prior to that time.

Gambol and Frolic, unicorns that were available 1977 - 1979. Note the sculpted bow on the tail; the Enesco piece has a much cheaper fabric bow of pink ribbon.

Flight and Fancy are pegasi that were first released in 1984. Like the Enesco circus horse, they have sculpted pink roses.

Did Enesco see the success that Cybis and other, better quality, companies were having with this color scheme and follow suit? Changing a few things so that their pieces were less costly to make? (Feather plume, fabric bow, fewer colors.)

A similar color scheme on my Irish Dresden Circus Horse.

Certainly color schemes were used across companies. For example, think of Breyer's charcoal - a black body with a white mane and tail.

BreyerFest keychain - a modern application of the color which has been used by Breyer since the 1960s.

A 1960s - 1970s charcoal colored china prancer from a Japanese manufacturer.

How about the reverse - a white horse with a black mane and tail, a color that was popular in the 1950s and into the early 1960s?

Samson from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty. (Stock photo by Alamy/Google Images.)

A very early 1950s Hagen Renaker Head Down Circus pony.

A Shiken (a Japanese manufacturer) knock-off of the Hagen Renaker Head Up Circus Pony.

I may never know if my Enesco circus pony is an imitation of Cybis' pieces or if the company was simply applying a color that was selling well at the time. Still, it's fun to dig around through photos, books, and online sites and see what can be discovered.

My belief is that there is a lot more to the topic of colors that were in vogue at a certain time and why they were so popular. I hope some hobbyists does the research on that some day.

Circus Time: an Enesco Circus Horse

Thanks to friends who know I love circus horses and tagged me in an online auction, I have a new circus horse by Enesco.

 

The box was scary when it arrived - there's a porcelain piece inside that crunched box.

Make that, crunched and OPEN box.

Fortunately, the seller packed the piece well with two outer layers of bubble wrap

and an inner layer of mummifying toilet tissue.

 It is not one of Enesco's better sculpts.

It has a giraffe neck and unusual proportions. And the gold paint is tarnished and wearing off.

The piece was made in 1987 by Enesco

and there is a second piece, too. Like the first one, it has odd proportions although it doesn't seem to have such a stretched out neck as the other one does. 

As I looked at my new piece, I realized that it (or its style) was most likely an imitation of another company's pieces. Care to take a guess as to who that was? 

More tomorrow, so stay 'tooned!

An Afjordable Fjord!

A while back, Karen Crossley (aka Pawprint) wrote about Kathleen Moody sculpts on her blog Dust Ponies: Musings about the Model Horse Hobby. (One of my favorite blogs.) In the blog entry, she wrote about a Moody Norwegian Fjord that was produced and marketed by Enesco/Trail of the Painted Ponies.

I followed a link that she'd provided, and soon I was doing an online search of my own so that I could add one to my collection.

Meet Afjordable! Isn't he nice? His scale is somewhere in-between traditional and classic.

 He came in a beautiful styrofoam lined box to prevent breakage,

 along with a collector's card

 with information about the piece as well as the breed.

 There was also a 2016 catalog in there with ornaments as well as other pieces.

Even though I prefer realistic models for the most part (Candy Cane Zebras aside, haha) I do have two Trail of the Painted Ponies in my collection.

Since I grew up on an apple orchard and my favorite breed is the Appaloosa, I have one of the earliest models done by the company, Apple-loosa. (Photo retrieved from Google Images.)

And then a former student who is horsey herself (she's all grown up now and an eventer!) gave me the Christmas ornament, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. (Photo also from Google Images.)

When Karen posted that link to the Fjord, I began wondering what else I might have missed that would be a nice addition to my collection. I plan to keep my eye out for new releases from Trail of the Painted Ponies.

In the meantime, I am enjoying having Afjordable (and his nice sparkly base) on my desk where I can see him.

Thanks for the tip, Karen!