Weighing My Options

Yesterday's talk went well and is in the books. Belle was in attendance and afterward we got some lunch and had some horsey chat.  I have another speaking engagement in June and then in July (BreyerFest Sunday) and that's it until October.

One of the most fun things about collecting is the surprises. Walking around a corner at an antique mall and spying something really good 

like my Breyer Boxer clock.

A neighbor showing you a piece that they have had for years 

and it turns out to be something pretty special and valuable (Kat and her Wedgwood Fighting Stallion),  

or an auction lot that turns out to be far better that you first realized 

because one of the pieces is so lovely that not only does it becomes a personal favorite, it does very well at shows. (Windsong Sherif.)

Yesterday afternoon, I had an unexpected surprise while perusing eBay. (A great way to relax after a speaking engagement, right??)  I came across an auction that had two Freeman Leidy circus horses and their wagon.

I always stop and look at auctions for these pieces. Even though I already have nine horses and three wagons in my collection, I'm looking for a green and purple head down pony and both head up and head down ponies in blue and yellow.

The set on eBay is the the pink and blue horses. That color order is important - it indicates that the manes and tails are pink and the ribbon accents are blue. 

Then there is the reverse or flipped color pair. (My terms for them.)

 An example of the blue and pink pair - blue mane and tail with pink ribbon accents. This is the flip of the pair in the auction.

This is the purple and green pair,

and the green and purple flip version. 

As you might imagine, these color pairs (head up/head down in one coloration) and their flip pairing (head up/head down in reverse coloration) can get really, really, REALLY confusing. Especially when you are looking to purchase them second hand.

I got out my two head down ponies in the pink/blue and blue/pink colors to compare them to the auction pieces. 

Definitely the pink/blue version and paired correctly - neither was the flip of the other, so they are a correctly matched pair.

Another look back at my collection and I already had three of the pink/blue head up ponies and one of the head down pony. (The pink/blue head up is the most commonly found Freeman Leidy circus pony of all.)

So I already have both and I have no need for the wagon. Both pieces show some damage to their ribbons. (Very common for Freeman Leidys - they are fragile.)

I am considering getting this trio. There is some damage but for the price, that's reasonable. 

Questions I am asking myself now:

Does the seller know how fragile these pieces and how to pack them with lots of protection?

If I buy them, where will I put them? The wagons take up a lot of space and I already have three of them. 

The horses take up an entire shelf in the sewing room cabinet.

There is no more space in that cabinet, so buying the eBay set would mean a complete overhaul of shelves. 

As most collectors know, that can be a major project and I am in the middle of the JCs^2's quiet book, plus (and I haven't written yet about this) we are doing a major overhaul of our home. Blinds, painting, flooring, counter tops, and some new furniture. 

Just getting my flowers planted took a lot out of me (I didn't write about it, but I was exhausted and ill for a day afterward - my body cried "Uncle" big time.) I have been learning that I need to parse my time out better and chop things into little bits. 

So, with that all said and those projects either in progress or coming up soon, do I really want to do a rearrangement of my shelves to accommodate three pieces that I already have?

And that actually is the bottom line, the nitty gritty. I'm going to think about all that, weigh those activities and my options, and then make my decision.

Stay 'tooned.

Heads Down!

My most favorite Freeman Leidy is this Head Down Circus Horse in purple and green.

Her name is Violet

and she is NAN qualified and has several collectibility championships to her name.

But that isn't why I love her - she just makes me smile. I don't take her out much due to her fragility, but she may come with me to Indy Blooms next month.

I actually have two in this color (Violet is on the right).

Check out the different lengths of their plumes. Were Violet's tag to come off, I could still tell which one was her!

The other one has purple shading that comes higher on her shoulders, too.

My new pink and blue Head Down compared to Violet. Definitely a shorter plume on it.

A big surprise to me was their near hind hooves.

The pink and blue's hoof has been pared down.

Violet's near hind hoof is chunkier and complete.

The pink and blue pony not only seems a bit smaller than the two purples, but it also has a dulled finish like its Head Up counterpart.

You can see the size and finish variations well here. (And some ribbon ones, too!)

While I was excited to get all four pieces of this new set,

I was most excited to find the blue and pink Head Down piece.

A quick check showed that its near hoof

had also been trimmed down a bit.

And look at the plume difference!

The piece is a little smaller than Violet

and its finish is quite a bit dulled when compared to the two purple and greens. I am chalking that up to smoking as my best guess at the moment. Certainly more research is needed.

My Freeman Leidy collection is now up to nine horses and two wagons. I'd love to have each pair and their counterpart colors. Plus, there is a mysterious color that I am looking for:

The blue and yellow pair. 

I first saw them in this sales ad but someone else snapped them up before I could buy them. Clearly they are a Head Up/Head Down pair. But is there a counterpart? A yellow and blue pair? Blue was already paired with pink; shouldn't yellow have been paired with a different color then?

I've never seen that, just as I haven't seen a blue and pink Head Up horse. (I've now got the Head Down blue and pink, so I strongly suspect there is a Head Up one to match.)

That sales picture also confirmed the production of the Head Down in green and purple.

