Woodstock - SR or Vintage Club Offering?

Originally I was on the fence as to whether or not Woodstock was truly intended to be a SR or if she was the fourth offering of the club that was subbed in due to supply chain issues. Doing some research has helped me come to a conclusion.

I sat down and went through all the past Vintage Club specials. I looked at if they had a belly stamp, blue ribbon sticker, and certificate. That was informative, but it did not clarify things to the point where I felt I could make my decision.

My "Aha!" moment came when I looked at past Gambler's Choice club offerings. Breyer has offered a Gambler's Choice every year since 2015 as one of the four annual Vintage Club models.

We have not yet had that Gambler's Choice yet this year. And that leads me to conclude that yes, Woodstock was intended to be a Special Run. The delayed piece has to be the Gambler's Choice. (And judging from the pattern I see in my notes, it will not be a decorator this year.)

There are still things that puzzle me, though.

Why was the Stablemate included? Is that this year's free VC Stablemate? And if it is, will Breyer have to pull it out of those unsold boxes of Woodstock and send it to VC members?

Woodstock is double boxed not only with the Stablemate but with with a Vintage Club information sheet that is numbered with club members' individual numbers. Breyer is going to have to open both boxes and remove those in order to sell the model to someone else. (Woodstock is an optional offering.)

That's a lot of time and effort for Breyer to go through UNLESS those two boxes were left open and, as orders came in, Breyer added the member's certificate and then sealed both boxes and slapped on a shipping label. (My guess is that is the case.)

I'm still puzzled about the Mini Me. Since Woodstock is an optional purchase, there must be another Stablemate for Vintage Club members. And if that's the case, I am hoping the it is another vintage mold that Breyer has shrunk down to Stablemate size.

I guess we Vintage Club members will just have to stay 'tooned on that one!

Back to Woodstock

Woodgrain was an early decorator color, but the original technique for painting models as woodgrains was lost over time. Breyer and Stone both struggled to recreate it, but finally in 1999 Breyer brought it back at BreyerFest on the G2 Clydesdale keychain. 

Getting it right, though, is still a challenge. My Woodstock has very little visible graining.

Although graining varied among early woodgrain models, too.

The chalky white markings that early woodgrains had are replicated well on her.

As you can see from these photos, early woodgrain colors varied from dark to medium 

 to light. (Note how similar the graining on this early Racehorse is to Woodstock's.)

Woodgrain variations of the Fighting Stallion range from light to dark.

Out of all the woodgrains in my collection, Woodstock most closely matches the dark version of the Fighting Stallion.

Click here for a better look at my woodgrain collection (including Hartland woodcuts.)

One last blog post on Woodstock tomorrow. And a bonus post on a family event coming later this morning!

Stay 'tooned!

Woodstock's Mini Me

I'm really not a Stablemate collector, but when Breyer began shrinking some of their vintage molds down to 1:32 scale, I added a few of those to my collection.

To have the Indian Pony as Woodstock's mini me counterpart makes me really happy.

Mini Me only has two pairs of feathers - in her mane 

and on either side of her neck.

(Sorry for the picture quality - she is very small and the light was not good when I was photographing her.)

But there was something else that puzzled me. Mini Me did not feel the same as the other two SM Indian Ponies that were in my collection. She felt thicker and heavier - even the feel of her plastic felt different from theirs. 

I pulled them out and popped them onto my postage scale.

The other two SM Indian Ponies weighed in at an ounce each. 

Mini Me was a bit more portly at 1.3 ounces.

So, clearly a different (and heavier) plastic was used to produce her.

I will be going into more detail as to why I think Woodstock and Mini Me were supposed to be the last offering in the 2022 Vintage Club instead of a Vintage Club Special Run but that blog entry will have to wait a few days as I have the Great Lakes Congress show this weekend.

Stay 'tooned!

Woodstock - She's a Puzzle

Woodstock has arrived and there is a lot to talk about because there are several odd things to note about her.

She is beautiful. The Indian Pony is one of my favorite molds of all.

Breyer replicated a chalky look in her white markings

and added four pairs of feathers to her mane and tail.

Regardless of which side you are looking at, 

you will see two of those pairs of feathers.

Woodstock arrived in the usual Breyer shipping box 

but she was inside a replica of the old Indian Pony boxes from the 1970s.

That's when I began feeling puzzled. Normally, web specials and Collectors Club special runs don't have a special type of box. But, Vintage Club offerings do.

Neither do the web specials and SRs include the quarterly information sheet that comes with all four of the Vintage Club models every year.

And this one has my Vintage Club number on it. A quick check of Woodstock's belly showed that she had the 2022 Vintage Club belly stamp, too. Hmmmmm.

Woodstock's Stablemate mini me was wrapped and tucked between her legs. (She's a whole blog post in and of herself.) 

With all those clues piling up, I had to conclude that Woodstock was originally intended to be the fourth Vintage Club offering.

So what happened? And how will Breyer straighten out some of the problems that issuing her as a SR will (and already have) cause?

I will go more in-depth into that in the next couple of blog entries as well as take a look at the mini me - she's got something interesting going on, too.

Stay 'tooned!

Woodstock Dropped!

Coupled with an explanation that the fourth Vintage Club piece has been delayed until next month,  Breyer dropped Woodstock, a Collectors Club Special Run yesterday.

Breyer describes her as a dark woodgrain and there is a bonus mini-me included with her!

The Indian Pony is one of my favorite molds (she's in the top five along with the Semi Rearing Mustang and the Five Gaiter) so I ordered mine as soon as I read the email. I also sent Liz a heads up just in case she was busy at work and had not seen Breyer's email.

Miss Windy Warpaint (okay, so I was 12 when I named her in 1970...) was one of my first Breyers and she is also one of the earliest Indian Ponies manufactured.

Check out her hand painted mane tendrils. She is a favorite not only in my conga of 28 Indian Ponies, but in my entire collection as well.

Thanks to my sister Jenny, I had a birthday gift card that I used to purchase Woodstock and I am looking forward to receiving her in the next week or so.