A Last Bit o' BreyerFest

First Post of the Day

Here's a last bit of BreyerFest that I wanted to share - this year's Vintage Club bonus Stablemate. It was on display in Kentucky and I took a screen shot of it from social media.

A flocked Fighting Stallion! A take on the 1985 JCP Holiday Catalog flocked circus horse.

I've had one of the originals in my home in the past, but it isn't mine - it belongs to Yvonne Rott and she has brought it to Happy Trails several times.

She also has its counterpart on Legionario plus their accompanying dolls. All are at the top of my want list.

I may never find my own set of the traditional pair, but that's okay - I am going to really enjoy this flocked Stablemate. 

And, I can't wait to see how the flocked Stablemate looks next to my flocked Shiny Brite ornaments.

I have an idea forming in my head for an Anything Goes entry for a future GLC show using both the Breyer and the Shiny Brite flockies.

Stay 'tooned!

Fortitude: The 2024 BreyerFest Crystal

I got my first BreyerFest 2024 model! Fortitude from the Second Chance Sale arrived!

I really like Breyer's crystal pieces. They only make one a year so the market isn't flooded with them, they are unique in that they are crystal, not plastic, china, or resin,  

and they come in really nice foam-filled boxes that protect them well from breakage.

This year's crystal horse is a vintage mold - the Fighting Stallion! 

Isn't he lovely?

The Breyer stamp is on his hind leg. 

I don't have all sixteen crystals that have been made; I only purchase the ones I really like.

Passion on the Huckleberry Bey mold was the first crystal Breyer produced.

I had two Home Straights but I sold my extra.

Originally the seal on the top of the box was gold. Breyer switched to silver in 2014. I think the silver looks nicer and is easier to read.

Fortitude is back in his protective box now and is stacked with the other boxes of crystals in my office closet. Some day I'd like to have a small, enclosed display cabinet dedicated to my crystal pieces. 

But Fortitude wasn't the only box from Breyer that arrived yesterday. I'll share that piece tomorrow.

Stay 'tooned!

Another Birthday, that Fighting Stallion, and Oh, Deer!

Four family birthdays this weekend - cake and ice cream two days in a row? Yes, please! 

Saturday we celebrated my sister Jenny; Sunday it was Cowpoke Ian's big day. We headed over to his home Sunday evening for a family gathering that included Vanessa's side of the family. 

My sister Leslie is another one of those having a birthday. I brought something special for her to Jenny's celebration Saturday night.

That beautiful glossy dapple grey Fighting Stallion! He's now in my collection but that wasn't always the case.

He was a birthday gift for Leslie when she was eight or so. Les had found this picture last week (she is digitalizing all the family photos) and had sent it to me.

I thought she might enjoy seeing that early Fighting Stallion again, and maybe even want to have it back. 

She has recently gone with me to live shows and has enjoyed seeing some of her former models (the two ebony woodcut Harlands in this picture) find success on the show table. Would she like to have this piece from her childhood back?

Leslie laughed in delight when she unwrapped him and enjoyed seeing him, but in the end, she said she'd really like it if I kept her Fighting Stallion on my shelves with my other models.

We ended our cake-and-ice-cream weekend on an adrenaline rush.The drive between our home and Curt's closely follows alongside the Wabash River, and sure enough, the inevitable happened on the way home. A deer suddenly jumped out onto the road and crashed right into the side of our car. Craig hit the brakes, turned around, and slowly drove back up the road, looking for it.

It was nowhere to be seen, so it must have been able to get up and finish its run across the road. Luckily, there was no damage to my car and we were unhurt. Poor deer! I hope it is okay and not suffering.

The Indy Blooms Swap Meet is this Friday, so I am anticipating a full week of preparations for it. I need to do a final inventory of haversacks and then go through all those sales models I sorted out this past winter and see which ones I want to take.

With Midwest Mini Mayhem the following week (see my tea towel?), I am going to have two weeks of concentrating on model horses and my collection.

That is going to be fun.

My Kind of Dance Recital

Pony Pal Mila's dance school recently held a recital and Mila invited me to come watch her perform. After the show was over, we decided to take some pictures behind the auditorium. 

When we stepped outside the building, I saw EXACTLY where I wanted my picture with Mila to be taken.

Right by the looks-like-a-fighting-stallion statue!

A dancing pony pal and a pseudo Fighting Stallion? That's my kind of recital!