I'm on the hunt for that one, too.

Things that make collecting fun! (And your wallet light. LOL)

Heads Up!

Get ready - your eyes may start hurting as you view these photos of the garish, beribboned Freeman Leidy Head Up Ponies!

I have five of them in my collection and they are lined up left to right, newest to oldest (as in, most recently added to my collection.)

 Pink and blue (just arrived), green and purple (VERY hard to find), pink and blue, purple and green (the flipped counterpart of the green and purple), and my original, the one that started it all, a pink and blue.

I have seen flips of every color pair - they all have a Head Up counterpart where their mane and ribbon colors are flipped like the green/purple and purple/green are. They also all have a Head Down companion with similar flipped counterparts.

So much color! So much frou-frou and frippery!!

The plumes are separate pieces that were added during production and you can see that sometimes they were rotated a bit. And, some ended up being taller than the plumes on others.

My purple/green Head Up Circus Pony arrived with a broken plume several years ago (despite a stellar packing job on the part of the seller.) The break was crumbling and powdery and very, very delicate.

Normally I don't repair my chinas, but I didn't want to risk sending the piece out and then back home again, so I did a quick repair myself. 

In this next picture, compare it (second from right) to the pink (on the far right.) See the difference in the height of their plumes? (Look at the plumes' stalks.)

In fact, as you look at the group, you can see other variations in height, where the individual feathers of the plumes are, and the angle that the plumes tilt.

That's when I realized that the plume was a separate piece and added during production.

There is another difference between my new Head Up and the other four already in my collection. It was difficult to photograph. 

The Freeman Leidys are heavily glossed and very shiny,

but the finish on much of my new Head Up is quite dull.

It is on the right in this photo; can you see the difference?

It's the one on the left in this photo.

The new piece does have some places where you can see it had been glazed, but most of it is that dulled finish.

I've begun to wonder if the new Freeman Leidys were in a home where something in their environment accumulated on the finish. Were there smokers in the home? Cigarette smoke does accumulate on things.*** 

It will be interesting to compare my two new Head Down Circus Horses with the two already in my collection and see if they, too, have a duller finish than their counterparts.

Stay 'tooned!

***Both Craig's parents and mine were heavy smokers for decades. They all stopped when we were kids and the dangers of smoking were better known. A few years after that, Craig's folks decided to paint their living room. As the pictures on the walls were removed, the paint beneath them where they had been hung was new and white. The walls not covered by the paintings were very yellowed in comparison.

It was a sobering reminder of what smoking could do and I clearly remember Craig's mom expressing shock at the smoke residue on her walls and then gratitude that she had quit.

The Freeman Leidys are Here!

The Freeman Leidys are in the house! 

The story behind them is that they belonged to a couple who lived in California (home of many mid century California potteries) and they came into the possession of a granddaughter who lives in New Albany, Ohio. According to her, her grandmother treasured this set.

For whatever reason, the granddaughter put them up for sale. My friend Nancy Kelly saw the sales post and tagged me on social media, Christina Harrington offered to go pick them up them for me, and Ronda Mosley, Allison Pareis, and Stan Sollars each joined Christina in driving a shift across two states to get them here. Friends, I am so grateful for your help. Thank you so very much.

Yesterday I met Stan in Kokomo at a farm store for the final hand-off. 

The horsey hand-off was completed in a cold, pouring rain. But they are here and were worth getting wet for. 

At first I was leery about the tub. It looked awfully small for three Freeman Leidys and a circus wagon. Those horses are big and heavy. Had a second tub been left in someone's trunk by accident during all those hand-offs? A quick check showed that that wasn't the case - they were all inside.

Christina had checked them and felt they needed more bubble wrap before she passed them on. She tucked that in and around the pieces and I'm glad she did; without her bubble wrap, I think there might have been some breakage. 

The head up pink and blue pony seems to be the most common of the Freeman Leidy Circus Ponies. This is my third pink and blue one. 

She (they are all girls; look at those eyelashes and lipstick! LOL) has a broken ribbon but that's common and really doesn't bother me. (Those ribbons are hand rolled and shaped so they are different pony to pony.)

Its companion piece is the pink and blue head down pony. Oh, those eyelashes!

Aside from some photographs, I've never seen this piece in person.

Nor have I ever seen either of the blue and pink pair.

In my experience of collecting Freeman Leidys, the head down ponies in any color are much harder to find than their head up counterparts. So, as you might imagine, I am thrilled to have found not one, but two of them!

There are wagons to match each set of ponies. They are big and they are heavy. I already have the purple and green circus wagon and did not plan to get any more.

But, the pink and blue wagon came with this set, so now I have two.

The back of the wagon.

The other side (those cherubs sure look unhappy!)

One of the front wheels has a chip or large flake out of it. Not surprising; again, these are very fragile.

The front of the wagon where the horses would stand when lined up with the wagon.

The underside. "Co Freeman Leidy, Laguna Beach, Calif". (The "Co" is on the horses' undersides, too.)

There is more I will share tomorrow, including comparisons to the Freeman Leidy circus horses already in my collection.

Stay 'tooned!