Featured Breyerfest - 1995

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! This week we're taking a step into the "eyes of a ranger" (or possibly the "unsuspecting stranger") to take a look back at Breyerfest 1995! 

Breyerfest 1995
July 28-30, 1995
Celebration Horse: Mego (equine star of Walker, Texas Ranger)
Number of Celebration Models produced: 3,000
Attendees: 3,000 according to the commemorative program, but this seems low. 
Here's the first 1995 page from the commemorative program:

And here's the other page for 1995:

The real Mego was a Paint Horse who was trained as a trick horse and ended up appearing on Walker, Texas Ranger several times as the horse ridden by Chuck Norris. Unfortunately, Mego did make it to Breyerfest but had to leave shortly after arriving due to a veterinary embargo placed on Texas (and several other states) because of an outbreak of vesicular stomatitis. For more on Mego's story, I'll refer you to this article by the Unicorn Woman, which features the high drama surrounding Mego's appearance (or lack thereof; were the police involved in this incident actually Texas Rangers? Kidding...) 

The raffle model for 1995 was Mystique, the gray appaloosa Jumping Horse, while the volunteer model was a palomino Lady Phase. Unfortunately, there weren't any other special runs this year, not even keychains. They'll be back for 1996 though; don't worry. Did you notice that test Family Arabian set on the second 1995 page for $1200? That's the equivalent of about $3200 now. The Family Arabians aren't terribly popular, so I wonder if they'd sell for that amount now? Interesting to think about. I'm wondering if the dapple gray Shire Mare in the photo is glossy - only six of those are known to exist, so she'd be worth a pretty penny even now. 

Here's the first page of the JAH recap that appeared in JAH: 

And here's the rest of the recap: 

And lastly, let's take a look at some of the auction models (more can be found here). First off, there was a PAS/PAF that matched the Steel Dust special run from 1994.




The foal and stallion were separate lots, so I wonder if the same person got them both? Is the family all together somewhere? Inquiring minds want to know. 

There was also a gold charm Hound Dog, with all his droopy charm. 

 

I also liked this buckskin pinto Yellow Mount. We still haven't gotten an alternate-color Yellow Mount in the Vintage Club, have we? 

This one is described as a leopard appaloosa, but with that marking on his face they could have described him as a medicine hat pintaloosa, am I right? Heh. It's worth noting that Breyer was still using the old metal masks that clamped onto the models in 1995 - it would be a few more years before the laser-cut stick-on masks became commonplace. Though it's certainly possible that the solid black markings were just airbrushed onto this guy, rather than using a stencil. 

And with that, we've reached the end of this year's recap! Check back next week for Breyerfest 1996. And if you're in Texas, don't forget to look behind you, 'cause that's where the ranger's gonna be. 

Breyerfest preference lists are now live!

 Attention, Breyerfest ticket holders! If you bought an All-Access or Online Access ticket, you can now submit your preferences for special runs! If you're logged into your account, the link for the form will be visible in the Breyerfest tab on the website. We have until 6/9 to submit preferences, so don't miss out! You'll be assigned models at random if Breyer doesn't receive a preference form from you. Good luck, everyone! 

Live Show Reserve prize revealed!

 Well, readers, we have a reveal for the teaser earlier in the week - it's Lapland, the live show reserve prize! 

Ooh, I thought it was a buttermilk buckskin! He's so pretty! Nothing I need to collect, but that's a good thing - I won't be too sad when I don't win one. I feel bad for the Peruvian Paso collectors, though - this is the second time he's been a live show prize. Although this one may be slightly easier to obtain than the first one, which was a run of 4. Silver lining, I guess. Good luck to all the Breyerfest Live showers out there! Which reminds me, I need to start working on my show string...

Whoopsie!

 Well, this is pretty old news by now, but I was looking through old Breyerfest stuff (well, not that old, but still), and realized that somehow I never posted about the glossy prizes for this year's Breyerfest! They were revealed back in April. Oops! But anyway, behold: 

That's a glossy Orren Mixer buckskin on the Geronimo mold (although they appear to have missed the model's head when glossing this particular individual) and glossy Cody's Wish on Carrick. Neither of them are anything I need, but 10 years ago I would have wanted both of them. That's just how it goes, I guess. But I'm still hoping I can win one in the mini show on Thursday! Also, I'm glad I stopped collecting the Carricks, because he was a live show prize last year and glossy prize this year. Next he'll be a raffle model! 

