Tablecloth Trick

Most people have seen a tablecloth pulled off a table laden with dishes and food.

I did my own sort of "tablecloth pulling" at the Indy Blooms show when I walked past a table that had a neat Kentucky Derby fabric as a table cover. I stopped to admire it and asked the shower where she'd bought it. 

She responded that she'd had it for several years, and I knew then I would probably not be able to find it. "Drat!" I said. "It's really nice fabric and I would've loved to have gotten some."

Well, believe it or not, that lady offered to just give it to me! I didn't think that was fair to her, but reimbursing her would be a problem -  Indy Blooms was not allowing sales of any kind that day. I wanted to respect that rule, so after a quick check with Chelsey, I had the green light to trade some raffle tickets for the fabric!

I walked back to my table with my new fabric, and before I had even gotten into my chair, two people asked if they could have a haversack made from it.

They got their haversacks, and I was able to squeeze out one more for me, too.

I wish I knew who the generous shower was - if it was you, thank you, and I'd love it if you emailed me at horsiemama8@gmail.com. I have a little something I'd like to send you in return.

Guest Blogger: Kirsten Wellman

 When I was finishing up The Palomino Project, I mentioned the elusive Breyer Christmas decorators, red and green models that were reportedly seen in the 1960s/70s but have never been verified as actually existing. 

One of the references I used was Model Horse Collectibility, Kirsten Wellman's blog, and her article about those pieces.With her permission, I share that blog entry here. Fascinating read - thanks for sharing, Kirsten!

Breyer Mysteries: Christmas decorators (December 24, 2020)

Since I have a bit of extra free time this week, I thought it would be fun to tackle another holiday related blog topic, the infamous Breyer "Christmas decorators" rumor. While Breyer has blessed us with a variety of modern holiday decorator offerings in the last few years, everything from dappled red and green horses to clearware to candy cane striped zebras, the subject of vintage Christmas decorators always sparks a debate. Do they exist or don't they? Has anyone really seen one? Can anyone prove it one way or another?

Before we tackle that subject, it's useful to consider the history of the traditional Breyer decorators, the blue and gold beauties that collectors prize so much. In 1964, Breyer offered four decorator colors---gold charm, florentine, wedgewood, and copenhagen---on five molds, the Running Mare and Foal, the Five-Gaiter, the Mustang, and the Fighting Stallion. Very little documentation for them exists, but they were offered for sale in holiday catalogs like Aldens, in department stores like Montgomery Wards, and in five-and-dime stores like Ben Franklin. They did not sell well however, and were probably discontinued by 1965. Despite not having been made very long, the Breyer decorators do seem to have been issued in fairly large quantities. They remain rare to be sure, but a patient collector will find multiple decorators for sale every year on eBay or social media. 

Gold charm Mustang, copenhagen Running Mare, 
wedgewood Running Foal, and florentine Five-Gaiter

Which brings us to the purported vintage Christmas decorators. By the late 1990s, a few collectors reported rumors of Christmas decorators possibly spotted when they or someone they knew were children in the 1960s. These models were either dappled red and green much like the florentine and copenhagen models, or they were solid red and green with white points like the gold charm and wedgewood decorators. Nancy Young mentions these observations in her Breyer Molds and Models books with some skepticism, and interestingly, there is no mention of them at all in Marney Walerius' book published several years earlier. Marney did not shy away from including information that trended more toward rumor than observed fact, and it's interesting to me that the Christmas decorator rumor was apparently not circulating at that time. I myself never heard it until I read about it in Nancy's book though I was familiar with other persistant hobby rumors at that time (more on those in a future post). 

 

As of this writing in December 2020, not one credible scrap of evidence of the existence of vintage Christmas decorators has yet come to light. No models have ever turned up, no photos have been discovered, and not a single ad, price list, or catalog entry has been found. There are of course gaps in the paper trail of Breyer history, especially in the early years of the company, so it is possible that any documentation has simply been lost to time. After all, only a few documents pertaining to the blue and gold decorators are known.

1964 decorator dealer sheet

But while the lack of documentation is not surprising, I do think it's odd that no models have turned up in the last 55+ years. Other small runs from the 1960s are known, even in multiples, like the wedgewood Fury Prancers, the wedgewood Longhorns, and the In Between Mares. Had red and green decorators really been available in stores as reported, you would think at least one or two would have survived and turned up in an estate sale or antique mall. Also, given that the traditional decorators were only available for about a year and given that they did not sell well, would Breyer really have added red and green horses to the unsuccessful blue and gold line up?

It has been suggested by other collectors that the Christmas decorators may be the hobby's equivalent of the Mandela effect, and I suspect they're right. Human memory is of course fallible and definitely persuadable and changeable. The power of suggestion and confabulation of memories are common and well-known phenomena, and they are something pretty much all of us experience. I know I have absolutely misremembered things I thought I was certain of!

So with all of this in mind, I remain skeptical of the existence of vintage Christmas decorators. We can't prove their existence any more than we can disprove it, but as more time passes without one coming to light, the less likely it seems that any ever will. I sure would love a dappled red or green Five-Gaiter like the modern test pair that exists in the Breyer sample room. Maybe Breyer will bless us with some some vintage molds for their Christmas morning special run one of these years. Maybe even tomorrow? A girl can dream!

