Featured Model - 9/24/2016, JAH 30th Anniversary Special Edition (Wedgewood)

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a random model from my collection, give some stats on it and make some commentary about it. This week's victim is the Wedgewood version of the JAH 30th Anniversary Special Edition!

This beautiful model was first issued at the end of 2005 through JAH on the popular American Saddlebred Stallion/Clock Horse mold, sculpted by Kathleen Moody.

As the name of the run indicates, these models were produced to commemorate JAH's 30th Anniversary. The models were produced in all four of the old decorator colors and shipped randomly to subscribers who ordered them - initially, in runs of 500 of each color, but the run was so popular that the numbers were upped to 750 each (or so the legend goes). The COA for this guy does not reflect the change in production numbers, but the one for my Gold Charm does (I have a Florentine on its way to me and haven't located a Copenhagen yet).

I vaguely remember when these models were released, but had mostly stopped paying attention to the hobby at the time, and eventually got them confused with the 50th Anniversary decorator MFTs that were released in 2000. ("What were those used for? JAH? Huh, I thought they were a Breyer 50th anniversary thing. Oh well.")

I bought this particular individual for a very discounted price on eBay due to visible damage to the finish - obviously it had been played with. No biggie, I thought; it wouldn't be too expensive to have someone restore him and the model was definitely worth enough to make it worth the hassle. Unfortunately, when he arrived his entire tail had broken off due to poor packaging. I was able to get a 50% refund from the seller, but repairs (by the extremely talented Nan Wagner) cost more than I had originally planned due to the broken tail. Nan did a beautiful job, though!

He's on one of my favorite molds,  so no danger of being sold anytime soon (and blue is my favorite color!). It's hard to describe why certain molds appeal to me, while others don't; I guess it just goes back to the aesthetically pleasing (to me) department i.e. I can't really explain it. Other than my general dislike of stock horses - and I don't really know why I dislike those, either. Too beefy? Not fancy-looking enough? Not enough wild and crazy hair? Who knows.