Featured Breyerfest - 2003

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! We've reached 2003 (groovy, man), so let's get started! 

Notable events from 2003:

• The US, UK and Australia invade Iraq and topple Saddam Hussein's government
• Space shuttle Columbia is destroyed on reentry after being damaged during launch
• The original Volkswagen Beetle ends production
• The supersonic airliner Concorde makes its final flight

Meanwhile, in model horse land, Breyerfest 2003, "Blast from the Past" takes place. Far out! 

Dates: July 25-27, 2003
Celebration Horse: Gladwin's Lucky Grey Lady (daughter of previous Celebration Horse Grayingham Lucky Lad)
Number of Celebration Models produced: 4500
Attendance: "more than 4,000" (from the JAH recap)

Here's the first 2003 page from the commemorative program:

The real Gladwin Lucky Grey Lady, or "Gracie," was, as mentioned before, a daughter of Grayingham Lucky Lad. She was a national champion Shire, but I haven't been able to find much other information about her (aside from what we already know). She was apparently still alive in 2011 according to a Facebook post I found. The volunteer model for 2003 was a very handsome glossy charcoal Lonesome Glory, and the number of prize models and special runs continued to expand, with six live show prize models (including not one, but two incredibly limited Silver models), seven special runs (including a triumphant return of the keychains), and three raffle models, including the droolworthy Born to Run and Saturday Night Fever along with the droolworthy Gunsmoke! 

The glow-in-the-dark Andalusian keychains were handed out at a screening of The Black Stallion held at the KHP, interestingly enough (I got one in a bag of random stuff at a collector event years later). I'd love to get my hands on a Gunsmoke someday. The Dosland auction house sold one a while back, but it got too expensive for me. Interesting that there were three raffles that year, but that does happen every once in a while. 

Here's the first page of the JAH wrapup: 

And page 2:

And page 3:

Now, let's take a look at some auction models! 

I'm sure this model dashed the hopes of many silver filigree collectors. I don't technically collect the mold anymore, but I wanted him for a long time. 

This baby blue Mosaic with silver mapping is absolutely beautiful! What a legend. No wonder he was the second highest-selling lot in the auction. I'd love an update on where this guy is now! 

This psychedelic Wixom was on the cover of the program, and used in some of the advertising (I think), so I've never forgotten her. She's an icon too! Must not have been terribly popular, as she only sold for $1,000 - must be all the pink. 

Sorry for the tiny photo of this Rejoice. Her listing on IDYB doesn't have a photo, but fortunately she's on the commemorative program page above! Her paint job is really interesting - I wonder how they pulled that off? It doesn't look like something you could do with an airbrush, but I could be wrong. 

That's all I've got for this week! Check back next week for 2004! 

Breyerfest second chance sale!

 Well, readers, the Breyerfest second chance sale is here (well, has been here for quite a while as of this writing)!



At this point, much of it is sold out, but you can still get the special runs Thingvellier, Birka and Ribe, Aqavit and Hirtir, as well as both online limited editions Uff Da and Hygge. All three of the Limited Edition traditionals are also still available, although there are apparently only five Pyxis models left. There's a smattering of merch left as well as some other stuff, if you're looking for any of that. 

I wasn't after much this round, but I was after an Oseberg - and I managed to snag one! Let's hope my order doesn't get canceled. Hope I get a matte one to go with the glossy. Anyway, Oseberg was the first item to sell out, quickly followed by The Wanderer and then the Scandi Surprises, and after that I stopped paying attention for the most part. Interestingly, they had entire VIP box sets for $1,000 each, which I thought was completely overpriced now that Breyerfest is over and you're not getting any of the in-person benefits anymore - but they sold out, so I guess someone thought it was worth it. I guess it was worth trying to sell the boxed up stuff rather than open all the boxes and piece everything out. 

I did think about getting a couple of the tank tops. I'll have to keep thinking about that, though I'm not crazy about the pink one. I do want more tank tops, though. You can never have too many! 