Some New HR Tennessees

Hagen Renaker may have closed, but Hagen Renaker Tennessee is still going strong. 

Kristina Lucas Francis used unfinished pieces of the snail to produce Snarkle, a sparkly snail.

Since Snarkle is a collaboration between the original factory and HR Tennessee, he had his own special card for documentation purposes.

 

There were two test pieces and thirty-six Snarkles produced. 

The special run Canadian Goose gosling is also a collaboration piece. 

Kristina told Hagen Renaker Collectors Club members that the gosling was some of the last bisque pieces poured at the factory. The eyes were painted in California, too.

HR Tennessee has been selling the last of the completed HR merchandise that was in the factory via eBay.

Since I've had HRs in my collection since the 1970s, I decided I needed to also have one of their last pieces ever produced, too.

This yellow lab is now part of my collection.

(Okay, anyone else looking at that color and seeing Breyer's carmel palomino?? LOL)

Not Seen Enough?

In case you haven't seen enough palominos already, here are some pics of other early ones in my collection. Look at how varied the color is!

Yep, that's the Quarter Horse Yearling in palomino! She is one of the darker, almost sorrel ones. I got her in 1970.

Not palominos per se, but that same luscious carmel color, light and very dark!

These are early boxers with their original chain and leather collars.

My boxer clock. There are only two others known in the hobby. When I found this clock, I left it behind and then sent a flurry of emails and pics back and forth to Sande Schneider. She found a photo of the first one in Nancy Young's files, so I zoomed back to the store the next day, fingers crossed, that it was still there. It was! (And, it was on sale!)

Now that's orange! This is the Lassie that was produced 1995 - 1996.

I picked this fawn up recently at an antique shop and was struck by its beautiful color. 

Not Sunkist orange, but orange nonetheless!

A light carmel one - some of the old FAMs sure are lovely.

And the "burnished gold" trio that got me started wondering and researching on The Palomino Project!

Okay, now we are well and truly done with palominos! 

The Palomino Project: Conclusions

After being as thorough in my research as I can, I'm ready to share my thoughts about the original question:

Was Breyer's original palomino color an orange shade that later shifted to a lighter yellow color? Or, was it originally a carmel tan that has remained mostly the same with the passage of time? What documentation can be found that supports one or the other position? 

We have heard from people on both sides of the discussion, four who spoke to me and one who declined, all of whom are respected for their knowledge and experience in the hobby.

~ Out of those four people who spoke with me, all believe that the color did not change and were able to back up their comments with personal observations. (As I was writing this series, I received several messages from additional long time hobbyists who had early palominos that they'd purchased new which had always been carmel and never orange.)

~ My own experience with palominos from the theoretical color shifting period is that they were carmel when purchased new off the shelf.

~ Numerous orange palominos from the supposed era of the color shifting time still have their orange color.

But having said that, Andrea Gurdon says that she saw a half carmel/half orange Fighting Stallion in her entry titled "Honey" that was posted July 29, 2013. She wrote,

"I'm not sure if it's completely due to exposure to sunlight, or if another environmental factor such as heat is necessary. Several years ago I saw a Gloss Palomino Fighter that had been kept in a window for some time; one side was Orange, and the other side was honey."

If that is true, and I have no reason to believe that it isn't, then that gives me pause. Why? Ever heard of the original Christmas decorators? For years rumors have swirled about that in the 1960s or so, red and green decorator models were briefly produced by Breyer. No photos have ever come to light and they have never moved beyond "hopeful rumor."

But, as Andrea wrote in a blog post dated October 3, 2009, "Yet absence of evidence is not evidence of absence: all it takes is one photograph, one document, or one model to move something from the realm of imaginary."

That's a really good point. One of our hobby mothers, Simone Smiljanic, insisted her entire life that she had seen those green and red decorators. She never recanted that, and I believe her. But we have no photos or documentation, just Simone's word and a few rumors from others that they existed.

So, while I am keeping an open mind, I agree with Kirsten Wellman, Kelly Korber-Weimer, Sande Schneider, and Nancy Kelly that Breyer's palomino color was not fugitive and never changed from orange to carmel.

But I'm also going to follow my own advice and "stay 'tooned," because, as Andrea said, it just takes one picture.

The Palomino Project: the Flip Side of the Discussion

Today we will look at the other side of the discussion - those who believe that Breyer's palomino color shifted in the early years - and examine what we can find as to evidence and documentation of that theory.

----

I first heard the notion that Breyer's Palomino color shifted while reading Andrea Gurdon's blog, Breyer History Diva. (I have been told that the topic was also discussed on Model Horse Blab, but I have been unable to find it there.)

Andrea joined our group for dinner after Indy Blooms, so I had her current contact info and reached out to her several times, asking her if she would be willing to talk to me about this theory. She did not respond to my texts. 

A search of her blog turned up three posts that specifically discuss the theory. Here are quotes from those blog entries in chronological order. (Click on the blog entry title to read the entry in its entirety.)

