Vintage Club El Dorado

I am struggling to write this morning. 

I have a topic to write about, but I don't feel like going through the process of writing a draft with an introduction and conclusion, a a body that has been polished and improved, checking for spelling errors and word repetitions, and having an end product that I enjoyed writing and that I hope readers will connect with and enjoy, too.  

Just not feelin' it. I am still feeling rocked by the loss of Mama.

But, writing is also cathartic, and I feel that focusing on something besides Molly's loss will be good for me. So, here we go and apologies if it's sub par compared to my usual posts.

El Dorado, the second offering of the Vintage Club has arrived.

My most favorite mold in a Florentine or Copenhagen decorator color that is an echo of the very popular vintage Appaloosa Performance Horse coloring? Yes, please!

That color is so popular that the Vintage Club has already had three iterations of it for the club.

Including the smile-inducing big dots on the back.

Which have been faithfully reproduced on El Dorado, too.

I had hoped for the Copenhagen colorway, but I would've been happy with the Florentine. 

To be truthful, had El Dorado been in the actual color of the original piece, I would've been even happier.

But no complaints from me; El Dorado is gorgeous.

A few things of note about him:

~ there are reports that some of them are glowies. I briefly tested mine using my cell phone flashlight as the light source, and saw no glow, but I'd like to try again using a better light and more prolonged exposure.

~ the plastic used is odd, glowie or not. Judging by his tail, I thought my piece might be a chalky, especially when I examined the underside of it. I haven't kept up with social media discussions of El Dorado, but I have seen some conversations where the thought is that chalky plastic may have been used.

Hopefully soon I will get the opportunity to really sit down, examine him, and do some research. Regardless, I really like El Dorado and he's a bright spot (ahem!) in my life right now.

More Hand Painting

 About a week ago I wrote a post on the Indian Pony and the hand painted tendrils of mane that some of the very early buckskin versions had. I have not been able to uncover any more information about whether or not the early alabaster and pinto versions had hand painting, but I did find two more examples in my own collection. This time it was on the alabaster Semi Rearing Mustang.

I have two early versions of the alabaster Semi Rearing Mustang, the red-eyed on the right, and the rarer black-eyed on the left. 

I pulled both models out, curious to see if they had any hand painting and there it was. Can you see it?

The black-eyed version very clearly had been the recipient of some hand painting.

The red-eyed version had less distinct hand painted mane tendrils but they were present, too.

Just as it did with the Indian Pony, a check of Nancy Atkinson Young's book did not have any notations on any hand painting on these models. Nonetheless, there they are.

It's discoveries like this that make being a vintage collector so much fun.