Silver Filigree Speculation

One of the subjects that's come up lately is this year's silver filigree model: Which mold will it be on?

I'm always a little hesitant to assume that there will be a silver filigree model each year, mostly because sometimes they skip a year. Here's a list of what we've had so far:

2008 - Silver Snow
2010 - Alpine
2011 - Mont Tremblant
2013 - Aspen
2014 - Chamonix, Banff
2015 - Sugarloaf

So there have been a few skipped years in there. I personally wouldn't mind if they skipped this year completely, just to add a little variety in there (another release with Arosa's colorway? Yes please!). But, if they did make one, I'd want to see it on any of these molds:

Fell Pony
Icelandic Horse/Falhofnir
Forever Saige
Bouncer (I can dream, right?)

The Fell Pony is first on the list because it's a new mold and it just seems odd they haven't used her for anything else this year. Wouldn't she look gorgeous in silver filigree?

It's anyone's guess whether they'll use any from my list or something different altogether. I guess we'll just have to wait and see! I say that a lot...

Hwin - 2017 Breyer release!

Okay, the photos are all over Instagram now, so I guess I'll post about it - Breyer is releasing a dapple gray next year on Forever Saige, named Hwin! This was posted by Kristina Lucas Francis (Saige's sculptor) on Instagram:



I had never heard of Hwin before, but a quick Google found this. Apparently she's a Mustang event horse - not something you hear about every day! And there's even a helmet cam video. Go Hwin!

Needless to say, I'll be buying her! Although, looking more closely at the photo, her dapples do look rather fish-scaley...hopefully they won't all look like that. My Saiges wouldn't mind having another new friend, though! It's good to see this mold getting some love after her lackluster first release. Now if they'd just gloss the leftover original Forever Saiges...

The 2017 Collector Club is open for business!

Exciting news today - the 2017 Breyer Collector Club is now open for business, and the first SR for next year will be a gorgeous pinto Forever Saige!



Her name is Moondance, and I love her! I think that pattern looks really good on her. She's definitely on my list!

Hopefully this means we get more bombshell reveals as the week goes on! Ideally, we'd hear that this year's JAH is on our way, but I'd settle for an announcement of next year's Premier Club.

There's also a rumor going around about a dapple gray RR on Forever Saige to debut next year, complete with photos, but I'll hold off on that until we have more information.

Either way, I'm excited! More good things are coming!

Things are showing up at Tuesday Morning again!

It's that time of year again - the time when Breyer gives up on selling various leftover stock from the previous year and ships it all to Tuesday Morning to be sold at discounted prices! One of my favorite times of year, obviously. I haven't had a ton of luck finding things myself - I remember getting a couple of Elvis Presley's Bear models several years ago, and Flexible and the RCMP horse last year (for $20 each), plus the BGB breast cancer horse on the website, but other than those, our "local" TM (50 miles away) doesn't seem to get a whole lot of Breyer stock in - or maybe I'm just too slow to check.

So far, the reports I've seen say that Smokin' Doubledutch, Picasso, Don't Look Twice, the black AQHA, the pony pouches, the polo rider and tack, and an assortment of Classics (including Liam), Stablemates, and accessories have all been found at TMs around the country. I'm not sure if I'll go to the effort of checking ours this year, as I already have anything I would have wanted from that list, but if there's anything you're looking for there, definitely get out and check yours!

Featured Model - 9/24/2016, JAH 30th Anniversary Special Edition (Wedgewood)

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a random model from my collection, give some stats on it and make some commentary about it. This week's victim is the Wedgewood version of the JAH 30th Anniversary Special Edition!

This beautiful model was first issued at the end of 2005 through JAH on the popular American Saddlebred Stallion/Clock Horse mold, sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

As the name of the run indicates, these models were produced to commemorate JAH's 30th Anniversary. The models were produced in all four of the old decorator colors and shipped randomly to subscribers who ordered them - initially, in runs of 500 of each color, but the run was so popular that the numbers were upped to 750 each (or so the legend goes). The COA for this guy does not reflect the change in production numbers, but the one for my Gold Charm does (I have a Florentine on its way to me and haven't located a Copenhagen yet).

I vaguely remember when these models were released, but had mostly stopped paying attention to the hobby at the time, and eventually got them confused with the 50th Anniversary decorator MFTs that were released in 2000. ("What were those used for? JAH? Huh, I thought they were a Breyer 50th anniversary thing. Oh well.")