Another sneak peek!

 Hey, there's another sneak peek on the blog! 

Too bad we can't really glean anything from it other than maybe the color. Buttermilk buckskin? Palomino? Who knows. I'm going with buttermilk buckskin. Probably one of the live show prizes? Guess we'll find out! 

Featured Breyerfest - 1994

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We're moving right along and covering 1994 this week, so let's get started! 

Breyerfest 1994
July 29-31, 1994
Celebration Horse: Bright Zip
Number of Celebration Models Produced: 2,244
Attendees: 15,000 (according to a later JAH) 
Here's the 1994 page from the commemorative program:

At this point the commemorative program expands each year to two pages, so here's the other page for 1994. 

The real Bright Zip was an Appaloosa stallion who belonged to clinician John Lyons. As the commemorative program states, John Lyons was highly-sought-after as a trainer/clinician and used Bright Zip in his demonstrations. Bright Zip died in 2003 at the age of 28. 

This year's raffle model is Winchester, the handsome glossy charcoal Buckshot. Meanwhile, this year's volunteer model is the old-style red roan Indian Pony, and there's an exciting new development! Special run models! Just some G1 foals turned into keychains, but still! As far as I know, there wasn't any special system for distributing these special run models - people who wanted to buy them had to stand in line in the hot sun for hours with no guarantee that they'd get a model, and this system continued for the next several years. 

Here's the first page of the 1994 recap from JAH: 

And here's the next two pages:

And here's the last page:

IDYB has (tiny) photos of lots of the auction models for this year, which is great! One of my favorites is this brindle bay PAS - I wish there were more photos of him! 

I'm also intrigued by this gray/chestnut Paso Fino:

I'm also wondering what the story was behind this strawberry roan Pluto:

But now that I think about it, I think the story was that the model turned out to be extremely similar to another strawberry roan Pluto that was sold at the live auction the year before, and while there's no photo, there is a strawberry roan Pluto listed as a test model in the 1993 live auction. Drama! Well, at least it was caught. Interestingly, the high seller at this auction was the raffle model, rather than any of the test models; that would definitely not be the case today, as they've started to gloss the raffle model in the auction to get those prices back up. Anyway, the second-highest-seller is this rosy rabicano Sham:

And with that, we've reached the end of today's post! Check back next week for 1995! 

More Breyerfest split runs and the Collector Club newsletter!

 Greetings, readers! Well, they had me fooled - I didn’t think there would be any other Breyerfest variations. But it did seem odd that there wasn’t a color split. Well, turns out there is one, because Breyer revealed more variations today! Check out this sooty palomino version of Thingvellir!

That color is amazing! Too bad I don’t collect the mold. 

And lastly for the variation reveals (for real this time, or so they claim), 1/3 of the Hygge models will be a beautiful pink!

I’m not really that into pink…but I’ll make an exception for this guy! I love him. Since there are 3,000 total, that means 1,000 of these will be pink. Those odds aren’t too terrible. I hope I get one!

And in other news, the May collector club newsletter was released today! The feature story is a retrospective on 3 decades of Breyerfest (that ties in well with my recent Featured Breyerfest series), there’s an Athenian Lady giveaway, and this sneak peek! 

It’s textured, but I have no idea what it is. Some kind of bull? Seems like an odd time of year to be getting the bulls out for a special run. Maybe it’s a mid-year release? 

Carmen is now available!

 Attention, Premier Club members! The first release of the year, Carmen, is now available to order! Huzzah! 

I ordered a matte one, and am getting a glossy one from a friend, so I guess I'll get to see them in July! Hmm...the order deadline is 6/11, so it may be worth waiting on completing your order, because the next Stablemates Club release might come out by then and we all love combining shipping on stuff, right? Food for thought. 

Featured Breyerfest - 1993

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We're continuing with our retrospective by looking back at Breyerfest 1993 this week, so let's get going! 

