Breyerfest Day 2: Here We Go Again

 Well, readers, day 1 of Breyerfest is over and I have so much to write about! Firstly, I was right about the surprise model this year (along with a bunch of other people): it’s Vermeer! The colors are beautiful, but I was really hoping it would be a mold I don’t collect. Oh well. Here’s the full set of glossies in the silent auction!

So the colors are bay roan, gold charm sabino rabicano (or something along those lines), dark bay, black leopard Appaloosa, some kind of pearl buckskin and chestnut pinto. The gold ones are all glossy, so that’s 9 new Vermeers I have to find! I’m a little confused why they did another black leopard Vermeer, but whatevs. I really like the gold one; I don’t think we’ve seen a paint job quite like that before. 

And speaking of getting models, I picked up my VIP box today and was pleased to find I got a glossy Oseburg! Also a matte bay Scandi Surprise. Now I just have to find a matte one. I got models from two of my special run tickets as well, and ended up getting a decorator Litha and the glossy bay and gold (!) Scandi Surprises! 

Let’s see, what else happened today? A bunch of new releases were revealed in the Collector Club tent, but I’ll cover those later. I also discovered the joys of taking the purple route shuttle from the special run line to the parking lot, and vice versa. Much easier than walking! 

That’s it for now, but I hope people are having a good Breyerfest. I did get rained on while I was sitting in line this morning, but my umbrella kept me from getting soaked, so that was good. I also bought, labeled and then deposited my raffle tickets in the bin, so that little chore is taken care of. 

That’s all I can think of for now. But I’ll be back with more reporting tomorow,  so check back for more recap!

Breyerfest Day 0: Off to a Good Start

 Greetings, readers! Well, I made it back to Kentucky, albeit a day late after I managed to miss my last flight of the day. Good thing I didn’t have anything important planned yesterday! I finally got to the Clarion in the early afternoon and now I’m settled in and selling as usual. Today I showed Stablemates at Day 1 of the Breyerfest Live show. No prizes again, but maybe next year. Anyway, I just got back from a trip to the Artisan’s Gallery, where lots of exciting things were on display. Behold!

It’s the Bijous! Should be released in October.

They also had both versions of Derecho along with Astoria, the reworked G2 Belgian. 

Next were both versions of Kiana, along with (presumably) the next Stablemates Club release.

And here we have Waffles and Flapjack! Still nothing I need, but they sure are cute (and bigger than I expected!)

And finally, on to the special runs! First we have The Wanderer and Hirtir.

Next were Midnattsol and both versions of Aquavit.

And then there’s the main attraction: both versions of Oseburg!

Followed by Birka and Ribe and both versions of Thingvellir.

And then there were both versions of Litha, plus Dalarna. 

And now we’ve reached the Limited Editions, including Ojvind, Valdur from Dalalif and both versions of Hygge, the online Stablemate.

Here we have the Best of Breyerfest set and the crystal. I guess the plush kinda got divided between these two photos. Oh well.

And lastly, we have Uff Da and…bleh, I’m just going to refer to him as Pyxis. 

That’s it for the artisan’s gallery - but wait, there’s more! I got a Breyerfest program at the show today and the auction pages showed the two hidden auction lots! Here’s the first one:

A very pretty black leopard Tigerlily! Ooh, I want her. And here’s the other one:

A very handsome Cleveland Bay! 

Where, this has been a long post. Now it’s time to get back to room sales. Happy Breyerfest Eve, everyone!

TSC Stablemates have arrived!

 Good news, readers! I had some of the new TSC Stablemates shipped to a friend in anticipation of Breyerfest, and they've arrived! Behold: 

Yay, a full set! No chases, but I don't need either of them anyway, so that's okay. The extras will be for sale in my room at the Clarion later this week. 