I bought this particular individual for a very discounted price on eBay due to visible damage to the finish - obviously it had been played with. No biggie, I thought; it wouldn't be too expensive to have someone restore him and the model was definitely worth enough to make it worth the hassle. Unfortunately, when he arrived his entire tail had broken off due to poor packaging. I was able to get a 50% refund from the seller, but repairs (by the extremely talented Nan Wagner) cost more than I had originally planned due to the broken tail. Nan did a beautiful job, though!

He's on one of my favorite molds,  so no danger of being sold anytime soon (and blue is my favorite color!). It's hard to describe why certain molds appeal to me, while others don't; I guess it just goes back to the aesthetically pleasing (to me) department i.e. I can't really explain it. Other than my general dislike of stock horses - and I don't really know why I dislike those, either. Too beefy? Not fancy-looking enough? Not enough wild and crazy hair? Who knows.

Halloween Grab Bags and New Arrivals!

Another exciting day in model horse land! (Or plastic pony paradise, as I like to call it.)

Halloween Grab Bags are now available from the Breyer web site, open to all! I've already said my piece about grab bags, so all I'll say is: good luck!

In other news, I have a few new arrivals to share with you all (after shooting some quick cell phone photos in my living room)! First, the TSC Santana:

Next, the TSC "New Beginnings" Sir Buckingham:

And lastly...Leandro! I wasn't drawn for him on my account, but my husband was!

 

They all turned out quite nice, despite the Sir Buckingham being packaged in the box so close to the mare and foal that they were all pretty much touching each other and could have left rubs/marks on each other from it. The Leandro is nice and has lots of details, but does have a couple of booboos too minor to be worth sending him back. All worthy additions to my herd, though! My Silvers, especially, have been multiplying a lot lately. I only had four of them at the start of the year, and now I'm up to nine with another one on its way here. Whew!

Still waiting to hear when the next Collector Club special run is released. I believe last year's Fabien was out by now, so it should be soon. Possibly next week? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

New Classics Mustang Sets Announced!

Today Breyer posted two new Classics Mustangs sets on their Facebook page! This set is named Tashunka and Dakotah:


And these are Winona and Wapi:



They will be available at various Mid-States locations, probably at the same places carrying Chase.

As usual, I won't be buying either of these sets. I'm especially not a fan of the Standing Thoroughbred in this color, although it may just be another bad Photoshop job. The head looks...odd. Better luck next year, I guess. Hopefully we get some more flashy new Classics included in next year's releases!

Another Halloween SR - Crane!

Breaking news! Breyer has released another Halloween-themed special run, Crane, available on the website now! Photo from Breyer:



"With his striking pose and eerie glow-in-the-dark coat, Crane is sure to frighten the bravest of ghouls. His leopard appaloosa coat with skull spots is downright spooky! Comes in a mail order box, not retail packaging."

There had been some speculation on Blab the last couple of days wondering if there would be another Halloween special run - and voila! Here he is!

As is typical, I don't collect the Classics Rearing Stallion, so I won't be buying one. But don't let that stop you! The paint job is nifty enough, as was the Fighting Stallion Ichabod last year; I'm just no longer interested in either mold. (I had six fighters and one Rearing Stallion at one point, but sold them all off last year needing shelf space.)

He is priced at $30; that's a tad high for a Classic model, but he's glow-in-the-dark and his paintjob is a bit more complicated than your typical model, so I understand. The only thing I'm really sad about here is that they still haven't done a Halloween-themed Classic model on a mold I collect, but since I only collect a handful of them, it might be a while before that happens.

No word on how many there are, but there usually isn't. So, that probably means you shouldn't wait to get your order in! Who knows when they'll sell out.

Gold Valegro Available for Preorder!

Today I got an email announcing that the limited edition gold Valegro is available for preorder (to collector club members) here. Looks like the Collector Club preorder period lasts until 9/21, at which point they will be available to everyone. If I hadn't already preordered one I would be all over this!

I can't wait until this model is in my hands. Too bad he isn't shipping until December, but I suppose them's the breaks. Where's that "Soon" cat meme when you need it?

Grab Bags

For whatever reason, I neglected to make a post about Collector Club grab bags coming back.

 

 

Not that it really matters now, as it looks like they may have sold out.

I've never been all that excited about the grab bags. I remember people getting great stuff from them years ago, but have yet to ever buy one myself. In the old days I was too poor, and nowadays all they send out is Breyerfest leftovers and the stuff no one wants that just ends up kicking around the warehouse for years.

