BreyerFest Saturday & a Give Away!

First Post of the Day

Just as Friday was not the usual BreyerFest experience for me, neither was Saturday. (See upcoming second post of the day.)

Still, I was able to get online a few times throughout the day and enjoyed what I could.

The Kellys are always fun to watch and they are really knowledgable about Breyer models.

I happened to tune in just as they began talking about one of my favorite Breyer colors, the Appaloosa Performance Horse appaloosa!

I have the Fighting Stallion, the Stretch Morgan, the Stablemate, and the Performance Horse (chalky and not) in my collection,

but BOUNCER?? Oh, yes, please, Breyer! Produce it! Produce it!

I watched some of the performances in the covered arena and then did not get back to BreyerFest until the auction.

The 2026 BreyerFest Auction

One of my kids called to chat just as the auction was beginning. My kids always come first and so I missed the bidding on the first seven lots. But that's okay - I can find out what they went for later today.

The Western Prancer sold for $6500 (internet bidder.)

The electric blue Semi Rearing Mustang went for $11,000.

Croi initially sold for $12,000 to an internet bidder but their card was declined and bidding had to begin again. The winning bid for the second time also went to an internet bidder for $9500.

I really thought Sleipnir would be the biggest chunk o'change piece of the evening.

I was wrong; to my surprise, he only sold for $8500. ("Only" being a comparative word with the other winning bids of the auction.)

It was the Silver Pegasus that blew the other lots out of the water. It sold for $21,000.

I have not yet checked any chatter on social media about the auction but in my opinion, the selling prices seemed lower in comparison to past years.

Here is what I recorded:

8) Bobby Jo (Sunday raffle piece), $7,000

9) Goffert, $7500 (internet)

10) Cleveland Bay, $9500 (internet)

11) Geronimo, $7000?

12) Susecion & Le Fire, $8,000

13) Western Prancer, $6500 (internet)

14) Clydesdale Marę (Saturday raffle piece), $9500 (internet)

15) Moody Saddlebred, $12,000

16) Roxy, $9500 (Stephanie said this was the "office favorite" and that they were sad to see it go)

17) Semi Rearing Mustang, $11,000

18) Polo Pony, $8500

19) Croi, $9500 (first winning bid of $12,000 declined)

20) Criollo, $9500

21) Sleipnir, $8500 (internet)

22) Pegasus $21,000

That's $144,500 for lots 7 through 22. I'll bet the final total is around $200,000, maybe a little more. All for charity; thank you, Breyer!

Bye, Bye Birdie

When I put together the video clips for my seminar,  I discovered that, yet again, I'd been photo bombed. (One year, Craig had wandered with the dogs across the backyard and made it into the final cut.)

There's nothing you can do in that case short of refilming that portion of the clip, and it's just not worth it.

This year's photo bomber is a bird that quickly flits across the window. No harm, just a little distraction if it's even noticed at all.

So, if you watched my seminar and happened to spot my birdie friend, comment here or send me the time you saw it fly past and I'll send you a prize! (horsiemama8@gmail.com)

Another blog post is coming - stay 'tooned!

Surprise Auction Pieces & BreyerFest Merch

 Second Post of the Day

Heads up! More BreyerFest auction models have surfaced! 

Sleipnir, the eight legged horse from Norse mythology and Odin's mount. I would LOVE to see the other side of this piece and see how the extra legs were added. I'm revising my original opinion that the glossy Pegasus would be the top piece in the auction; Sleipnir is gonna knock it out of the park!

Just added to the June 26 blog entry of already revealed models is this lovely Wixom.

Move over Cantering Welsh Pony, this piece is now my favorite in this year's auction. She's softly colored, sweet faced, the dapples are nice and subtle...  High mid is my prediction.

The third new auction lot was also quietly added to the June 26 blog post. A "poly" pony!

Another Kathman piece, I instantly was reminded of last year's Single Day Stablemate, Bellini.