Breyerfest 1993
July 30-Aug 1, 1993
Celebration Horse: Grayingham Lucky Lad
Number of Celebration Models produced: 1,500
Attendees: unknown

Here's the Breyerfest 1993 page in the commemorative program:

This Breyerfest holds the distinction of being the first one to feature a volunteer model - the legendary silver filigree PAM. It also may be the first Breyerfest that had a model horse show? This is the first time I've seen the model horse show mentioned in the program. Here's an old picture from how the live show used to take place, on the dirt floor of the covered arena: 

Glad I never had to deal with that - I bet the dust on the models was terrible. 

Anyways, here's (most of) the writeup from Breyerfest 1993 that appeared in the Winter 1993 issue of JAH:

The Old Kentucky Nights dinner was still going at this point, but I don't think it lasted too much longer. Here's one of the models from the live auction:

IDYB describes this as a test color golden dappled bay on the porcelain Shire Mare. I wonder where she is now? She sold for a whopping $100 at the auction, but I bet she'd be worth a lot more nowadays. Here's another auction model:

He looks a bit green in the photo, but I think it's an issue with the camera or something. There are a few other auction models listed on IDYB's page for Breyerfest 1993, but I'll stop with this one:

Look at the details on this one! Wow. The original Ichilay was issued with four different warpaint variations, but this one appears to have all of them at once, plus more! Odd that the mane/tail feathers aren't painted, though. She's the highest-selling model in the auction, at least for the ones that have prices listed, and no surprise! 

Well, that's about it for this week - check back next week for Breyerfest 1994! 

Breyerfest sale and special run splits!

 Exciting news today, readers! The Breyerfest warehouse sale is happening now! 

There's nothing terribly interesting in the sale, and some of it is sold out already, but if you happen to have some money burning a hole in your pocket, knock yourself out. 

In other exciting news, Breyer decided to announce the Breyerfest special run splits ahead of time! Ticket sales must be down. And I'm not sure it's the first time they've done it, because I remember them announcing the splits in 2020 when we were all filling out preference lists for the first time.  Anyways, as many people suspected due to the "glossy" wording (later removed) in his initial announcement, Oseburg will be a matte/glossy split! 

Mmm, he looks great in gloss. Hope I can get one! 

Next, there's a tail variation on Aquavit! This will also be a 50/50 split: 

Many people were expecting a bell tail to eventually show up, so it's not that much of a surprise! Cool-looking, but still nothing I need. 

And lastly, Litha has a rare variation! 

Oooooooh, I really want this one! I love the colors. 30% of the 2200-piece run will be in this color, so that works out to 660 models. Decent odds of getting one, I guess? Maybe I need to buy some more tickets...

Buenos Aires!

 Good news, readers! We have a reveal for the sneak peek from last month's newsletter! Behold, Buenos Aires! 

As many people thought, it's a manchado pattern on the polo pony version of Smarty Jones! From the email:

Polo pony mare Buenos Aires has a unique manchado pinto coat that was designed by equine color expert Lesli Kathman. This rare pattern is unique to Argentinian horses, and Lesli describes it as “primarily a top-down dorsal pattern” which features numerous spots.

The entry deadline is 5/21 at 11:59PM EST, so don't waste time getting your entries in! I don't need this one, but good luck to everyone entering!  

There's a Breyerfest sale coming up!

 Good news, everyone! Well, not-so-good news if you're trying to save for Breyerfest. But Breyer is having a sale of past Breyerfest products next week! From the blog: 

We’ve been poking around in our warehouse and have uncovered some BreyerFest items that date as far back as 2016, so if you missed a year in the last decade, only recently discovered BreyerFest, or you’re on the hunt for that one model or souvenir from a previous year, this is the sale for you!

 This could be interesting. I mean, I doubt there'll be anything particularly special, but if there's any models from 2016 and onward you never got ahold of, it could be worth it. I'll be watching to see what's in the sale! Probably nothing I want, but you never know. 

Featured Breyerfest - 1992

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! This week we're covering Breyerfest 1992, so get ready for another trip to the distant past (ha, ha...). 