What sort of great stuff, you ask? I'm not sure I even remember all of it, except back in 2010 someone ordered all 8 grab bags and got an artist proof Silverado. It seems like a few other people who ordered all of the bags got Alborozos, as well? Like I said, I was too poor to even buy one grab bag at the time, so I didn't pay a whole lot of attention. Seems like the bag contents included WEG horses, discontinued stock and old Breyerfest leftovers - not all that different from what we get now, really.

So, I doubt I'll ever order a grab bag. These days I can get all or most of the Breyerfest models I want at the event, or on the website afterward, and not knowing what you're going to receive when you order has always been something I'm not a fan of. That's why I've also never sprung for a Premier Club blind bag - too much risk that you'll end up with something you can't even sell for what you paid for it.

Speaking of Premier Club blind bags, however, I have an idea for how to get rid of all the Premier Club leftovers - gloss them! That'd clear the warehouse out pretty quick - especially since they seem to have strayed away from letting us pick a matte or glossy finish for one of the releases. 
The gloss-the-leftovers approach also seems to work well for the Vintage Club optional release, so I'd say to have at it!

Featured Model - 9/15/2016, Seattle Slew

Hello, dear reader(s)! Welcome to this week's edition of Featured Model, the weekly event where I pick a random model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary. This week's victim is... Seattle Slew!

Seattle Slew was produced on the popular Lonesome Glory mold, sculpted by Kitty Cantrell and debuting in 2000. The Seattle Slew model, a portrait of the 1977 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and prolific sire, was a regular run from 2002 to 2005. A little blanket of red roses was included with the model.

While I'll admit Lonesome Glory is not my most favorite of all the molds I collect, I do like this color on him. Until last year's Breyerfest, I didn't have that many examples of the mold; I managed to get all four of the mattes and one glossy last year, so that swelled the collection a bit. I do want this year's Holiday Horse as well. I think it's just a matter of liking the mold, but not liking it enough to want to pay the usual asking price for the ones I don't have. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - shelf space is always at a premium. I would definitely love to get my hands on Mirror Image and Reflection, plus Goin' For Gold and Debonair, to name a few. This year's Breyerfest auction model was a handsome one, too (not that I'll ever own an auction model!).

So, time will tell if I ever find the LGs I want for a price I want to pay! In the meantime, I'll be happy with my matte perlino, Seattle Slew and the rest.

More Tractor Supply Goodness!

So it turns out there's another surprise waiting for us at Tractor Supply - a new Classics family set, featuring Sir Buckingham! Photo from Facebook.



Looks like I'll have to pick that set up, since I collect Sir Buckingham - and I like what I can see of the color.

Thinking about this whole deal with releasing some old porcelains in plastic just makes me sad. I'd pretty much die if they released the old Spanish Barb in plastic, even if it was a Classic-size. He's my favorite of the old porcelains, and it kills me every time they release a former porcelain model in plastic but continue to neglect the old ones from the '90s. (The only porcelain model I own is the Adriano Spanish Barb from Breyerfest '04 - breakable things make me nervous.) I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why these molds have never been used in plastic, if only Breyer would tell us!

Okay. Done with whining for the day. I'm resisting the temptation to drive to our "local" TSC again to see if the models are on the shelves yet. The printout they had said 9/19, but I keep seeing pictures of other stores that have them out already and wonder. It wouldn't be that much of an issue, but the closest TSC to us is a 30-minute drive away...

Chasing the Chesapeake Update and Speculation

Chasing the Chesapeake is only about a month away, and I'm starting to get excited! Our flight leaves late Friday morning for the event. Sadly, I wasn't able to rearrange my work schedule quite to the extent I wanted, so I'm going to have to work all night Thursday night and take a later flight to Philadelphia to the event - which means we're going to miss all or most of Friday's festivities. Our flight to Philadelphia isn't scheduled to arrive until 4:45 pm, which doesn't leave much time for the evening's events. Oh well! I'm sure Saturday will be a blast. We aren't doing the Halloween contest either, so we'll have to be content to be "flies on the wall" as it were.

On to speculation about the special run models! Since three-day eventing is the theme, I'm expecting to mostly see Thoroughbred or warmblood molds used for this event. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ruffian, Smarty Jones, Lonesome Glory, Valegro, Salinero, Carrick, Totilas and more make appearances here. Lonesome Glory, Carrick and Totilas might be slightly less likely to be used since they were all used for the 2014 Big Easy Bash, and Salinero has been used for these types of events twice before, so I don't know if he would show up again.

