New Arrivals: Flinka, Vindur and Ojvind

 Greetings, readers! Well, Breyerfest is over for another year, and you know what that means - time for some New Arrivals! Today we'll be looking at Flinka, the Celebration Model, and her friends Vindur from Dalalif and Ojvind. Flinka, Vindur and Ojvind. Doesn't that kinda sound like Breyer's version of the Three Stooges? Or Winken, Blinken and Nod? Huh. Well, anyway...

I love the soft color on this one! She's so pretty. I didn't notice any terribly major quality issues with the Celebration Models this year - it helped that I had nine to choose from. The planted back foot/leg did seem to be warped on some of them, but I don't know if it affected their stability any - I picked one that wasn't as warped and she seems to stand okay. I'll definitely be adding the glossy one to my want list for the future. 

Next up is Vindur from Dalalif and his delightful floofy feets. Unfortunately, I'm realizing now that I didn't get to see Vindur and his floofy feets in person! He wasn't in his stall when I walked by the guest horse barn. Well, maybe he'll be a guest horse next year and I can see him then. Anyway, the model is very pretty! I really hope he sold well enough that they won't use him for the Breyermidwest glossy, because he'd be beautiful in gloss. He's one of my favorite models from the event. 

And lastly for today, it's Nod Ojvind! His mealy parts aren't as yellow in real life. I feel like the color makes him look a bit tubby? Or maybe he's just tubby anyway. Mealy bay isn't my favorite horse color, but it looks nice on him. Maybe this one will be the glossy Breyermidwest model? Guess we'll find out in a few months! 

TSC special runs!

 Good news, everyone! The TSC special runs have been revealed! Two of them were previewed in the Collector Club tent, but now they're all available for viewing on the TSC website. Behold: 

This is the black Shannondell that was previewed in the Collector Club tent. I don't need him, but he sure looks good in black! 

This is the other one that was previewed - a pretty FFA blue appaloosa Latigo. I don't need him either, but I love that color! Maybe someday they'll put it on something I want. 

Ooh, a liver chestnut True North! He's handsome. Nothing I need, though. 

A pretty palomino pinto Zafirah! She reminds me of Studebaker. Still nothing I need, though. 

And lastly, the Classic family! Nothing I need there, either. Wow! It's a Christmas miracle! The models can't be ordered yet, but hopefully they'll be in stock soon. Good luck to everyone wanting to purchase! 

Featured Breyerfest - 2000

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Breyerfest! I made it back home to NZ, so that means it's time to...keep talking about other Breyerfests! This week we're covering Breyerfest 2000. Here are some notable events from the year 2000:

• The Y2K bug was mostly a non-issue
• Peanuts publishes its last comic, and creator Charles Schultz dies the next day
• Lucien Laurin, trainer of Secretariat, dies at 88
• The 2000 Olympics take place in Sydney, Australia

And Breyerfest 2000 was the first Breyerfest of the new millennium! Depending on how you define the beginning of the millennium, of course (some people count it as 2001). 
Dates: July 28-30, 2000
Celebration Horse: Leahs Fancy Chick
Number of Celebration Models produced: 4,400
Attendance: "almost 4,000"
Here's the first 2000 page from the commemorative program:

The real Leahs Fancy Chick was a successful roping horse, and her new filly accompanied her to the event (Breyer held a naming contest for the filly and the winning name was Leahs Fancy Breyer). I wasn't able to find much updated information on her. If allbreedpedigree is to believed, she had three offspring (Leahs Fancy Breyer, Like a Fancy Diamond and Gucci Gunner). Like a Fancy Diamond has several offspring listed on allbreedpedigree, as does Gucci Gunner. 
Special runs in 2000 were plentiful, including Buford, the Walking Hereford Bull; Mardi Gras, the Lonesome Glory; Patches, the Kitten; Sarsaparilla, the Semi-Rearing Mustang; and the ever-present keychains, this time in a set featuring the G2 Cantering Warmblood, G2 Rearing Arabian, G2 Appaloosa and the G2 Saddlebred. Prize models were introduced to Breyerfest Live, with glossy Zippo Pine Bar models along with the palomino Saddlebreds on the clock and the glossy dapple gray Saddlebreds, also on the clock. This was the first year that the show wasn't held on the floor of the Covered Arena! Huzzah. The year 2000 also ushered in the Sunday Raffle and the Silent Auction. Here's the first page of the Breyerfest 2000 recap from JAH:

Sounds like the weather in 2000 was similar to the weather we had this year! 

It appears that 2000 was also the first year that Pal o' Mine made his debut. I try to keep my distance from him (he creeps me out a little bit). I did see him this year and well...I feel like that costume needs a refresh, or replacement.

