What I Brought Home

Second Post of the Day

Four new pieces for my collection came home with me after Thursday's shopping trip. Three are "rescues," but one is a true bit of Breyer history and ephemera.

Little Bits Arabian Stallion on Card

A Little Bits Arabian on an unopened card!

Identify Your Breyer dates this piece to 1989 - 1994, but the card's date is 1988.  I plan to sell this piece - I bought it to get it into the hands of collectors. (If you want it, it's $15 plus shipping. Message me at horsiemama8@gmail.com.)

Five Gaiter in Sorrel #6/Conga #40

One of my favorite molds, the Five Gaiter, in the early sorrel.

The face on this one gave me pause - was this a pearly?

Perhaps a partial pearly? Or maybe a semi gloss?

He isn't a matte piece, that's for sure. And it has the dark pink ears found in the later sorrels (some of those also have a more reddish tint to their sorrel) along with a USA stamp and the very faint C Hess signature still visible.

When I checked him with a black light, blue bits of glitter showed up. I can't see them with a flashlight or in daylight, but the black light shows them on both sides of the piece.

Nothing I needed, but I am glad to add him to my herd. 

Grazing Mare & Foal  in Bay #2/Conga #10

Another vintage mold favorite. 

Nothing too remarkable about this piece

although the mane appears to have some hand painted mane tendrils (the one by the ear is the best evidence of that with its neater, rounded off edge.)

She has a USA stamp and only one or two bits of blue glitter - she and the Five Gaiter probably came from the same source.

The foal is pretty unremarkable, too, and also has a few flecks of glitter and the USA stamp.

But, its hooves show evidence that the piece was made with grey plastic, always a fun find.

There is an excess bit of plastic on the near side that was never removed and painted over.

Like the Five Gaiter, these are going into my collection. They don't have much in the way of resale value, but I bought them for personal pleasure, not for their worth. They make me happy, and that's enough.

I have one more thing to share. I didn't buy it because I already have it and have been puzzled by it for some time.

Stay 'tooned!
    

Lafayette: Love That Color!

There has been a lot of controversy over Lafayette's color. To be fair, the initial photos Breyer released had no text and he did look jet black in them. But, just as your teachers used to say, "Always read the directions!" 

Lewis Carroll in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

If you didn't read the text that came via email or was posted on Breyer's website when Lafayette was released, you did not realize that he was not actually jet black. Here's a cut and paste from the information from Breyer's website:

The first Collector Club special of 2021 is Lafayette! Dark and bold, this handsome American Saddlebred stallion has a shaded dapple black coat over a silver basecoat. Topped with a high gloss finish and decorated with silver & blue ribbons in his mane, Lafayette is striding confidently into the new year!

Full disclosure, this teacher didn't "read the directions," either. I was just as surprised as everyone else. But, I am thrilled with the color.

It reminds me very much of Rumbling Thunder who was  released in 1993. (My glossy charcoal Running Stallion is far more valuable than Rumbling Thunder, but Rumbling Thunder is my absolute favorite color in my Running Stallion conga.)

German Export Chinook, a 1994 special run on the beloved Indiana Pony, is also a similar color although she is very, very matte. (Mine is much darker than the one Identify Your Breyer shows. Love those variations!)

Glossy dapple grey Storm, a 2000 Sears special run, is lighter than my Lafayette, but I received one of the dark versions of Lafayette. 

The lighter colored Lafayette in this photo looks more like Storm, my Five Gaiter. (Photo by Breyer Trot and taken from Google Images.)

In 1997 Sears sold this Field Hunter in their holiday catalog. Like Rumbling Thunder, this piece is my favorite of all my Jumping Horses.

The final model I pulled from my collection to compare is the Clydesdale from the 1992 Sears holiday catalog. His color is very metallic and there are no dapples in his coat.

Lafayette lined up with the other similarly colored models. 

He's one gorgeous model, and I am so happy to have been able to get him. But you can bet that next time, this teacher will do what she always told her students to do and will READ THE DIRECTIONS before hitting that buy button!

Dapple Grey Shrinkies

I have been aware for some time now that, at least in my collection, some of the dapple grey models shrink more than their counterparts do. (Shrinking is called "vinegar syndrome; go to this excellent article in Kirsten Wellman's blog for more information.)

Since that article was written in 2013, we have learned more about shrinkies and more have been found in people's collections, including mine.

I took some photos of some of my dapple grey shrinkies so that you can see them in comparison to their non-shrinky counterparts.

