Things Don't Add Up

The curiouser and curiouser keeps getting even more curious about that Freeman Leidy set. 

With several concerns about the sale (low feedback number, more damage visible than declared, no pictures of the off sides of the pieces) and knowing just how fragile Freeman Leidys are, I messaged the seller and asked how he planned to pack them.

I'm interested in your Freeman Leidys. They are fragile, and they have damage to their ribbons, a leg, etc. If I buy, how would you pack them to protect them from breaking in transit? Thanks. Lynn

Freeman Leidys really are difficult to ship. Once I had one arrive that was impeccably packed and arrived in an undamaged box and yet the plume had broken in transit. It was not the seller's fault although he was mortified and offered a refund. I declined it and fixed the plume to the best of my ability.

Friday afternoon the seller replied.

These have already been sold so sorry.

I had just looked at them and they were still listed as available. So, I went back and looked again. Still there. Just to be sure, I closed my browser, reopened it, and clicked the link on my watch list.

Still there. Still available.

Hmmm. Did he send me that message because my question about packing made him nervous to sell them to me? Had he sold the item off-list and hadn't removed the ad yet?

I decided I'd see if the sale was still live, clicked the Buy It Now button, and the sale went through almost to the very end.  

I did not complete the sale on my end. If I were going to try ordering the set despite the seller telling me it was sold, I wanted to be sure I understood eBay's Money Back Guarantee in case of problems.

This morning the set was still in my Watchlist and when I clicked on the link, there they were. Still listed as a legitimate sale and available.

Again I clicked the Buy It Now, and again it took me through to the (almost) end.

I am trying to give the seller some grace. There may be some very human and innocent reasons that this eBay listing seems wonky. Inexperience, age, dementia, and more come to mind. Or, perhaps my question made the seller realize that shipping them would be difficult, and he was offering free shipping as part of the sale. That shipping would be costly.

I am going to keep checking the listing and see what happens to it. If it's still posted in a few days, then I might consider bidding.

Things just don't add up, and I am curious to see what happens.

Stay 'tooned.

Surgery #18 is in the Books

I think it's #18. May be more, may not be. I'm too tired to count. And I'm still under the haze of some powerful pain killers. (Um... see below.***)

Anyway, last week I finally had that hernia repair I have been putting off since 2022. Back in November of last year I had a major issue with it and surgery was no longer an option - it had become a must have. 

It was huge (5" x 2") and accompanied by at least three or four more. Or so the surgeon thought. When he actually got in there, there were simply too many hernias to count. 

I wrote a bunch of blog posts ahead of time and scheduled them to post daily while I was unable to write. And then Craig and I got up early in the middle of a snowstorm, popped the dogs into the back seat ("Wanna go see Nashie and Mama??" is still exciting to them even in the early morning hours) and headed to Lisa's where they would stay until we could bring them back home.

Due to her Seeing Eye training to be with just one person, it is always a little hard for Pepper when I leave her at Lisa's. She may be retired, but I am her partner, the person she looks out for. I don't leave her often, plus she is over there many times when I stay with her so it is a very familiar place, but Lisa said she was really missing me. 

Tammo was a little bewildered at first, too, although he and Nash played hard together all day long and wore each other completely out. (Sorry about your house, Lisa!!)

I always laugh and feel very horsey when I get leg wraps for surgery and this time was no different.

Ready to go and just wanting it to be over.

I had an outstanding team of nurses and doctors (I'm getting to be an expert on recognizing quality surgical care) and the surgeon surprised me by asking if I'd like to pray with him (yes!!) and then taking my hand, gathering the surgical team around us, and praying for all to go well for me! Wow!

Then, when one of the surgical nurses made an innocent but pretty thoughtless comment about the state of my health, the anesthesiologist said loudly to her, "She is fine. That is nothing to worry about." And then he came over, put his arm around my shoulders and said quietly, "You have nothing to worry about. You will be fine. There is nothing to worry about."

Goodness! As you might imagine, after all that, I felt much more confident that things would go well and had NO doubts that I would be in the hands of people who cared about me.

The surgery took three hours and then, after an hour and a half in recovery trying to wake up (I have no memories of recovery), I was reunited with Craig.

He reported to me later (and gleefully shared with our family on our group chat) that my first words were, "Where are the ponies?"

And then a few minutes later, "Have the doctors met the dogs yet?"

My family is enjoying teasing me about those comments and honestly, it makes me smile, too. 

I'm home now and Pepper is so happy about that and is staying by my side. She'd love to get in my lap (whenever I read, she climbs in and snoozes there) but I need to do some healing before that happens. But, she can still cuddle up to me in bed while I rest and recover. I missed her a lot, too.