Honey (July 29, 2013)

"... It is a bit of a misnomer to call Gloss Honey Palomino a true "vintage" color. Early Palominos back when were more or less the same shade of Sunkist Orange that later Palominos were. The paint itself simply changed over time, from neon bright to mellow honey...."

"The formula for Palomino changed to something less fugitive sometime in the later 1960s or early 1970s; while some of them have shifted colors, too, it's usually in completely different ways and for completely different reasons."

Priceless (February 24, 2014)

"As I've mentioned before, older Palomino paint jobs are notoriously fugitive: they change with exposure to heat and/or light. Breyer Palominos tend to turn honey-brownish - often attractively so... "

Orange is the New Palomino (November 21, 2014)

"As I've mentioned before, early Palominos didn't start out "Honey," they turned that way..."

"Breyer eventually switched the formula for the Palomino to something less fugitive (less likely to change color) in the later 1960s or early 1970s. Exactly when is unknown but it's obvious it has to have been by 1971."

"You can see the same phenomenon with the #22 Palomino Pinto Shetland Pony, too. Later Matte and Semi-Gloss are just as bright and cheerful a shade of orange as the one Five-Gaiter, above. I've owned enough of these Shetlands - boxed and unboxed - and in every condition from LSQ to body - to conclude that the lack of a color shift is not anomalous, or due to any special handling. The paint was just different then."

----

In addition to talking about the color shifting in her blog, Andrea also connected the well documented phenomenon of Hartland palominos changing to a bile green to the theory about Breyer's palominos' color changing.

A bile green Hartland Victor clock. (Photo owned and shared by Kirsten Wellman.)

Honey (July 29, 2013)

"Hartland had a similar problem with their Palominos, but they tended to turn chartreuse instead."

Priceless (February 24, 2014)

"... while many Hartland Palominos turn lime or chartreuse green."

----

Finally, here is an interesting snippet, and, as far as I can find, the only piece of possible documentation that Breyer's Palomino color shifted.

Honey (July 29, 2013)

"I'm not sure if it's completely due to exposure to sunlight, or if another environmental factor such as heat is necessary. Several years ago I saw a Gloss Palomino Fighter that had been kept in a window for some time; one side was Orange, and the other side was honey. (Wish I had bought it! ...)"

----

I have found no more information from supporters of the color changing theory so that means that we are now ready to start drawing some conclusions.

Stay 'tooned!

The Palomino Project: What the Experts Say, Part 2

(As you can probably tell, I love to do research. I'm also aware that not everyone else does, so just a note to let you know that we are nearing the end of this series!)

Sande Schneider, notes from email conversations

Sande is a long time collector with a special fondness for Breyer's Western Horse. Noted for her depth of knowledge about Breyer models, Sande contributed a lot of information to Nancy Young's books and now is the caretaker of all of Nancy's notes from that project - about 40 binders full!

It is my personal belief that Breyer's palomino paint is no more prone to fading than are Breyer's other colors of paint.  I've seen, and even own, multiple color hues of models that are palomino.  I attribute their differences to the fact that they were painted at varying times from separate batches of paint.  I've never noticed any fading of their colors.   

I still have a dark caramel colored 5-Gaiter that I've owned for decades.  Plus I also used to have a pale honey colored one as well.  I haven't seen any changing of the palomino color of my 5-Gaiter(s). 

 I've not seen any evidence that Breyer's palomino paint is fading.  

Nancy Kelly

Another long-time collector, Nancy has published several books on Hagen Renakers as well as one about hobby history. Knowing that she also collected Breyers, I invited her to share anything that she could regarding the theory of fading polomino color.

Nancy Falzone (left) and Nancy Kelly (right)

I never owned a palomino FAM so I guess I'm not much help. My first Breyer, given to me as a gift in the 1960s, was the Fighting Stallion in palomino. He is the treasure of my Breyer collection. My most recent Breyer palomino is the Vintage Club "My Girl" cantering Welsh pony. I took a photo of them side by side to show the difference in their two colors, but I'm afraid it has nothing to do with your lemon yellow question. :)

Nancy's two palominos - look at how pink the CWP looks next to the Fighting Stallion!

Lynn Isenbarger 

While I have been around the hobby a long time, I do not consider myself an expert on Breyers. Having said that, I have been collecting since 1963 and still have some early palominos from those days in my collection. All are a beautiful carmel color, the color I remember them always being. I never would have bought them had they been orange - orange may be my favorite color, but not on a model horse. My models have always been carmel.

Last thought for today. 

A takeaway for me today was a comment that Sande made in her remarks. "I've not seen any evidence that Breyer's palomino paint is fading."

That's what I am looking for - evidence that the color did indeed change. And in rereading back through all the experts' comments, none of them have seen that evidence, either. In fact, the evidence that they have seen suggests otherwise - that the paint did not, in fact, change or shift.

More tomorrow. Stay 'tooned!

Was Breyer's original palomino color an orange shade that later shifted to a lighter yellow color? Or, was it originally a carmel tan that has remained mostly the same with the passage of time? What documentation can be found that supports one or the other position?