Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model! I've decided to do another (pretty overdue) revamp of Featured Model and start talking about models I don't necessarily want to own, but may have an interesting history behind them. This week's model is...the 2006 Breyerfest Auction Fighting Stallion!
This fiery guy was, as the title suggests, one of the auction models sold at Breyerfest 2006. He was produced on the Fighting Stallion mold sculpted by Chris Hess.
The theme for Breyerfest 2006 was Summer Carnival. It's just not a carnival theme without carnival glass (or so one might think), so one of the special runs that year was Carnivale, a green-carnival-glass-themed Fighting Stallion. 1,000 of these models were produced (seems small in this day and age), but in true Breyer fashion, an alternate Carnivale in orange was sold at the live auction that year. It's fairly common to see alternate versions of special runs pop up in live and silent auctions afterward - so probably fair to assume most of Breyer's special runs go through multiple iterations before the final model is approved. Too bad we don't get to see more of this in action! Although up until recently, we somewhat got to see that process a little bit with the "Who Wore It Best" contests collector club members could vote on.
Of course, it's hard to really judge these models from a single photo on IDYB, but in comparing the two I think the green one does win out - that color is more attractive to me, though I imagine it's a matter of personal taste. I'd be interested to see if there are more Carnivale tests out there, perhaps on other molds? Maybe someone can dig through Breyer's archive room again this year at Breyerfest and find them, if they exist. Interestingly, that orange (or "marigold") color was apparently the most popular color of real carnival glass - at least, according to the Wikipedia article. The more you know!
Hmm, I just got an interesting idea - they should do a "Throwback" Breyerfest theme, in which old special runs are re-imagined on new molds and with more updated/modern painting techniques. I'd definitely be down for that - so many of these fun special run colors are only used once or twice and then never again. Maybe it's just that it's late and I'm tired, but it seems like a good idea to me!
The theme for Breyerfest 2006 was Summer Carnival. It's just not a carnival theme without carnival glass (or so one might think), so one of the special runs that year was Carnivale, a green-carnival-glass-themed Fighting Stallion. 1,000 of these models were produced (seems small in this day and age), but in true Breyer fashion, an alternate Carnivale in orange was sold at the live auction that year. It's fairly common to see alternate versions of special runs pop up in live and silent auctions afterward - so probably fair to assume most of Breyer's special runs go through multiple iterations before the final model is approved. Too bad we don't get to see more of this in action! Although up until recently, we somewhat got to see that process a little bit with the "Who Wore It Best" contests collector club members could vote on.
Of course, it's hard to really judge these models from a single photo on IDYB, but in comparing the two I think the green one does win out - that color is more attractive to me, though I imagine it's a matter of personal taste. I'd be interested to see if there are more Carnivale tests out there, perhaps on other molds? Maybe someone can dig through Breyer's archive room again this year at Breyerfest and find them, if they exist. Interestingly, that orange (or "marigold") color was apparently the most popular color of real carnival glass - at least, according to the Wikipedia article. The more you know!
Hmm, I just got an interesting idea - they should do a "Throwback" Breyerfest theme, in which old special runs are re-imagined on new molds and with more updated/modern painting techniques. I'd definitely be down for that - so many of these fun special run colors are only used once or twice and then never again. Maybe it's just that it's late and I'm tired, but it seems like a good idea to me!
I like that idea!
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