 The Sears Holiday Catalog 1987 Special Run Graceful Mare and Foal set is very common.

And the American Saddlebred, produced 1987 - 1988 is notorious for shrinking.

The 1987 Black Horse Ranch Special Run (second from left) has a reputation for shrinking but so far, so good. But there is one that is shrinking - look at the blue roan on the far right. He is from 1990.

Notice how all those models share the same year of production as well as the same coloring? I find that really interesting and would like to do more research on dapple grey models produced at the same time and see if they have vinegar syndrome, too. (The paint colorway may have absolutely nothing to do with the tendency to shrink. Still, I find it interesting!)

This shrinking Belgian is a special run from the 1979 Model Congress. Others from the same run were sold through mail order companies, with leftovers being released in 1984. This is a little early for the shrinky period, but then, shrinkies can be found all the way back to Breyer's earliest pieces.

 I love Breyer's Running Mare - such a sweet little mare, and this color is especially pretty on her.

You can see that she is beginning to distort as the plastic changes. So far, she is not oozing. (Something that often happens with shrinkies.)

 Her foal is becoming distorted, too, and I had difficulty getting him to stand as a result.

 I finally just laid him down for his off side photo. His soft grey coloring is beautiful, albeit a little yellowed.

This shrinky has really yellowed! (Yellowing can happen to all models, not just shrinkies.) I should put him in a sunny window for a while.

No distortion shows yet which I'm glad for as the Five Gaiter is one of my top three favorite vintage molds.

As far as I can tell, this boy has not begun shrinking, despite being one of the Black Horse special runs, many of whom have had heavy shrinking.

I hope he will beat the odds, but I think that they are stacked against him so I keep an eye on him.

This is the 1979 Congress special run. He's clearly shrinking, but I don't see any distortions or leaning yet.

While I do collect vintage molds, the Belgian is not a favorite - that too short off front leg has always bothered me.

Such variations in the dapple grey coloring! And all lovely in their own way.

Tomorrow I will feature another shrinky, one from Breyer's earliest years.  He's so bad he gets a blog post of his own!

Five Gaiter Variations

Finding that FAM with the ginormous spots has prompted me to look closely at some of the variations within my collection. Like those of my sorrel Five Gaiters.

This is Sham, one of my first Breyers and a beloved part of my carpet herd. I got him in the mid 1960s and he is in remarkably good shape when you consider how much I played with him.

Sham is semi gloss, is the nipped tassel version, and has no eye whites or USA stamp. (And I still kiss him on the nose when I have him off the shelves. Those carpet herd members are very special to me and many, like Sham, have been with me 50+ years!)

Next up is Five Gaiter #2. He is very, very light and quite matte.

I found him at an antique shop about ten years ago; unfortunately, I was not documenting my collection as well back then as I do now, so I am not sure of all his details.

He has the full tassle (his tassels are poorly painted), and eyewhites, plus no USA stamp. He reminds me of one of our family's favorite desserts - Hershey pie. The pie's color is the same as his. And the shading on his near side is quite white.

Five Gaiter #3 was also found in an antique shop but I was keeping better records and know when and where that was.

Out of the four of them, I think he is the best piece. Look at his shading!

He has a full tassel, eyewhites, and no USA stamp, but he also shows signs of being a pearly.

The photos don't quite show the pearliness as well as it shows in person. Oddly enough, while the white plastic on his face and body seem to show those pearly characteristics, his white socks look more to me like normal plastic. I am not sure what to think about that. I know Breyer mixed plastics (there are examples of swirled plastic pieces floating around in the hobby) at times; could this be what I have here?

Five Gaiter #4 is the most recent variation added to my collection, and he was added only for that reason - he is a variation.

He's an example of the redder version with black mane and tail instead of the dark, dark brown one. He also has blacker hooves than the other three.

Really intriguing to me is that, despite being a later color and having a USA stamp, he is a full tassel version. I am not a fan of the redder color, but I am glad I bought him and could take a close look at him.

Top to bottom: #4, #3, #2, Sham.

Left to right: #4, #3, #2, Sham.

Top to bottom: Sham, #2, #3, #4.

Left to right: Sham, #2, #3, #4.

(Sorry the picture quality is not as good as it could be.)

I am going to a collectors' get together a week from tomorrow. I may bring my pearly and let the other ladies weigh in on him and what he might be.

Variations are fun! I may pull a few more for another post in the future.