Breyerfest 1992
After the four Breyerfests of 1991, just one event was held in 1992 and every year since. I can't imagine how much work and planning it took to put on four Breyerfests - no wonder they went back to just one. 
Date: July 31-Aug 1, 1992
Celebration Horse: Turbo the Wonder Horse
Number of Celebration Models produced: 1,000
Attendees: I haven't been able to find any information about attendance in 1992. But obviously it was enough to keep holding the event! Here's the 1992 page in the commemorative program: 

According to the Riders in the Sky wiki (who would have thought there would be one), Turbo the Wonder Horse was the mount of Ranger Doug on the Riders in the Sky TV show (and radio show). He was produced on the popular Semi-Rearing Mustang mold. 

Since Breyerfest was back to being just one event, there was only one raffle model - the buckskin Quarter Horse Yearling, which was suggested by Marney Walerius, one of the "founding mothers" of the model horse hobby. 

I also found it interesting that the trade show was held in the Big Barn in the KHP. It looks like some seminars/signings were held in the Covered Arena lounge, but was anything else in the Covered Arena? 

That's about it for this week - information about Breyerfest 1992 seems to be pretty sparse. Check back next week for Breyerfest 1993! 

Be still, my heart

 Greetings, readers! Well, it happened - the Best Customs Contest prizes were officially revealed today! Behold the grand prize, Lingonberry: 

Troubadour looks amazing in chestnut! Ugh, I want him so bad! 

And here's the runner-up prize, Gravlax:

He's also amazing in chestnut appaloosa! I don't even want to think about how high the silent auction lot for these is going to go. Anyways, that knocks Troubadour out of contention for the surprise model. I'm still thinking Vermeer, though I'm hoping for something I don't want so I don't have to figure out how to fit 10 surprise models into my luggage afterward! 

Another sneak peek!

 Well, no resolution to the previous sneak peek yet...but instead, we get another one! Behold: 

Eagle-eyed collectors have already pointed out this is probably a chestnut version of the appaloosa Valerio. Darn it! I was hoping it would be something I don't want. On the other hand, at least it isn't a mini Othello? I've been dreading that since they shrank him down. I wonder if the silent auction will set a record this year? 

Featured Breyerfest - 1991

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We're covering 1991 this week, so buckle up and get ready! 

Breyerfest 1991
This Breyerfest holds the distinction of having been held in four locations over the summer of 1991. 
Dates: June 8-9 (Oregon)
July 13 (Pennsylvania)
Aug. 10-11 (Kentucky)
Aug. 17-18 (California)
Celebration Horse: Mustang Lady
Number of Celebration Models produced: 2,500
Attendees: I'm not sure how many attended the four events in total. However, further research about Breyerfest 1990 (last week's post has been updated to reflect this) revealed that there actually were 10,000 attendees in 1990. So it's probably safe to assume there were 10,000 or more attendees in 1991 as well. Here's the page for 1991 in the commemorative program: 

The real Mustang Lady was a mustang mare who excelled in endurance events. I'll let you read the information about her in the commemorative program page above rather than try to restate all of it. Mustang Lady (the horse) was present at the Oregon and California Breyerfests. The model was issued on the popular Indian Pony mold sculpted by Chris Hess. Mustang Lady was (again) the only special run produced for Breyerfest that year, other than the raffle models...but what a group of raffle models! Four different raffles were held in 1991, one for each of the locations; these raffles included the copenhagen San Domingo, florentine Legionario, gold charm Man o' War and wedgewood blue Sham. 

The above image is from this Breyer History Diva post about Breyerfest. I'm surprised that they managed to squeeze everything into one day (and also wondering why, considering all the other events were two days long). Maybe the KHP was booked that Sunday for something else? Who knows. But 1991 was the first year the diorama contest was held! 

There wasn't much else I could find about the 1991 Breyerfests, but here's an auction model from IDYB: 

Looks pretty similar to the Coal release from 2002, though Coal's socks are a bit smaller. This auction model was sold at the California Breyerfest. 

And this auction model was also sold at the CA Breyerfest. It looks like he's a test for Dream Weaver, though the face marking looks a little different. 