That shadow blanket coloring on the auction piece is interesting - I don't know that I've ever seen that on an Appaloosa before. My guess is that it is an unusual or even rare coloring in the breed. Mid high.

Breyer also announced the merchandise for this year's BreyerFest which can be found here.

I really hope I can snag two of these journals,

one for my Swedish/Canadian daughter-in-love, Emily (whose home is decorated with Dala horses) and one for me.

I'd also love to get this mug.

It would look so nice with my Kalamazoo and Feast of the Hunters' Moon mugs.

Sadly, it is limited to  in-person folks only so I won't be getting one.

Tomorrow I will be revealing the completed quiet book. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

Stay 'tooned!

Heads Up Again! It's Up for Auction!

The Metlox Poppytrail grey circus pony has been listed at auction on The Clinky Connection (Facebook.) Starting bid is $80. 

If you have ever wanted this piece, here is an opportunity. Good luck, all!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CuzMK3Tuv/

An Cool Auction Find

A few years ago, Marilou Mol and Linda Shawhan teamed up together to sell Reta Muellemann's  collection after she had passed away. They are two well known ladies who are trustworthy and describe the auction pieces and any flaws they might have very well.

While I'm not sure they are actually doing this as a business together, they now are selling models from other collections and have become an excellent resource if you are looking to buy a well presented and curated model horse. (Or a few more. Ahem!!)

Twice a week they post assortments of models that they are selling for other people. One auction ends Thursday nights, the other ends Sunday nights. I look at both auctions every week, and have bid on several pieces, especially for the Thursday auctions. 

Last week, this Schleich Falabella pony popped up.

I wasn't particularly interested in it, but it had two auction buddies that I very much was.

Talk about doing a double take when that photo popped up!

They looked like the Hartland Mustang that had been shrunk down into Tiny Mite size.

I already have a sample of every Hartland Tiny Mite mold in my collection

and so I knew these were copies, not Hartlands. (Which is how they were advertised, too. As copies.)

Still, for only $5 for the trio, I placed a bid and won.

I find copies intriguing and have others that I have snagged while out thrifting.

Like this Durham Metal Hagen Renaker Morgan Stallion copy that is a pencil sharpener.

It's actually quite lovely and I keep it on my office desk and use it whenever a pencil is dull.

This knock off Hartland pair will go on the shelf with my Hartland Tiny Mites. Despite being copies, they are a bit of hobby history and are a fun addition to my collection.

Those Lovely Early Palomino Hagen Renakers

If there is a color I can always recognize immediately and use to identify a piece, it is that lovely palomino the Hagen Renaker factory used in its earliest days. It can vary from fairly light to a darker, more carmel color, and there is something about it that screams, "Hagen Renaker!!" 

At least, it does so to me, and if I am unsure if a piece really is a Hagen Renaker, I almost always take a chance on it and buy it.

Currently Marilou Mol and Linda Shawhan are dispersing the collection of Carolyn Boydston and last week some of those old time palominos came up for auction. I was able to snag several of them.

The Comical Draft Horse with brown feet. Sculpted by Helen Perrin Farnlund and produced 1949 - 1951, he's older than me. (Although my skin is beginning to crackle like his, if you know what I mean.)

The bottoms of his hooves are odd. Clearly he was glued to a piece of cardboard at one time, but there seems to be another layer between that and the bottom of his hooves that is a lighter brown and feels like china, not cardboard.

You can see that extra layer more clearly on the hooves of the Draft Foal.

They, too, have cardboard on the bottoms, with a bigger brown layer that also clinks like china when I gently tap it. I might see if I can remove it, but for now it stays - I do not want to risk breaking pieces that have survived intact for 70+ years.

The Draft Foal was made 1949 - 1951 and sculpted by Helen Perrin Farnlund. He's not as crazed and he's very primitive looking, but I am glad to have him.