Other molds I could see them using, in no particular order: Big Ben, Show Jumping Warmblood, Bolya (ugh), Cigar, Flash, Gem Twist, Strapless, maybe some of the old Herrick molds (double ugh), Idocus, and possibly some of the less popular Hess molds (Hanoverian, Touch of Class, Trakehner).

Ruffian stays first on my list of possible molds here, because she fits the theme and has never been used for this type of event. I'll just have to hope she isn't the centerpiece model. Ideally she'll be this year's version of last year's Four Stars, but that might be too much to hope for. Valegro is also high on the list due to how he's been used so far: regular run release, then raffle model: i.e. very similar to how Totilas was used in 2013. Totilas then was used as the 12-piece run Zydeco at the Big Easy Bash, so I would not be surprised if Valegro shows up in the same capacity (maybe larger than a 12-piece run since the upper price range at the event is $185).

As for the ticket Stablemate we'll presumably all get with Chesapeake, I'm going to go with the safe option and say we'll probably get a G2 Thoroughbred or Warmblood, either of which would be fine with me.

To close, all I can say is that it's going to be a long month's wait to find out what we're getting. I hope they throw us a bone and reveal at least one of the SRs beforehand to tide us over.

Santana and Garrett have been revealed!

We finally know what this year's Tractor Supply special runs are: Garrett, a bay roan Smart Chic, and Santana, a bay pinto Silver! Photos courtesy of a Blabber (used with permission):

Garrett:


And Santana:


I'm glad we finally know what these are! The suspense was killing me. And I'm thrilled that one of them is on Silver! I've been hoping they would start to use him more again. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since they used him for Breyerfest and as a web special this year. It's very similar to what they did with all the Goffert runs in 2014 (BF celebration model, then web special Kashmir, then Halloween Horse, so not quite the same). His appearance does look a little more like the Treasure Hunt bay pinto than I would prefer, but it's not a deal-breaker by any means.

Garrett's color looks like buckskin from a distance, but the box describes him as bay roan, and if you look closely at the photo he does appear to have roaning.

So, I foresee a trip to our "local" TSC in the near future! I won't be buying Garrett since I don't collect SCO, but the Santana will definitely be coming home with me.

Featured Model - 9/9/2016, Brabant Mare

Welcome to another installment of Featured Model, where I pick a random model from my collection, give some stats and provide some commentary! This week's model is the Brabant Mare.

This pretty lady was a Mid-States special run waaaaay back in 2014. In those long-lost days of yore, our local Runnings store still had a cursory selection of Traditional models from the regular line, plus some Christmas horses and a smattering of Classics, Stablemates and sets and various accessories. Only at Christmastime, of course. You'd have to go back to 2011 to find a time when they had the full Traditional line available at Christmas, and even further to a time when they had the full line available all the time. I miss those days.

ANYway, this girl was issued in 2014. I'm not sure if run numbers were ever released for this model (not that they ever seem to be for Mid-States and Tractor Supply SRs). She is on the massive Wixom mold, sculpted by Donna Chaney and first released as Cedarfarm Wixom in 2001.

Let me start by saying I love the color on this model. This is another one I wouldn't mind seeing on a great many other Breyers.  This color is what tipped the scales and got me to decide to collect this mold (I only had a Kong before her). Now I have 5 on this mold and they're all great. I wish this mold was used more so I could get more of her! I did get the Versailles from Breyerfest last year. They also used the mold another time in 2014 as Demeter, the last Greek goddess - but I just wasn't a big fan of her color for some reason. If I can find one for a reasonable price I might try to snag one eventually, but I'm not going to pay out the nose for one.

The only real problem I have with this mold isn't really that much of a problem, really - she's just so huge! She's by far bigger than any other Breyer model I have. This is a problem when shelf space is fleeting and hard to come by. My husband was kind enough to build another shelf for my models earlier this year, which helped, but if I buy any more Wixoms I'll still have to do a lot of rearranging to accommodate them. I guess the best remedy for that is to have my husband build more shelves...wait, that's a good thing!

2016 Retired List

The 2016 Retired List has been posted on the website and is available (in PDF form) here.

Of the items on the list, I'm most excited about all of the Classics being retired - that means we get new ones next year! Hopefully there will be some on the small handful of molds I like. And I wonder if the 2017 Horse of the Year will be on another new mold?

Not much being retired on the Stablemate front, so I doubt we'll see much new there - although I wouldn't say no to a new shadowbox set.

