Bad timing, or worst timing?

Wow, 4 whole days before Breyerfest, Breyer decided to spring another test model on us!



I guess it's good to have something on the website for people not attending Breyerfest, but dang, people! Most of your deep-pocketed collectors are in Kentucky right now, and you want somebody to pony up another $850 on top of that?

This guy looks too much like Bold, anyway. I've never been a fan of Stud Spider, but something a little more snappy probably would have gone over better. Good luck to everyone entering, though!

Giddyup, Giddyup, 409

Breyerfest is so close now, I can practically taste it! Or smell it...mmm, that cellulose acetate smell. We're leaving Wednesday morning as soon as I get off work, with plans to arrive at the Clarion around 5pm on Thursday. It's a 20-hour drive for us, so we like to spread it across two days so we're not completely exhausted  by the time we get there. Not that I won't be exhausted anyway, what with having to "sleep" in the car all day Wednesday, but I digress.

We'll be staying in room 409 at the Clarion again this year, so stop on by and see what we've got for sale. I don't have anything terribly exciting this year, just a smattering of older Traditionals, a ton of Classics, and some odds and ends of other stuff. I'm doing my giveaway Stablemate promotion again, so stop by and mention the blog and you can pick a free (regular run) Stablemate from the giveaway box (while supplies last!).

Also, depending on what the volunteer model is and what the surprise turns out to be, I may be looking for trades, so keep me in mind!

That's all I have for now, but my Prism is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I may post a quick writeup about him if I have time. I can't wait to see him!

Featured Model - 7/7/2018, Champagne Toast

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Champagne Toast!



Not to be confused with the other Champagne Toast, this Champagne Toast was a special run for Breyerfest 2014. He was item #711186, and 1,500 models were produced on the Adios mold sculpted by Chris Hess. An additional 25 models were produced in silver charm for Breyerfest's 25th anniversary and randomly scattered amongst the rest of the run. This was done for all of the Breyerfest special runs that year.

Those silver charms were practically the death of me - I wanted almost all of them, so when the Breyerfest leftovers went up for sale on the website after Breyerfest that year, I bought a ton of them. I think I ended up with seven or eight extra Champagne Toasts at one point? I never managed to get a silver charm, sadly, but it was fun to keep trying for a while.

As for the model itself, his color and pattern are both really nice, and it does a good job of illustrating how far Breyer's painting techniques have come in the last 50-odd years. Take a look at the original Yellow Mount release, and then look at Champagne Toast. The complexity of Champagne Toast's paint job is mindblowing compared to some of his early releases, but we take it totally for granted. He's beautiful (not that the previous releases weren't), and I thought he made a worthy addition to that year's lineup.

Adios himself was last used as the regular run Cherry Creek Fonzie Merit, and will be released in a few days (!) as the Breyerfest 2018 autograph model. Hopefully I can get my hands on one! I wonder where else the mold will show up in the future; he was a web special way back in 2009, so I wouldn't complain if he was a web special again. Either way, we'll see him again eventually.

This is probably as good a time as any to announce that Featured Model will be on hiatus next week due to Breyerfest. I can't wait to go to Kentucky! 

The last group of auction models!

Wow, I'm kind of surprised...I would have thought Breyer would have saved some of the auction reveals for Breyerfest week, but I guess not. The last batch of models - well, most of them - was posted on the blog today. Behold, lot 24!

Otherwise knows as Woodford, the Saturday raffle.  I hope I win this guy just so I can trade him for a raffle model I do want.

And we don't get to see lot 25. Since I have to be at the Horse Park on Thursday afternoon for a meeting anyway, I'm definitely planning on swinging through the Visitor Center and seeing this mystery lots for myself.

So, on to lot 26!

This one really reminds me of Silver Fox, the raffle model from 2001, but in glossy! That said, I'm not the Five Gaiter's biggest fan, but I bet this one will go high.

Next, lot 27!



Excuse me for a moment while I play armchair grammarian with this sentence from the blog:

Originally sculpted as a portrait of the Morgan gelding Flash, the United States Pony Clubs [sic] 50th Anniversary Horse and this version of Flash has a Connemara Mare Tail and is a Sooty Dapple Buckskin Overo Pinto.

That's a giant run-on sentence, and adding some periods doesn't even fix it. Interestingly, the IDYB page for Flash has the same missing apostrophe in "Clubs," that appeared in the above run-on sentence. Copy and paste much, interns? Though I admit there aren't a lot of different ways to write about the horse being the USPC 50th Anniversary Horse. Here's how I would have written that paragraph:

"Originally sculpted as a portrait of the Morgan gelding Flash, the United States Pony Club's 50th Anniversary Horse, this version of Flash is a sooty dapple buckskin overo pinto and has a custom Connemara Mare tail."

Much better. There's no reason to capitalize any of the words in the model's color and it flows better to have the color come first. Let's hope somebody gives the interns some grammar lessons, because the previous blog posts about these models haven't been much better than this.

Anyway, let's move on to the final auction lot, which we've also already seen. Say hello (again!) to Jackpot:



Mmm, this guy is yummy. I hope I win him too! I wouldn't trade him away, though.