And speaking of later this week, and a little event happening this weekend...it sounds like things are getting serious up in Kentucky! People are arriving at the Clarion (which is apparently not quite ready for our arrival just yet, but should be ready by Wednesday), getting set up and ready to sell! My long journey from NZ starts in a little over 24 hours, and I'm in the midst of packing and getting ready to go! If all goes well I'll be back in Kentucky late Tuesday night, and I'll be set up and ready to sell from room 409 like usual. As always, stop in the room and mention the blog and you'll get to pick a free Stablemate (while supplies last). See you in Kentucky! 

Featured Breyerfest - 1999

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! This week we're traveling back to 1999! Notable things that happened in 1999: 

• The Sopranos premieres on TV (I've never watched it)
• Futurama premieres on TV (Now that I have watched!)
• Napster, the infamous filesharing service, is created
• Woodstock '99 takes place, introducing a whole new generation to endless mud, drugs and rock'n'roll

And, in the midst of all this, we had Breyerfest 1999! 
Dates: July 30-Aug. 1
Celebration Horse: Molokai
Number of Celebration Models Produced: 4,200
Attendance: "The largest crowd since [Breyerfest] debuted 10 years ago" 
Here's the first 1999 page from the commemorative program:

The real Molokai was an eventing champion owned by Dorothy Trapp-Crowell. He was a Thoroughbred purchased off the track at 4 years old, and then went on to win the first 4* version of the Kentucky Three-Day Event and a silver medal at the 1994 World Equestrian Games. Molokai died in 2013 at 30 years old and was inducted into the USEA Eventing Hall of Fame in 2015. 

The special run lineup was greatly expanded this year with the introduction of Tiki, Dylan, Oreo and Flint, as well as more keychains. The timed special run tickets were introduced this year as a response to the Shannon debacle of the previous year (see my last Featured Breyerfest post). Still only one raffle model (Ransom) and the volunteer model (Zeppelin). The model horse show was still being held on the floor of the Covered Arena. Glad those days are over! 

Here's the recap from Sept/Oct 1999:

The show went on, despite record-breaking heat, so...let's hope the same happens this year? Without anyone being injured, hopefully. Take care of yourselves in the heat and humidity, folks! 

And here are some of the auction models:

That Mystical Rainbow Huck was legendary! The first time any Breyer model had been seen in that color, to my knowledge. Nowadays his paint job seems kinda simplistic (they couldn't paint the eyes?) but at the time it was amazing. I wonder where he is now? 

Here are some others:

This Big Ben is pretty cool though, though I don't think the pattern is very realistic. I'm surprised he didn't sell for more ($1,100). 

Another brindle! I wish the photo was better.

A Boxer! We never get animals in the auction lots anymore. They don't sell as well, which is probably why, but still. Rainbow dog, anyone? 

We don't ever get Classic auction models anymore either, which is kinda sad. I'd love to see a test on the Show Arabian or Shire A/B. And this one sold for $1,000; pretty respectable for a Classic. That's the equivalent of a little more than $2,000 now! 

I didn't know this one existed! They painted a chestnut Friesian Holiday Horse to match the stirrup ornament! The stirrup ornament series debuted in 1999, too. How cool! Ooh, I hope that costume didn't stain him. I wish we had better photos of this one, too. 

Well, that's it for this week. Featured Breyerfest will be on hiatus next week due to Breyerfest, so check back in a couple of weeks as I enter the new millennium and cover Breyerfest 2000! 

Ticket selections and Tractor Supply blind bags!

 Attention, Breyerfest All-Access ticket holders! Emails have gone out from Leap (formerly known as ShowClix) containing QR codes for your special run selections! They may not all have gone out yet, so don't panic if you haven't gotten an email yet. It doesn't appear that the VIP ticket emails have gone out yet, and if you're an Online Access ticket holder, you won't see your selections until you log into the Breyer Store on Breyerfest Friday. I hope everyone got the models they were hoping for - my tickets were selected for all Scandi Surprises and Lithas, so I guess I'll be up to my ears in Litha models. Hopefully that means I'll get the decorator, but I'll also be looking to trade for whichever Oseburg I don't get with my VIP package. 

