Featured JAH - 1/13/2024, May/June 1997

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured JAH! This week we're covering May/June 1997, so let's get started! 

On the front cover, a vaulting team does vaulting things. On the back cover, Toby the Vaulting Horse makes his Breyer debut. 

On page 2 is Stephanie's Editor's Desk article, featuring a photo of Stephanie with Orren Mixer and Shining Spark, the latter of whom died in 2021. On page 3 is an update about Breyerfest 1997. 

After skipping an article about vaulting, on page 8-9 we have this fun little story about the "adventures" of a JAH special run model. I really liked this story and wanted to get my own "Grey Ghost" model, but never did. 

I don't usually scan how-to articles because I figure they're probably pretty outdated compared to what we have now, but I did scan this one on pages 10-11 because I had a Stampede Riggins rider doll I performed this "plastic surgery" on at the time this was published. Unfortunately, I don't think these alterations were intended for a doll that was going to be played with later, and Mr. Riggins lost one of his lower legs later as a result. I've been trying to sell him for years, but no one seems to want a one-legged rider doll for some reason. 

On page 14-15 we have an article about Toby the Vaulting Horse. 

On page 16 is an article about choosing LSQ models, and on page 17 is the Blast From the Past (featuring the Little Bits Saddlebred) and the Just About...Breyer Animals featuring the woodgrain Longhorn Bull. 

On page 20-21 is an article by everyone's favorite Breyerfest volunteer coordinator, Robin Briscoe, about showing in collector's classes. Check out the bottom photo for some incredible test models! 

On page 22-23 is the rest of the collector's class article, as well as a news blurb. In the beginning of 1997, the company very ambitiously decided to paint detailed irises (bi-eyes) on all of the models in the current lineup. By the middle part of 1997, the painters evidently rebelled against this and the panting of bi-eyes on most models was discontinued (most of them looked like snake eyes anyway, so it wasn't a big loss). I had a few models from this period with the bi-eyes and can testify that they did look like snake eyes. 

The Vintage Point article for this issue features Sham! Ah, the sadness of running out of shelf space. I had a lot of these in my collection, and so many of them were beautiful, including Best Choice, whose paint job I thought was stunning. I also had the bay pinto JCP special run (not released yet when this magazine was printed), which used the same painting mask as Tseminole Wind. He was beautiful too! I was also partial to the golden bay from the Arabian Stallion and Frisky Foal set, though I never owned it. Other Shams I had included the original bay with wheat ear and heel spot, a later one without both, the fleabitten grey and a few others, but sold them all off for shelf space. Sometimes I regret it, but not enough to try to get any of them back. 

That brings us to the end of this week's issue. Check back next week for July/Aug 1997!