That's it for the JAH recap. Let's take a look at some of these auction models! More can be found here.

This one is a little understated, but still pretty cool - he's the Friesian in glossy metallic cobalt blue with black shading. Very pretty color! 

I wish we had some better photos of this Sham, because his color is beautiful as well. I wonder where he is now? 

Here's the crazy Fruit Stripe zebra, who has been a subject of this blog before, back when I was doing the Featured Model posts. Be still my heart! I would love to own this one and add it to my zebra collection. Maybe someday? 

Lastly for this blog, we have this "wild lacy dapple charcoal" by Tom Bainbridge. What a crazy color! I know I say this a lot, but I wonder where this one is now? Anyone have some better photos? 

And that's it for this week! Check back next week for Breyerfest 2001! 

Breyerfest Day 3: It’s All Over…Again

Greetings, readers! Well, another Breyerfest is in the books. I hope everyone had a great time. My quest to collect all the surprise models was a success again - behold!

So in my last trip through the special run line, I pulled three more Scandi Surprises and got the matte Appaloosa, glossy Appaloosa and the glossy chestnut pinto. Which meant I only needed the matte roan and glossy amber champagne to complete the set. Fortunately, one of the Lithas I got turned out to be the decorator, so I traded that for the glossy amber champagne and then bought a roan from someone…but I wouldn’t have needed to do that if I’d waited a little bit, because when I went through the leftover line I got a roan and another glossy Appaloosa! So now I have 11 new Vermeers to fit into my luggage along with everyone else! Hint: it’s not going to happen. Oh well.

I did swing by the silent auction at closing time, but the BCC set went way out of my price range, as expected. Oh well.

I also made it over to the Collector Club tent to photograph the new releases, but had to evacuate to the covered arena partway through when the thunderstorm rolled in. So there was an impromptu dance party while we waited for the storm to clear up. Eventually it went away and I finished taking my photos - so my Breyerfest Closeups series will be able to continue! Huzzah! 

That’s about it for today - tomorrow will be a busy day of packing and taking things back to the storage unit, and then I fly back to NZ on Tuesday. But I’m already looking forward to the next Breyerfest, which was announced today: Italy!

I wasn’t expecting another European country theme, but I wonder if this means we’ll get a blue roan Cosimo as the Celebration Model? That would be amazing! I was less thrilled to see they pushed the dates back, which will make our plans for next year more complicated, but we’ll deal with that later. 

And lastly, we finally got to see the third volunteer model! I don’t have a photo I can use,  but the color is cream! I’d like to get my hands on one, but I don’t think it’s going to happen at this point, so he’ll have to go on my wish list for later along with matte Oseburg. 

Whew! That was a lot of stuff to talk about. I’ll get started on the Breyerfest Closeups posts when I get home. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe trip home! 

Breyerfest Day 2: Actually Day 2 This Time

 Greetings, readers! Day 2 of Breyerfest is over - and yes, today was day 2. Not sure how I got the numbers confused yesterday, but it’s been corrected. How embarrassing! I guess I’ll blame it on typing these posts on my phone when I usually use a computer. Well, anyways…it was a pretty good day for me! I didn’t actually make it to the KHP until later in the afternoon, but I was able to pick up the models for 3 more of my tickets! I got three normal Litha models, and as for the Scandi Surprises: I got the matte chestnut pinto, matte bay (again)…and a glossy bay roan! Woohoo! I was able to trade the matte bay for the matte amber champagne, so that means I only need three more to have the full set! Let’s hope I can get at least one leopard one tomorrow, eh? 

In other news, I forgot to write about the silent auction stuff in yesterday’s post, so you get to see it today instead. Behold!

For some reason I thought this was going to be the gray one, so I was surprised to see the black one instead. I want him so bad! But he’s going to be too expensive for me.

Here’s the cassowary Fireheart. I need to swing by the silent auction and see what the bids are; there weren’t any when I was there.

My soul craves that Lingonberry! Such a handsome model. 

Giant Horatio is also very pretty! I almost don’t want to know how much he sells for. He’d make a good Collector Class entry with the mini Horatio.

Hmm, they put a new tail on Camilla. I wonder if she’s going to get a new release soon? Nice color, but I’m still not a fan of the mold. 

That’s it for (OF) silent auction lots, other than the glossy Flinka gift basket. I wonder how much the Design Your Own Breyer will go for? 

And speaking of auctions, it sounds like the live auction is over - I didn’t go, but I guess only three of the lots went over $10,000? I’m not really surprised, with the state of economy and all. The Silver Pegasus was the highest-priced lot at $21,000; now that wasn’t a surprise. He certainly is pretty!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for today. Back to selling models! I hope everyone is having a great Breyerfest!

Breyerfest Day 1: 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!