Vintage Club Drifter has Arrived

First Post of the Day

The third offering in the Vintage Club has arrived, gambler's choice Drifter.

He arrived before my Christmas in July order despite having been ordered several days later. Word on social media is that the CCG warehouse is backed up again. 

While Appaloosa is my favorite color, I'd really liked the grulla iteration of the piece.

The box had a gold sticker that said I was getting the Appaloosa

and that was correct.

I have never been a fan of the Stock Horse Stallion and do not have any in my collection. But Drifter has changed my mind. 

I really like him and am pleased to have gotten the Appaloosa variation.

Lovely eyes, too. (And ones I could see without glasses, a magnifying glass, or enlarging photos! LOL)

The Stock Horse Family were iconic when they were introduced in the 1980s and they still have their fans today. I have no plans to begin conga-ing the Stallion mold, but I do think he is nice and am happy to have him on my shelves.

Don't forget the August give away!  The winner will receive a copy of Walk with Me, the book with several chapters about Pepper's Seeing Eye career in it!

Comment on any or all blog posts published from Tuesday, 8/4 through Friday, 8/7, 11:59 PM to enter.

Stay 'tooned - a second blog post is coming. 

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.

Vintage Club Release #2

If you are a fan of Breyer's vintage molds (and I am), then this year's Vintage Club is making your heart sing. Offering  number two has been released, and it is on my all-time favorite Breyer mold, the Semi-Rearing Mustang!

Named "El Dorado," the run is split 50/50 between an iteration of the Appaloosa Performance Horse in Florentine and Copenhagen.  Although in their advertisement for him, Breyer called that blue wedgewood. (Photos of El Dorado by Breyer.)

You can see how well Breyer has replicated the polka dot spots pattern. (This is my model, but the person I bought it from took the pics. I cannot remember their name to give them credit.)

Breyer did not show pics of El Dorado's off side; my guess is that they will look like this, too.

And, I am wondering if Breyer might have made some of them as chalkies. Wouldn't that be awesome?

The Appaloosa Performance Horse's color is wildly popular among collectors and Breyer has used it several times for the Vintage Club. (Eagle, Halo, and Leopold.)

Regardless, I will be happy with either color that I get. And, I may even see if I can find the other color, too. So if you know of someone selling theirs, please let me know.

This Sentinel & Echo Get to Stay

There was an inadvertent clue to readers that my replacement Sentinel and Echo had arrived in the bog entry, Starting to Wrap it Up. 

It was Friday, the day we have Mama and Nash with us, and it was my turn to be downstairs with her when the box was delivered.

I was working on making sleeve buttons, but I was curious as to which foal I'd gotten, so I'd put my pliers down and opened it.

Sentinel was perfect - no snapped off front leg this time!

There was a hint of a pink nose,

and I could not find any flaws. My concerns of getting someone else's return started to ease.

As to which foal did I get?

The Running Foal. One of Breyer's most popular foal molds with 37 different iterations over the years.

It, too, has that bit of blush on its nose.

And, like Sentinel, I don't find any flaws on him. 

For those wondering if I was okay with having not gotten another Scratching Foal as I had in the first set of Sentinel and Echo, absolutely I am.

The woodgrain Running Foal was my very first Breyer foal and a gift from my father when I got my braces on. I really did prefer the Running Foal, even though I knew from having it in hand that the Scratching Foal was nice, too.

A few years ago, Breyer did away with individual Vintage Club member numbers that were on the information sheets that came with each piece.

The sheet tucked in with my first set said that that set was #534 of 1200.

My replacement set's sheet is #6/1200, a very low number.

So, what does that mean? Probably nothing much. It may indicate that this was one of the first sets packaged. And perhaps those first sets were set aside for instances just like mine - replacement. 

Or it could just be luck of the draw, just like the foal that club members received. The numbers really don't have meaning aside from the run number of 1200.

I am so glad and even a little relieved to finally have things resolved and my Sentinel and Echo tagged, photographed, and on the shelves. They also piqued my curiosity about something else, and I have begun doing some research for a blog post about that.