It's odd that Harley D Zip is on the retired list - I could swear he was retired last fall. And I'm pretty sure the Black Caviar and Foal set are Classic molds - what are they doing in the Traditional list? Same with the NRHA Horse and Camila, who should be in a place by herself (possibly labeled "Failed Experiments"?).

This leaves so many possibilities for next year's releases! Hopefully the yearly JAH comes out at the end of this month like it did last year. I can't wait to see it!

New Breyer Web Special - Leandro!

Today's big news is that a new web special has been announced: Leandro, on the Silver mold!



He certainly is an interesting fellow. I have the other three Big Cats and I collect Silver, so I'll be entering for this one as well. No idea what the chances of being drawn will be - his piece count is lower, so more people will be entering. It seems Breyer finally got a clue that 350 is just too common for some people, hence the low secondary market prices we've been seeing for pretty much all of the recent web specials. At least the shipping is free.

I don't know if Silver would have been my first choice to portray a lion - I think a Nokota would have been better, since he has more wild mane than Silver does, and he seems a bit more bulky as well. On the other hand: I've been wishing they would use Silver for a few more things, as I missed most of his releases until I got out of college in 2010. By then, the mold had been given a temporary retirement because they had used it so much, and it hasn't been used a lot since then. So it's good that they're using him for something. I guess I have a lot of mixed opinions here.

My biggest question about this release is: why the name? I would have thought they'd use something more African, as it were.

A quick Google check shows the following results, though: "Leandro is the Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish variant of the English name Leander. A blend of two Latin words (Leo "lion" and Andro "man"), Leandro is a name that suggests its bearer has strength and power."

Ehh. I guess that makes sense, but they already used Leandro for this JCP resin a few years ago. If the ad copy for the release says the model is based on an African lion, I'd expect an African name. Oh well. Crossing my fingers that I get drawn!

Rosie and Bailey are now available!

The next releases in this year's Vintage Club, Rosie and Bailey, are available on the Breyer website now! If you're a member, head on over there and complete your purchase.

Lady Phase and the Action Stock Horse Foal are both molds that I once had examples of in my collection, only to lose interest later (and run out of shelf space). I don't really miss either of them, though I was a little sad to see my Silky Keno go. Ah, well.

As for this release, I'm a little perplexed that they would use the long-tailed Lady Phase, since, you know...there's nothing vintage about that tail. For a truly vintage release, I'd think you would want to use the original tail. Maybe they wanted to draw attention away from the mold's deteriorating face? Who knows. Seriously, though, Breyer, fix Lady Phase's face or retire the mold. It's just getting sad now.

I'm also really not a fan of the old-style red roan at all, so I'm not at all sad that I'm missing out on this release. There are far better things to save my money for...like Chasing the Chesapeake!

Featured Model - 9/2/2016, Gypsy Vanner

Hello and welcome to another installment of Featured Model! This week's model is the Gypsy Vanner on the Brishen mold:

The Brishen mold #723, sculpted by Kathleen Moody, was released back in 2012 through the Premier Club, and the bay pinto Gypsy Vanner iteration (#1497) came out as a regular run in 2013 and is still in the regular line as of this writing.

Brishen seems to be another one of those Moody molds that you either love or hate. For the record, I am on the "love" side. His floofy awesomeness endears him to me a lot, and this paint job looks really good on him. I love his fluffy white feet and tail, and he's just the right shade of bay to make him stand out. This is what the original Brishen paint job probably should have been (I'll admit that was subpar, other than the pearly mane and tail). The only thing that could make this particular individual better would be if he were metallic and had pearly whites. I love that effect! This model must be popular with somebody, however, as he's been a RR since 2013 with no sign of being discontinued yet.

This guy was a Christmas gift from my husband, so I named him "Holiday Road" because of the song's association with the Christmas Vacation movie. (Further research reveals this song was used in several Vacation movies, but not Christmas Vacation. Oh well, I'm not going to change the horse's name.) It's hard for me to pick names for models because they all end up sounding really stupid in my head, but if I can tie the name to the horse's color and/or circumstances surrounding how I got it, it's not so bad. (I also tend to pick one-word names so I can more easily remember them, but that's another story.)

I do also like this mold's "twin," the Laredo version of the mold. Yes, he has noodly legs. Does that make me like him any less? No. Novelisto is one of my favorite models - they really got the paint job right with that one. I wouldn't mind seeing every model in Breyer's lineup in that color. Realism of the sculpt doesn't matter to me so much as the mold just being aesthetically pleasing (to me). I expect that the Brishens and Laredos will have homes with me for many years to come.