Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We're covering 2014 this week, so let's get started!
Notable events of 2014:
- Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappears over the Indian Ocean, launching a thousand conspiracy theories
- Microsoft buys Mojang Studios (creators of Minecraft) for $2.5 billion
- Ebola breaks out in West Africa, eventually infecting more than 28,000 people and killing more than 11,000
- The McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 flies its last passenger flight, but commercial flights continue
And in Kentucky, Breyerfest 2014 happened!
Dates: July 11-13, 2014
Theme: Silver Jubilee
Celebration Horse: Gooitzen fan Teakesyl
Number of Celebration Models produced: 7,000
Here's the first 2014 page from the commemorative program:
Breyerfest 2014 feels like the definitive Breyerfest for me. There were a lot of milestones happening; it was the 25th anniversary of the event, and the first time Breyer included micro-runs in every special run; it was also the only time the Alborozo mold has been used for a run of more than just one (aside from the original release), and the first (and so far only) time the Celebration Model was issued in a glossy finish (although it doesn't appear to have been the plan from the start, as the model used when "Gootz" was first announced was matte black). It was also the inaugural year of the Celebration of Horses evening show and the Collector Club tent! It was a great Breyerfest and remains one of my favorites to this day.
The real Gooitzen fan Teakesyl was a world champion Friesian show horse, presented at Breyerfest by Carson Kressley. He died in 2015. Other guests were Knights of Valour, Knights of Iceland, Behind the Mask Friesians, Tommie Turvey and equine guests Novelisto D, RJ (one of the horses that played Hidalgo), Magic and Hamlet, Lil Ricky Rocker, GVF Sjokolade and Cedarlane Gretchen.
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Breyer had done micro runs at Breyerfest before, but like I said earlier, this was the first time they'd done it for every special run. Each special run had 25 silver charm models on the same mold randomly distributed through each special run (the commemorative program doesn't mention this because it's from 2014 and they didn't want this little surprise to be known in advance). So there was a lot of excitement when unwrapping models to see what treasures you might have gotten! I wasn't lucky enough to get any of the silver charms, but I've had a lot of luck with other models, so I'm not complaining. As for other models, I think Champagne Wishes was the first release in what was apparently intended to be a Connoisseur replacement series - she had a Connoisseur-level paint job, was a run of 350 and was priced a bit higher, but didn't sell very well. She was followed up by another run of 350 on Salinero the following year, which also didn't sell well, and then that little experiment ended. Come to think of it, that experiment was kinda revived years later with Midas and Ambrose, but it seems to have been abandoned again.
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Special runs for 2014 were Celebration, Kodiak and Denali, Pop the Cork!, which turned out to be on the Nokota, Gossamer, Bonne Fete, Platinum Star (the most sought-after special run that year), Jubilee and Champagne Toast. I bought a lot of Champagne Toasts while trying to get that darn silver Adios, with no luck. Oh, and since the Celebration Models were glossy, the costume contest prizes for this year were a run of 25 glossy Harley D Zip models.
Here's the first page of the JAH recap:
Page 2:
Page 3:
Page 4:
Page 5:
And page 6:
And here are some photos by yours truly!
Above: some of the auction models
Test Smarty Jones in the silent auction
A cool display in the Visitor Center of all the previous Celebration Models
Carson Kressley with Gootz
And now let's take a look at some auction models!
I think this model is one a lot of people regret letting slip through their fingers - he's so beautiful, and sold for a comparatively low price ($1,000), when he would almost certainly sell for much more than that now. I think he's changed hands a couple of times since the auction, actually, but I don't remember how much he sold for. Probably a lot more than $1,000.
This Silver is noteworthy because a lot of people (myself included) thought Pop the Cork would be on the Silver mold, only to have our predictions dashed when this one was revealed ahead of time. Also, markings are in the shape of a "25" on his side. Super cool!
This Moody ASB is cool because he has custom hair! He looks like his mane and tail are blowing in the breeze. He's a beautiful color, too. I love him!
Lastly, though I'm not the biggest fan of the PAM, I always thought this color looks amazing on her. It's so pretty! I hope they bring it back for another release sometime. Maybe on the mini PAM? I hope so; that color is too pretty not to ever use again.
Well, that's it for today! Check back next week for Breyerfest 2015!
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