This is the Frisky Colt (left facing variation.) Tom Masterson sculpted this piece and it was released in 1951 and produced until 1953. (Still older than me!)

He has lots of crazing (that's remnants of Quake Hold on the back hooves.) 

I already had this piece in my collection; it came from Nancy Falzone's extensive HR mini collection a couple of years ago.

 It's lighter in color and has surprisingly little crazing, especially when compared to the other piece.

Boydston piece on the left, Falzone piece on the right.

I like the carmel palomino better than the lighter version, but you can see the shading better in this light piece than you can the other.

I found the underside of the hooves fascinating. The back hooves of the Boydston piece (left) has remnants of Quake Hold, the Falzone piece does not. But both pieces were painted by artists who added frogs!

The Boydston piece. Whoever painted it knew that frogs are triangular shaped.  (Sorry for the blurriness - my hands can be weak and I didn't want to drop the phone on the foal so I snapped fast.)

While the frogs on the Falzone piece look like half moons, not triangles.

There is one more interesting quirk about the Frisky Foal. There are two variations of the mold - left facing and right facing. (Screenshot from Hagen Renaker Museum.)

They almost look like two different sculpts to me and if I get some time, I'd like to research that further.

I received two other Hagen Renaker pieces from the auction with a third that's on the way. Look for more tomorrow.

Stay 'tooned!

BreyerFest 2024: Saturday

Saturday is still a blur - it was so busy in the non-horsey part of my life, I had to attend BreyerFest in small increments.

It was after 11:00 by the time Emily and the Pony Pals were able to get back on the road for Tennessee, so we missed Ian's soccer scrimmage. Since it was a very last minute decision to meet by the two coaches (24 hours' notice) and Curt knew that Emily would be leaving during the same window of time, he told us to not worry.

Then I had the conflict between Jayci's bridal shower in Las Vegas and Liz Cory's appearance on the BreyerFest Live Feed. I solved that this way:

I ran both at once while I waited for the bridal shower to begin. The start of the shower was delayed which allowed me to catch a little more of the Live Feed.

Liz's segment turned out to be very short, which also worked out well - I was able to multitask them both. However, since the Zoom shower attendees were chatting as we waited, I turned the volume off on the BreyerFest Live Stream and didn't hear anything that Liz said. (I'm still wondering why her segment was so short but I haven't talked to her since Friday to find out.)

The shower was really fun and was almost like two showers because Hawkeye Sarah made sure that the virtual attendees felt like they were a part of the shower, too.

When they were playing games that we could not participate in, she had virtual games for us.

And Jayci, her mom, and several other guests came over and chatted with us, too.

When the shower was over, I had a quick switch into the Breyer auction. Its start was delayed for almost 15 minutes. I heard later that someone in attendance had shouted, "No more online auctions!" and that the crowd had booed him or her. But finally it was underway.

There were two big ticket items:

The Rearing Lipizzaner Pegasus sold for $32,500 to an online bidder,

and the Alborozo was the top seller at $37,500, also to an online bidder. 

At times the bidding was so fast that the posted bid (in green) could not keep up and there were concerns that the online bidders would not know where the bidding was. The auctioneer would pause at those times to let it catch up. We were told that the slowness was due to the internet connection out at the park.

Here are my notes along with a running total that I did for every three lots.

If I heard right and then did the math correctly (this teacher would be HIGHLY embarrassed if she did not, LOL) then the auction brought in $243,500 this year.

When the auction closed, Craig and I headed out to accomplish another BreyerFest tradition.

We've been going to dinner at Bob Evans during BreyerFest since 2019!

It's down home cooking and quiet - a good place to decompress and catch up on each other's days.

And that concludes my 2024 BreyerFest with the exception of one thing - Andrea Gurdon's 50th anniversary cake. Today I am going to head to church and then come home and bake that cake. I'll rest and recoup from a very busy week, have some cake, and do a little reading in a now quiet home. 

It's been a week!