So that's all of this year's auction models. I kinda have to say...I'm not terribly impressed by this year's group. There are a few gems in there, but nothing really spectacular like last year. I'm surprised there wasn't an auction lot on Carina and Selene, for instance, considering last year's other two Premier Club models did.

In other thoughts, we still haven't seen a Smarty Jones auction model. Unless he's one of the four hidden lots, I'd say it's very likely he's the surprise, or the volunteer model. We won't know more until we see them in the Visitor Center - can't wait until next Thursday!

Another batch of auction models!

Good news, everyone! Breyer released some more auction models on the blog today. Check them out, starting with Lot 20:

Oh, my. So gloss, such shiny, etc. But he's...a bit plain, isn't he? He needs some white to set him off from the original Sham release (although that one was quite a bit redder). 

Next, lot 21:

Ooh, a test model on Forever Saige! This is the first time she's shown up in the auction, although a very nice test of her was auctioned off at Breyerfest 2015. And she's beautiful! I defnitely wouldn't mind adding her to my collection. She looks like she has a touch of pearly in her mane and tail, too. Very nice!

On to lot 22:

Well, that's definitely an interesting model. I like him a lot, especially the blue-and-gold saddle, but I feel like that saddle would be really impractical in real life. Like, every time you used it you'd have to check your pants afterwards for blue stains. Nice color on the model, though, and his blue eye tops it off nicely.

And lastly, lot 23:



From the blog: "This model is a Glossy Rich Liver Chestnut but still looks like the Olympic dressage champion Hanoverian stallion, Keltic [sic] Salinero." Yes, it does still look like Salinero (who is a gelding, by the way), and it's spelled Keltec, not Keltic. You could at least have someone do some fact-checking before things get published, guys. And like you said, this one still looks like the original Salinero...so why would anyone want to spend big bucks on it if that were the case? I'm sure someone will, but still. Maybe he looks more different in person.

And that's all I have for today. I did get a notification that my Prism has shipped (!!!), so hopefully he arrives before we leave for Breyerfest. If not, he'll just have to wait until we get back!

The Breyerfest 2018 Program is now available!

At long last, the Breyerfest 2018 Program is available on the website! Check it out here. Let's see if there's anything exciting inside!

Those are our special runs, all in one place. Or most of them, anyway. The prices are about in line with what I thought they'd be, or maybe slightly more expensive. There used to be one priced around $50 or $55, but it doesn't look like that's the case this year, other than the Foiled Again and Lonesome Glory reissues. Speaking of those two, it's interesting that they're both limited to 750. Too bad they couldn't gloss the Lonesome Glorys...

Actually, why didn't they gloss the Lonesome Glorys? It doesn't look like he was ever issued in glossy originally. Sheesh, Breyer, you thought of glossing the Foiled Agains but not the Lonesome Glorys? Or even the Scampers? They need something to distinguish them from the original release. Definitely a missed opportunity there. So it looks like I'm going to need something from the store after all - I'll need that LG for the collection.



Looks like I don't need to be terribly worried about getting a Winner's Circle - they made 2,000 of him, so hopefully I can snag one without too much trouble. And as I thought, he's priced at a very affordable $25, so he's probably made from ABS plastic.

That's about all I've got to talk about this time - it doesn't look like there's anything juicy in the program this year, like photos of the more special silent auction lots, or poorly-hidden photos of the auction models (that was a great year!). Only 11 more days to go, people? Are you ready? I'm not - so I need to get some more stuff done!

Featured Model - 6/30/2018, London Pride

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. We're dipping back into the Stablemates this week with...London Pride!



This pretty lady was produced for Breyerfest 2012. She was a run of 1,000 on the G3 Belgian mold sculpted by Jane Lunger. Along with three other Stablemates, she was one of the four possible One-Day Stablemates that year, all issued as item #711141.

The four One-Day Stablemates that year were all draft models named after beers, but apparently people didn't like (or just didn't get) Breyer's little joke about draft models = draft beers, because all four of them were readily available in the Breyer Store in 2013. That's where I snagged my three, and fell into a trap of foolishly not buying single-day tickets because I thought I'd just be able to find leftovers in the store the following year. I'm not sure why I kept doing that beyond 2013, because it's not like anyone was going to find leftovers of the 2013 One-Day Stablemates in 2014 - they were too popular!

I did finally start buying one-day tickets in 2016 (Still looking for a Crepe Suzette, by the by), but I'm not sure why it took me so long to learn my lesson about that. Just buy the stupid tickets!

Okay, enough yelling at myself. Back to the model. I really like this color on her - she's not just a flat black, but more of a smoky black. Plus she has all that bling going on, and a layer of gloss to boot! She's one of my favorite G3 Belgians.

We still haven't seen the G3 Belgian show up in the Stablemate Club, but hopefully next year! I have a weakness for drafters, and I'd love to see her used again! I did attend the local draft horse show in my town last week, though, so I may still have drafters on my mind. Ooh, what if they used her for next year's gambler's choice? There are still plenty of colors to paint her in - I bet she'd be a hit! Crossing my fingers.