Breyerfest second chance sale is tomorrow!

 Attention, everyone! Alert the internet! Release the hounds! RELEASE THE KRAKEN! The Breyerfest second chance sale is happening tomorrow at 10am EST! That's like...2am tonight, for me. Guess I'm staying up! Hope I can stay awake, but these are model horses we're talking about. I can do anything for model horses. 

Good luck, everyone! I'm hoping there'll be some unclaimed Osebergs in there; that's the only thing I'm missing from this year. Unlikely, but you never know!

That was good timing! Touche is now available

 Wow! Good thing I featured the rest of this year's Stablemates Club models yesterday. Touche is now available to order! 

I don't want any of the 3 I can buy, so if you're interested in buying one of them, let me know! And good luck getting the finish(es) you want! 

Breyerfest Closeups: Remaining Stablemates Club Models

 Greetings, readers! We're moving right along with the Breyerfest Closeups and covering the remaining Stablemates Club releases today. Presumably Touche, the matte and glossy G4 Driving Horse, will be the next release, so I'll start with those. 

Touche will be available in matte and glossy finish, shipped at random (as usual). I don't want either one of them, so I guess mine will be for sale! 

I guess I only got one picture of the two of them together, but they're visible in some of the other photos. Oops! Guess I'll talk about Bijou, the gambler's choice model, next. 

I think I like the decorator the best - I love that color! 

The gray one is my second favorite. She's like a mini version of Sapporo. 

The palomino (sorrel) is a lot like Hendrik, and the appaloosa is a lot like Nero. Presumably these will be released in October. Next, here's Derecho, the last release! 

The glossy one is the normal release, and the pinto is the run of 75 that will be randomly sent out with the normal ones. 

I do like this guy, so I hope I get both of them! He looks like he's really feeling his oats.

This one should be released in December, along with Astoria, the optional release. Here she is! 

So she was customized to add feather, the braided tail, thick mane with braid and the mane flights. 

Look at the detail on her mane braid! Amazing.

I'm excited for this one! Definitely excited for December, though I probably won't see mine until later. Oh well. 

That's it for today. More Breyerfest Closeups are coming soon! 

Breyerfest Closeups: Drifter

 Good news, everyone! Now that the (Breyerfest) new arrivals are finished, I can get going on this year's Breyerfest Closeups! I'm starting with Drifter, the latest Vintage Club release, since that one is available to order and they're starting to show up in collectors' hands. 

I think I like the appaloosa the best, but let's take a closer look.

I don't have any Stock Horse Stallions in my collection, so I hadn't noticed how huge his head is. Maybe it's just the angle? 

It seems oddly wide? Anyway, I think the grullo is my second favorite color. 

The blue eyes on the pinto are cool. 

I like the appaloosa's face. 

The grullo also has a nice face.

There's a view of the pinto's other blue eye. 

I'm not in the Vintage Club, so I won't be ordering this one, but I hope everyone gets the color they want! 

New Arrivals: Scandi Surprise Matte and Glossy Bay and Appaloosa Maya

 Greetings, readers! Well, we've finally reached the end of New Arrivals - I did get a few other models while in KY, but this wraps up all the Breyerfest models and I need to get started on Breyerfest Closeups before more of those releases start to pop up. So, let's start with the matte bay Scandi Surprise! 

I do like the shading on the bays, though I think I ranked this color fifth? Not sure. Middle of the pack, anyway. Not to say it's a bad color, because it looks great on him. 

As usual, the color looks better in glossy. And it appears that I got a variation matte one, because Breyer's photos show a light muzzle on the matte bay, but mine has a really dark muzzle (at least on the sides). Interesting! 

Lastly for this year, we have the appaloosa Maya! I do like black appaloosas, so I rank her second of the three colors, but I still wish one of them had been glossy (or all of them?). Oh well. Maybe next year!