Not gonna lie, I am having a lot of pain this go-round. The surgeon actually called me on Saturday to see how I was doing and ended up prescribing a different pain killer that is helping. (Another sign of quality care - calling me on the weekend when he was off and not the on call doctor!)

Craig is a great care giver, Lisa and Curt are staying in touch and are available to help, too, and friends have brought food and other offers of help. My out of towner kids are texting and phoning, and I feel secure and happy in the middle of all this support.

It is rough at the moment, but the surgery is over and I no longer have to dread it. I know from past experience that I will heal and improve, and I sure hope that this time that darn incisional hernia stays closed. 

I do not want surgery #19 to be needed.

*** Know how they tell you not to make any major decisions or purchases the first couple of days post op due to the effects of the heavy duty meds you're been given? Well, when you find four Freeman Leidy Circus Ponies the first day post op, two of which are not in your collection, and the owner is asking only $80 for all four, you buy them! SCORE!! 

 Blog post coming on that when they get here but here is a quick pic from the seller's notice. 

I already have the head up pony in pink and blue and the wagon in purple and green, but I don't have either of the head down ponies in those colors or the wagon in pink. And for only $80?! Yes!!

More Pairs o' Ponies

It's no secret that I love to collect circus horses and ponies. This fondness for them harks back to stories from my childhood about O'Boy, the circus pony my grandfather surprised my dad with, bought straight from a circus that was traveling through town. 

Grandpa Martin doing a trick with O' Boy.

My dad's response when he saw his gift was, "Oh, boy!" and that became his name.

Manufacturers often produced circus ponies in pairs. Here are a few of them from my collection.

Breyer 

In 1996 Breyer released Kathleen Moody's "Circus Ponies in Costume" in porcelain. I bought my set as soon as I could and as you might imagine, they sold quickly and are now pretty pricey to buy from the secondary market.

(This photo is from my files but it is not one I took. If you know who  did, please let me know so I can credit them.)

Ten years later in 2006, Breyer released Applause and Encore at BreyerFest. Only 500 pairs were made, and they are highly sought after. I'd just had a major ankle surgery and was on crutches plus we were moving home to Indiana that summer, so I missed that BreyerFest. It took me several years, but I finally found this beautiful pair on the secondary market.

Hagen Renakers

Hagen Renaker's original circus ponies are older than me. 

This is the red dot at the bit version.

In the 1980s Hagen Renaker released them again, this time in four different colors (plus variations; look at those maroon harnesses.) I am in the process of finding the counterparts for these so they are all in pairs. (Wish me luck!) 

The large chestnut and white ponies I shared in the last two posts were sculpted and released in the 1980s. They were modeled after the original release of the mini black and white pair of the 1950s.

Freeman Leidy

Clunky and with long eyelashes, the Freeman Leidy circus horses are my favorites of all the circus ponies I own. They make me smile every time I look at them.

The Freeman Leidys are big. They're traditional sized and were made in the 1940s during the California pottery boom. 

There isn't a lot of information out there about them, but I've discovered by collecting them they came in pairs of pairs. This pair is the purple/green ponies. Those ribbons were hand formed and placed on each piece, so the variation among ribbons is really interesting. (So are those eyelashes and check out the pink lipstick these two sport!)

Then, each color pair has a reverse pair. This next photo is the reverse of the head up purple/green horse.

He is green/purple. He is also the only green one I've ever found. I'd been collecting Freeman Leidys for years and was he ever a surprise when I saw him come up for sale on social media!

The shaft of the head plume also varies - some are long, others are short.

I think the plume was added separately. It is an easy place for breakage.

And Freeman Leidys are difficult to repair as their pottery crumbles when they break.

Look at the variation in the mane and tail ribbons!

Miscellaneous Pairs

When I was a child, I had a rearing black and white china horse in my collection. He was my favorite, and naturally he was the leader of the carpet herd. I have had a fondness for the old back and white, heavy pottery (similar to those Freeman Leidys) ponies ever since.

This pair may or may not be supposed to be paired. I don't remember but I keep them as a pair. (Hard to believe that that tail on the smaller piece has never broken off!)

This last pair o' ponies is tucked away in a box and not accessible at the moment. I wish I had put something in this photo to show their scale, because they are tiny.

They are a heavy rubber (like the old Safari horses were) and about an inch tall. I have no idea who made them but I think the detail on them is remarkable considering their size and that they were probably made to be prizes or something that was very, very inexpensive to buy.

Tomorrow we will look again at those Freeman Leidys. There is a mystery about them that I am trying to unravel and I will share that then.

Stay 'tooned!