Shrunken Down & Sold Out

 Wow! The Breyer Christmas Clydesdales sold out in under ten minutes!

And as you might imagine, there are some unhappy collectors. Unsold pieces were to be offered to all, not just Collectors Club members, this afternoon at 2:00 EST, so those folks, plus the Collectors Club members who didn't get one before they sold out, are feeling frustrated.

Some have expressed surprise that a "shrunken down vintage mold" proved to be so popular. I can't speak for everyone, but for me, when I see my old favorites, favorites who have been with me since childhood, in a tinier version, I fall in love and head to PayPal.

That love of the mini vintage models was enough to make me spring for a case of blind bag Stablemates last year. Along with a woodgrain Clydesdale,

there was a glossy charcoal Fighting Stallion being offered,

and the Indian Pony in vintage pinto. 

But there was one more piece I wanted. I bought that entire case of 24 hoping to get the decorator Indian Pony. The odds weren't in my favor - there was 1 Indian Pony in every 12 cases. (Or, 1 in every 288 blind bags.) 

To my surprise, the first package I opened contained her. (I could not believe my luck!)

There is a HUGE market for Stablemates that are the tiny version of vintage molds. So when Breyer offered a limited amount of vintage mold Stablemate models, models that are in decorator colors, it is no wonder they sold out almost immediately.

I think we will see more mini versions of vintage molds going forward. And I can't wait.

New to Windsong!

Years ago I had a beautiful glossy alabaster Fighting Stallion. And foolishly, I sold him.

Look what just arrived! Isn't he beautiful!

His shading is gorgeous and he even has felt pad remnants on his hind hooves and tail. I am so happy to add this boy to my collection!

His Stablemate-sized counterpart also arrived. 

This is the piece that those who joined the Deluxe Collectors Club received. (We are still waiting for the 2020 Stablemate as well as to hear what pieces are going to be offered to Vintage Club members.)

I have noticed that with the vintage molds that are shrunk down to Stablemate scale, their hooves are in better proportion to their bodies than many of the new mold Stablemates. I like that - one of the reason I don't collect Stablemates (Truly! I don't!) is the clunky hooves many of them sport.

That doesn't stop me from buying some of them. I just received the two Holiday Filigrees that I did not get when they were offered. Now I have the complete set!

The HO scale horses have also arrived. No have photos yet, but I'll get some taken and post them here when I do. Stay 'tooned!

BreyerFest Loot - the Beginning

Some of the models I purchased as part of BreyerFest have begun arriving.

Of course, I have Ballynoe Castle RM, the Celebration Horse. (I remember when they used to be called dinner models! And dinner was served outside at the park - no air conditioning,  just open air tents! Haha!) He's nice, but I am not a fan of the mold so I will either sell him or donate him to a live show.

 I got the chestnut pinto 70th Anniversary Fighting Stallion. He is lovely.

A 1980s Little Bit Stock Horse with box.

And a blanket from the French World Equestrian Games held in 2014!

Hopefully soon the rest of my purchases, all coming from Breyer, will get here soon.

Two More 1960s Grey Appaloosa Oldies

Breyer used the glossy grey Appaloosa color on several other molds back in the 1960s.

The Fighting Stallion looks lovely in this color - I think I like it better on this mold than I do glossy charcoal, my favorite color of all. It was produced 1961 - 1966.

The mane and tail on this piece are not black like they are with the Family Arabians. Instead, the Fighting Stallion pieces came with a grey (like mine) or light grey mane and tail.

The face is bald and a very few have pinking on the inside corner of the eye. Mine has three spots on its face.

There is a white belly band and the splash spots vary from very few and limited to the rump to all over the body. Mine has spots on the off side up to behind its ears.

Mine is old enough to have remnants of the old foam hoof and tail pads. (That white circle on the tip of the tail is drainboard patterning.) He's a beautiful piece.

Breyer also produced the Semi-Rearing Mustang in a glossy grey Appaloosa 1961/63 - 1966.

The mane and tail are white instead of black or even grey. (My piece's are a creamy color due to age.)

The color produced on this mold ranged from a light powder grey to a medium dark grey.

The socks are white rather than black or charcoal, and the hooves are pink.

The Appaloosa spots on mine are more extensive than they appear in photographs - his go up to his shoulders with a few high up on the neck and behind his ears.

Breyer continued to produce the grey Appaloosa color (and variations of it) up to very recently. Next we'll have a look at more modern examples of the color.