Well, that was quite the hiatus...

 Whew, I was not intending that break from posting to be nearly as long as it was, or very long at all...but there really hasn't been much of anything new to post about. Except that group of sample web specials that Breyer auctioned off on eBay a couple weeks ago. And the Premier Club and Vintage Club welcome letters are going out! I've been meaning to write this post for the last two or three days, but kept getting interrupted. Anyway, here's my Premier Club letter and goodies: 

It's cool that they send out the frameable prints and all, but I kinda wish they wouldn't put the Breyer logo on them. It's a bit distracting...but anyways. One of these days I need to find a frame for my Altynai print - he's been the only one I actually wanted to frame. The others are kicking around here somewhere. 

The letter doesn't have much we didn't already know, except definite confirmation that we're finally getting a new draft foal this year. Woohoo! The other bit of news is that the freebie Stablemate this year is a mini version of Zafirah, which...doesn't excite me much. Maybe I can trade her for something else? Let's hope so. Speaking of something else...

Vintage Club welcome letters are also out in the wild, but I'm not in the club, so I don't have one to show here. Apparently the other releases are a "feisty" gambler's choice assortment and a "black tie affair." Sure would be nice if they could just SHOW US THE MODELS like they used to...but I'm going to start sounding like a broken record if I keep harping on that. Feisty suggests something rearing, and we haven't seen a modern mold in this year's lineup yet, so...perhaps Silver? I really hope not, because it's a gambler's choice and Silver tends to be a spendy mold. Which reminds me...the releases we've seen so far are Go Figure, the gold and bay chestnut Secretariat, and the music box Fury, which hasn't been released yet (presumably he's next). Feisty gambler's choice must be the fourth release (of four total releases), so the black tie affair must be the optional model? No idea what it could be. Breyer did do a three-piece set called Black Tie Affair almost 20 years ago (gulp), so maybe it's something in that black blanket Appaloosa color? Too vague to tell. 

The letter closes with mentioning this year's VC Stablemate, which is being done on their "leaping Lipizzan" in the line currently, unless you count Darwin, who...isn't really leaping (he's performing the pesade). But he'd be the most logical choice, except...they're introducing something that looks a lot like a leaping Lipizzan in the Stablemates Club this year. If we remember this image...

Insert more grumbling about JUST SHOWING US THE MODELS here. Anyway...this model, while still not leaping, at least somewhat looks more like it's leaping than Darwin does. Maybe this will be the Vintage Club Stablemate as well? I guess it's a pretty long shot unless they're banking on the Stablemates Club release really, definitely being able to be released first, because the email does say Stablemates Club members will be the first to own this new sculpture. But I don't really want the VC Stablemate to be Darwin, so I'm going to grasp at all the straws I can here. Hmm, maybe I can trade my mini Zafirah for the VC one if it is Darwin? I'm going to bank on that. 

Premier Club welcome letters are going out!

Exciting news today - the welcome letters and sketches for this year's Premier Club are arriving in the mail!

Cute sketch! I'm still not 100% sold on the foal, but I'm pretty sure the mare will stay with me. And check out the cute sticker that came with the letter!



I think Rhian and Bouncer will make a nice pair - if they're comparable in size, I could see them being used in a performance setup as a matched pair - or, on the OF side of things, maybe we'll get a family set with Bouncer, Rhian and Cadell together. It's been a while since we've seen a family set, though, so one can only hope.

As for the letter itself, I don't remember if we already knew the information in it - namely, that Jennifer Scott and Brigitte Eberl are our other two sculptors for this year, and Jennifer Scott is designing the paint job for her sculpt, while Sommer Prosser is doing the paint job on the Eberl. This year's free Stablemate is a new sculpt by Laura Skillern Sailer. Apparently the Jennifer Scott piece is "a breed and pose frequently requested" - I'm wondering if it's something rearing? We haven't had a new rearing sculpt in the last 50 years or so, so we're definitely overdue.

Rhian and Cadell won't ship until May, so we still have a couple of months to wait. Hopefully we get a lot of fun Breyerfest reveals in the meantime!

Premier Club sketches are arriving!

Exciting news! This year's Premier Club sketches are starting to show up in members' mailboxes! Excuse me a moment while I throw mine into my scanner.



There we go. I'm not sure where those rainbowy overtones are coming from - the actual paper print doesn't look like that. I guess it makes the digital version more fun!

So that's our sketch of Bristol. If the production Bristol looks as good as the drawing, it's looking more and more like my Bristol will stay with me. Maybe this will be the first year I keep all three sculptures since 2012, the inaugural year? I guess we'll find out!

Not much information to go on in the welcome letter, sadly. The Cantrell sculpture is described as "versatile and wonderful," while the Sifton sculpture isn't really described at all, except that its paint job was designed by Tammi Parlmarchuk. I guess we'll have to be patient on those.

As a reminder, Bristol models are supposed to ship in May, so we've got quite a while to wait. Hopefully the production models look as good as the prototype!

Premier Club Sketch and Last Day to Apply to Volunteer!

Happy March! My Premier Club sketches came in the mail yesterday, and I had to share. Behold:


 

 I was more interested in the contents of the welcome letter, however.

We look forward to a thrilling second edition in the Premier Club with both sculpture and initial colorway designed by Mindy Berg which will be revealed in June. The final piece in the exclusive 2017 Club collection is a blockbuster new set crafted by Brigitte Eberl. We are incredibly excited to share them with you.

 We already have a preview photo of the second release, which was sent out back in December to entice people to join the club:

 

I still think it's an Andalusian or perhaps a Friesian. I guess we'll find out in June (if Breyer meets that deadline). As for the Eberl releases, to me "blockbuster new set" screams draft mare and foal, but I guess we'll have to wait and see. It would be nice if they'd just say it!

The other interesting tidbit in the letter was this:

In addition, your Premier Club exclusive new Stablemates will be revealed in late Spring. You'll like both the sculpt and deco artistry on this piece, where good things - very good things - do come in small packages.

Interesting. So, by "late Spring," I'm guessing June, also? Clearly the Stablemate is a mini of one of the subsequent releases, most likely the Berg, or we would have seen it by now. So why not just say June? 

And I don't like to read a lot into these things, but it does say "Stablemates," plural. Are we getting more than one? Probably not, since it says "piece" later on, but you never know. I'm wondering if the Stablemate will be on Django. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

As for the sketches, it's good that we actually got them this year after not getting them last year. I wasn't all that bothered by last year's lack of sketches; I have little interest in additional fluff besides the models, and the sketches are just more stuff to clutter up my house with. I've never bothered to do anything with the previous sketches (I'm not sure I even know where they are, at this point). But, if they say they're going to deliver something, they probably should make good on those promises; let's hope last year was just an anomaly.

Lastly, today is the last day to get your Breyerfest volunteer applications in! There's still time to submit if you're on the fence! Don't miss out!