What a Coincidence!

Talk about a coincidence! Yesterday I wrote about how I was trying to acquire a model that came from each one of our founding mothers' collections, saying that I only had left to find one from Ellen Hitchins and then this morning Teresa Rogers posted a blog post about Ellen in her own blog!

Teresa and I are friends (and I own some of her models now and she has some of mine), and she, too, is from the early days of the hobby. One of the nicest and kindest women I know, she is a wealth of early hobby history herself.  Her blog, The Model Horse History Project, is a place to find in-depth, well researched and accurate information on our early days, especially the history from the California branch of the hobby.

Teresa proxy bought these three Metlox Large Circus Horses for me at Clinky Mahem since I could not go.

And she picked up this tiny circus train with a jumping horse in the last car  at an estate sale and sent it to me because she knows I like circus horses. (See? I told you she was kind!)

I did not know she was working on a blog entry about Ellen nor did she know I was writing about Linda and would include Ellen in mine! (Apparently  Teresa asked some questions about a few of Ellen's models on Facebook, but I'm still digging out from having been hacked and not on Facebook much at the moment and didn't see what she'd written.)

Teresa's blog entry was fascinating - such a variety of models! Here's the link so you can glimpse models from way back and learn a little about Ellen, too.

Circus Time: Metlox Drafters

Clinky Mayhem, a sale of the late Karen Grimm's chinas, was held in the spring of 2018 out in California. People flew in from all over the country for the opportunity to buy some of the fabulous pieces in Karen's collection.

I couldn't go, but my friend, Teresa Rogers could, and she offered to get me a few things that I was looking for. I was looking for the medium sized Metlox Poppytrail Circus Horse in white that I knew was in Karen's collection, so I passed that information on to Teresa and sat back to wait.

That piece was not available, but the large Metlox circus horses were! (Metlox/Metlox Poppytrail was a California pottery company that was in production from 1927 - 1989.) Part of the Metlox Nostalgia line, there were three palomino and one grey circus drafters available, and Teresa was able to snag three of those for me.

 

One of the palominos had a very hard to see repaired break on its leg, and its price reflected that.

The grey drafter is harder to find and I felt very lucky that Teresa was able to get it for me. It was in mint condition.

Look at that neck! I just love this sculpt in all it chunkiness.

The third drafter was also mint. It differs from the first one in that it has some shading on the ends of its mane. 

All three pieces have some crazing which is common in pieces this old.

And they all have this fun braided forelock. Plus they are HEAVY. As heavy as they are, I think they must be solid.

If you are very, very lucky, you might find one of these drafters with a circus ballerina sitting on their backs. I've had some great finds, but this piece has eluded me. I bid on one once on eBay, but the bidding went far higher than I wanted to spend. Still, I hope to come across one someday.

A history of the Metlox/Metlox Poppytrail Company can be found here. And tomorrow we will look at something a little smaller than these big boys.

Prepare to be amazed!

My Clinky Mayhem Box!

Clinky Mayhem was held the first weekend in May and its main function was to sell off the chinas (i.e. "clinkies") from Karen Grimm's vast collection. I couldn't go, but my friend, Teresa Rogers who was going, agreed to be my proxy buyer.

I was in no hurry to get my pieces and Teresa was heavily involved with her duties for Clinky Mayhem, so, after checking with me to be sure I really was okay with a delay, Teresa took a week or so to catch her breath after the sale before packing up my horses and sending them to me.

The big box arrived over a week ago, but I was busy with end of school duties coupled with retirement activities so I had no time to open it. Then, my entire family (all six kids, their spouses, and our thirteen grandchildren, eight of whom are four and under) arrived for Memorial Day weekend for a family retirement party - there was no way I wanted to open that box with all those little ones around!

Besides, when I did, I really wanted to take my time and enjoy the process of unwrapping my new horses. So, the box has been sitting on the floor of my bedroom for about ten days, awaiting my attention.

I could not have had a better proxy buyer than Teresa. She was so careful in her handling and packing of my new pieces. Inside the big box were individual boxes, each of which was marked with how the model was oriented within (head, tail, hooves, and a big arrow indicating the top.)

 The pieces themselves were mummified in toilet paper and then encased in foam and bubble wrap.

It took me a while to unwrap each beauty, and each one arrived in pristine condition as a result of Teresa's careful packing.

Any idea what my new pieces are? Hint - they're not Hagen Renakers. I'll unveil their identities in my next post.