A Letter from Marney

Progress on cleaning and sorting the hobby closet continues, but it is SLOW. The reason? I keep running across treasures like this:

A letter from Marney Walerius!

She and I had corresponded when she was alive, and this letter was in response to two queries I had had - if she knew what Ellen Hitchins and Simi (Simone) Smiljanic, the founders of IMPHSA (International Model Photo Horse Showers Association, the club that introduced most early hobbyists to photo showing and to each other in 1970) were doing ...

... and a question about the book she was writing and when it would be published. She responded at length to both questions, something she was known for doing, and I think it was her willingness to take time to correspond with other early hobbyists and the effect that that had on our hobby (along with her Model Horse Congress shows) that brought her to prominence and sustains her memory all these years after her passing.

Marney is considered by many to be the "mother" of the model horse hobby, but I disagree. She came to hobbyists' notice after Ellen and Simi had established their club, and while she was a tremendous influence on many people and now seems to overshadow them and their contributions, they really were the ones who helped early collectors find each other and organize the beginnings of the hobby.

I mean no disrespect to Marney - there is no question that she did a lot herself to grow our hobby, and she was fun to correspond with. But without Ellen and Simi, the hobby would not have gained such an early following which later came to fruition in the wonderful, many faceted hobby of today.

Tomorrow I will post the 1970  Horse and Rider magazine about Ellen, Simi, and IMPHSA that introduced me as well as many other early hobbyists to the world of photo showing.

When Collectors' Books Become Collectible Themselves

I have been in the hobby long enough that I was able to buy early hobby books when they were first being published. I bought them at the time for the reference material they contained, but now I keep them for their value as a piece of hobby history.

One is the third edition of Nancy Atkinson Young's seminal work, Breyer Molds & Models. The earliest copies were not commercially bound but were in a binder.

The books were bought directly from Nancy, and she would sign them if you wished. I also exchanged information with her about what I had in my collection, and it was fun to see my pieces referenced in future editions of this book.

 I used this book heavily and made notes in it.

While those notes may make this edition less valuable, for me it adds to it as part of my own history within the hobby and where I was in my collecting at the time.

I also have a copy of Marney Walerius' book, Breyer Models Reference and Insurance Guide.

 Her book was pricey at $39 and had many errors, but it was still an interesting read.

The pages were glued to the binding and so now the book snaps and pops when I open it. It has become very fragile and I do not open it any more.

When I bought these two books, I never dreamed that they would become collectible themselves!