Stay 'tooned! 

Waiting Woes

I am still waiting to receive my replacement Vintage Club Sentinel and Echo.

At this point I am feeling discouraged - the wait has been so long; will I be receiving a set that someone else returned? At this late in the release of the set, I think that is very possible.

Frustrated at the wait, I drew up a timeline yesterday to see if it really had been as long as it felt, or if I was just being impatient.

It's been as long as I thought.

January 29  Sentinel and Echo were released to Vintage Club members for ordering. I ordered within an hour of that announcement. 

February 6  My set arrived.

Echo was fine,

but Sentinel's front leg was snapped off.

February 6  That same day, I contacted Breyer, was asked to send photos of the break, and was then sent a return ticket.

February 7  I packed up Sentinel and Echo, went to the local shipping store, and sent them back to Breyer. 

February 12  Breyer notified me that the box had been received by them and sent me a shipping notice for my replacement set.

I was surprised but excited to see that Breyer would be shipping my replacement set by Next Day Air!

Except... they didn't.

The warehouse didn't ship it at all.

I began a days long wait, checking tracking several times a day, but the delivery status never changed. Breyer's warehouse had never shipped that box.

February 18  After waiting six days, I finally emailed Breyer, asking for them to check into why my box had not been shipped. I received no response. 

February 20  I again contacted Breyer but this time I heard back. It was the same woman who had helped me with the original return, and she expressed surprise that my box had not been sent out. Within ten minutes I had another email from her saying that a new shipment of Sentinel and Echo was now scheduled to be shipped on Monday, February 22.

February 22 Except, that it didn't.

February 23  It didn't ship the next day, either.

February 24  At last! I received a notice that my box was on the way with an estimated delivery of Friday, February 27.

Needless to say, I have been tracking that package carefully.

February 27  This morning's tracking looked promising, except for that tiny text that my package would be delivered by USPS. 

I clicked the tracking note for that delivery.

The box was in Lafayette at 5:36 AM and still had to be sent over to the West Lafayette post office.

Which means it is highly unlikely that I will get my models today. 

Am I frustrated? Yes. But there are bigger problems to have than this.

I will get my package soon and look forward to finding out which foal is in this box. The Scratching Foal like the one that was with the broken Sentinel,

or the Running Foal, which was actually my first choice, at least until I had the Scratching Foal in hand, and I really thought it was nice.

Either way, I will be happy.

My wait is almost over. I hope.

A Problem & the February Give Away

When you receive a box from Breyer and hear a rattling sound from inside, you know you probably have a return in your hands.

That has never happened to me before, but as the saying goes, there's a first time for everything. And my time had arrived.

The shipping box did have some damage. 

Which continued on to the Vintage Club box the models were in.

The damage also continued down the side. That box took a wallop from whatever did the damaging.

I opened the foal first. I preferred the Running Foal, but I think the Scratching Foal will be the sought after piece. 

Inside was the Scratching Foal. It was so cute and I love that blue roan color!

Everything was fine with it, so I began unwrapping the Running Stallion with a healthy dose of trepidation.

I could see what caused that rattling sound right away.

The extended foreleg had been snapped off during shipping. What a disappointment!

I called Breyer's customer service right away. I was asked to send a photo of the break and then Breyer would send me a call tag for the model to be returned. Within a half hour of sending the photo, I had the call tag and had packed up the pair for return. 

So now I wait for my next box. Having had the Scratching Foal in hand, I found I liked it very much and was actually a little sad that I could not keep it and just return the Running Stallion. 

While I am waiting, I thought it might be fun to include this little fiasco in the February Give Away. I have an idea for what I would like to give away this month, but I have to find it first. LOL I'll see if I can't find it today and post pictures in tomorrow's blog post.

To enter, guess which foal I will receive in the next box, the Running or the Scratching Foal. Enter by commenting on any and all blog posts posted beginning with this one and ending Thursday, February 12, at 11:59 PM. Your guesses can change from comment to comment. ALL guesses, not just the correct ones, will be entered when I spin to win on Friday or Saturday.

Good luck and stay 'tooned!