In other exciting news, it looks like those leaks from a few months ago were indeed for this year's TSC blind bags! I don't have photos I can use yet, but the models are a blond sorrel Augustus, dark liver chestnut Giorgio, black leopard Esperanza, gray G3 Cantering Warmblood, bay pinto Enya and bay/buckskin G3 TWH. One of the chase pieces is a pink/purple Brio, and we haven't seen the other chase yet. They can be ordered from TSC here, so knock yourselves out if you want some! 

More auction models!

 Well, we all thought the auction model reveals were done, but Breyer had a few more up their sleeve! Firstly, last week's reveal post has been updated to show two of the onsite-only models:

Pretty color, but I'm not crazy about the tail.

Ooh! I don't always like leopard appaloosas, but this one is pretty. 

And lastly, there's a new reveal post for today! Behold:

Oh wow, Sleipnir! I didn't even think about the possibility they'd do this! He's cool, if a little creepy with all those extra legs. Definitely gotta make sure I look at this one in person so I can see all those legs up close. Super cool! 

That's it for auction models, but keep an eye on your email - apparently the emails from ShowClix are supposed to be coming out soon! And also, there's a series 8 of blind bags that can be ordered from Tractor Supply, but we aren't sure what's in them yet. People that order online are being shown a delivery date of 7/5, so maybe we're getting the blind bags early this year! (I'm not confident that they'll actually show up on that date). Maybe I can snag a few before I go back to NZ after Breyerfest! 

Featured Breyerfest - 1998

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest. This week we're traveling back in time to 1998! Here are some notable things that happened in 1998 (not an exhaustive list): 

• Google is officially founded
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is released, the first 3D game in the series
• Titanic becomes the first film to earn $1 billion at the box office, and also wins a billion Oscars
• The Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan
  

And of course, Breyerfest 1998 happened! Notably, this was the first year a new mold made its debut as the Celebration Model. 
Date: July 24-26, 1998
Celebration Horse: Rejoice
Number of Celebration Models produced: 3, 900 
Attendance: No solid numbers, but the JAH recap says the event drew "one of the largest crowds since its debut nine years ago." Speaking of attendance, I received this statement from a reader: 

1995 was the first year that I attended the whole weekend (just one day in 1994).  The attendance of 3000 is correct as Breyer served a buffet type dinner to the attendees which would have been impossible if the attendance was 15,000 as stated for 1994.  The buffet type dinner went on for several years.  The earliest attendances was 3000 or under.  I attended every year from 1994-2016.  It wasn’t until later years that it started to grow to over 10,000. 

So, I think the attendance records from those early years are, well, spotty to say the least. But anyways, here's the first 1998 page from the commemorative program:

 
















The real Rejoice was a National Show Horse who, as the breed suggests, excelled in the show ring, but I haven't been able to find much information about her. Special runs this year included more keychains, as well as Shannon, the glossy charcoal Clydesdale Mare who ended up being the inspiration for the timed tickets in the special run line starting in 1999. The special runs were sold first-come first-served, and people stood in line in the burning sun for hours to get a Shannon, only to have her sell out. So, the special run tickets were introduced, and each ticket had a number from 1-450 and an assigned time every hour. 15 minutes before that time, a random number between 1-450 was drawn, and that was where the line started. Much better than the old system, and still in use today at the collector events. 

The volunteer model for this year was the gold charm pinto Fighting Stallion, and the raffle model (still only one) was Serengeti, the beautiful Copenhagen Big Ben. Still highly sought after today! 

These pages are from the Sept/Oct 1998 issue of JAH. Those auction models are beautiful! Hmm, I think I know who owns that smoke Marabella...

Here's the Breyerfest recap from the same issue of JAH. 

And here are some other auction models on IDYB:

That blue roan PAM is beautiful! I'm surprised there isn't a matching PAS/PAF to go with her. 

This buckskin Sham is sort of like a prototype for this one a few years later.

I love the color on this Jumping Horse. Very similar to Royale Te! 

And lastly, another handsome Pluto! I'm a sucker for a light gray with the black mane and tail, though. 

That's it for today - check back next week for 1999!