That's all I have for this week! Check back next week for Breyerfest 1992! 

Noooooooo!

 Well, there's a new sneak peek on the blog...

...and it looks suspiciously like a chestnut Troubadour. In the same shade of chestnut they've been doing for the Best Customs Contest prizes for the last few years. NOOOOOOOO! Another one I won't be able to get...sigh. At least he'll be pretty! Only 64 days until Breyerfest - woohoo! 

Yeah, nah

 Exciting news, readers! There's another test run model for Collector Club members to enter for! Let's check him out: 

He's pretty plain for something with a $1200 price tag. But every regular run release starts somewhere, I guess. From the email:

The Pacer (mold #46) was Breyer’s first representation of a racing Standardbred. As his name implies, he depicts the breed’s distinctive lateral “pace” gait that some, but not all, Standardbreds race at. He is decorated as a simple but elegant liver chestnut with three socks and a complimentary forest green halter. This test run piece likely dates to the 1990s or very early 2000s.

I don't need this one, but good luck to everyone entering! 

Featured Breyerfest - 1990

 Hello and welcome to the inaugural edition of the (again) revamped Featured series! Having concluded my look back at old issues of JAH (for now, anyway), I decided to take a look back at the old Breyerfests of yore! Starting with 1990, of course, because that was the first Breyerfest. Read on for more 1990 highlights! 

Breyerfest 1990
July 28-29, 1990 (a bit later than modern Breyerfests)
Celebration Horse: Dr. Peaches
Number of Celebration Models produced: 1,026 (according to IDYB)
Attendees: I thought only about 1,000 people attended (the 1990 page in the commemorative program states 1,026, the same as the number of Celebration Models produced - which seems suspect), but a later Breyerfest blog post states the number as 10,000 (seems like way too many). I'm going to assume the number of attendees was closer to 1,000 than 10,000. Edit: This may be incorrect. See down below for the addendum! Anyway, here's the aforementioned page from the 2014 commemorative program:

The real Dr. Peaches was an eventing champion owned and ridden by Bruce Davidson, who now has his own statue outside of Rolex Stadium at the KHP. Bruce and Dr. Peaches won the Kentucky Three-Day Event (sponsored by Rolex at the time and Defender now) three times. Dr. Peaches was not present at the first Breyerfest, according to Breyerhorseref and the commemorative program. Instead, Misty II was the first Breyerfest guest horse. 

Being the first Breyerfest, there were a lot of differences between it and the Breyerfests we know of today. Dr. Peaches was the only special run model produced for the event, aside from one raffle model which I'll cover later. The Celebration Models were handed out at Saturday's dinner (which was held in the old tobacco barn), which is why earlier Celebration Models are sometimes referred to as "dinner models." The above photo comes from a Breyer blog post about that early Breyerfest and features the reservation form that had to be submitted in advance to attend the dinner and get your model. 

The above image is a scan of a 2019 Vintage Club booklet from Breyerhorseref. The only raffle held in 1990 was for the legendary gold florentine Misty model pictured above. 20 models were raffled off (I believe this raffle was held in a parking lot at the KHP?), while one more was sold at the live auction and four were presented to members of Misty's human family, according to Breyerhorseref (the commemorative program says only that four models were mounted on presentation bases). 

Despite the differences between old Breyerfests and new, some things clearly haven't changed, based on the following illustrations by Sue Sudekum that appeared in the now-defunct Hobby Horse News magazine and were later posted by Andrea Gurdon (RIP) on her Breyer History Diva blog:

Page 1
Page 2 
Page 3

And here's a flier for Breyerfest 1990, from another Breyer History Diva blog post:

That's it for this week. Check back next week (hopefully) for Breyerfest 1991! 

Edited to add: Sheesh, clearly I should have read a bit more of that Breyer blog post I got the Dr. Peaches/Old Kentucky Nights reservation form. Check this out: 

On the left is a scan of a page from the Feb/March issue of JAH. On the right is a scan of the Breyerfest recap from the Sept/Oct 1990 issue. It clearly says there were 10,000 attendees! I guess my assumptions were way, way off. I stand corrected!