2017 Christmas Surprise

Breyer's Christmas surprise was a gambler's choice of the Bouncer mold done in clearware!

 Emerald, Amethyst, and Sapphire.

I was lucky enough to snag Emerald!

Emerald, #712233, 2017 Christmas Surprise, $95, 350 made per color, 2017 only, Breyer web order.

HR Foal, Running

Nancy Falzone also sold me this running foal to complete my palomino set.

HR Foal, Running, A-235, palomino, 1954-present (early piece), $10, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

HR Mini Family

Nancy Falzone offered me this Hagen Renaker Mini Horse Family and I was glad to add them to my collection, not only because they are old HRs, but because they were Nancy's.

HR Horse, Rearing, A-234, 1954-1985 (early piece), $100/set, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017
HR Foal, Running, A-235, 1954-present (early piece), $100/set, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017
HR Foal, Lying, A-236, white, 1954-1957, $100/set, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017
HR Mare, Running, A-233, white, 1954-present (early piece), $100/set, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

Horse Family from Nancy Falzone

It's always meaningful to acquire a piece for my collection from Nancy Falzone. She's been a dear friend for a long time, and the pieces I buy from her are "black hole" pieces - they are staying with me and most definitely not for sale!

Yesterday I went to Great Lakes Congress December show. Nancy was in attendance and had brought two things I'd purchased before the show day plus some other things, too.

This bay set of Maureen Love horses in mint condition came home with me. (Nancy has teeny tiny documentation stickers on their bellies that I intend to keep there as part of their history.)

HR Horse Rearing, A-234, 1954-1985 (early piece), $60/set of 4, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

HR Mare, Running, A-233, 1954-present (early piece), $60/set of 4, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

HR Foal, Running, A-235, 1954-present (early piece), $60/set of 4, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

HR Foal, Lying, A-236, 1954-1957, $60/set of 4, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017

Another Circus Pony

Another Circus Pony, and from Nancy Falzone to boot!

 Hagen Renaker Head Up Circus Pony, A-266, 1980-1983, $40, Nancy Falzone, 12/17

She only sold it because she broke it, but it's an easy fix. Plus, I am always glad to have some of Nancy's models join my collection!

Circus Pedestal from Nancy Falzone

I bought this Hagen Renaker Circus Pedestal from Nancy Falzone at GLC's December show.

HR Circus Pedestal, A-268B, $40, 1955-1956, Nancy Falzone, 12/2017.

Bandera

I like many of Breyer's decorators, and so when Bandera came out, I intended to buy him. Until I saw his price - more than I wanted to pay. But when he became available on Breyer's early Black Friday specials for Collectors Club members at a much better price, I bought him.

Bandera, #1769, 5000 made, $35, 2017, 11/2017, Breyer Black Friday sale. (Photo credit to Identify Your Breyer.)

Time to Party!

I found this lovely silver filigree Misty on eBay for a reasonable price.

 Time to Party!, #711188, $33.59, 2014 BreyerFest, 11/2017, Dayle Steinke.

Photo credit to Identify Your Breyer.

Frankincense, Black Friday Special

Rarely do I check my non-school email at school; even rarer do I act on what I see and surf over to Breyer to buy a pony! But I did just that a few weeks ago. As a Collectors Club member, I checked my email and discovered that, not only did I have early access to their Black Friday sales, but that they had Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh up for sale!

 Frankincense, Gold, and Myrrh (photo from Breyer's web site.)

I snagged one before they were sold out and received Frankincense in the mail a few days later. (Photo credit to Identify Your Breyer.)

Frankincense, #712207, $95, 350 made (per color), 2016 Christmas Day horse, 11/2017, web special.

I was pleased because I like his color, but also because I consider it a blessing. The Christmas Day horses are just that - offered only on Christmas Day. I was able to get an Ivy two years ago (the first offering) as we did not have a houseful and I had some free time to check Breyer's web site. But last year (2016), we had a full house with five of our six kids here, and I made a conscious decision that I would not let myself be distracted from the holiday and my family so I that could buy another horse. My laptop stayed shut and I missed out on buying this piece. (I had no regrets about that decision.)

So, to have an opportunity to get one nearly a year later seems like a bonus and a blessing to me, and I happily add Frankincense to my herd!

St. Moritz

Breyer did a micro run (I think they call it) of the Esprit mold decorated for winter. I was not going to put in for the drawing since only 380 were being made and a LOT of people wanted him (plus his cost was $165.) I am not a big fan of the mold and so didn't pay much attention to him.

Then someone on social media mentioned that he was clearwater, and I zipped right back to take a look. He was! And so, with one day left to enter, I put in my one, lone entry.

I was surprised to win one since you could enter every day, and many people had been doing so. But I was so glad I had done so because he is stunning.

(All photo credits to Identify Your Breyer.)

 St. Moritz, #712225, $165, 380 produced, web special, November, 2017.

Honestly, these pictures do not do the real thing justice - he may be one of my favorite pieces ever!

Gifts from Sandy Pijanowski

Sandy Pijanowski dropped some of her son, Aaron's, old model horses for me to have in my collection. He is an adult now and had taken those he wanted with him.

Dan Patch, #819, 1990 LE; Paint American Mustang, #828, 1990-1991; Touch of Class, $420, 1986-1988.

The Pacer and Mustang are duplicates, and I am not much of a fan of the Touch of Class mold so I don't have any of those. Still, they are sentimental to me and I am grateful to Sandy for thinking of me.

HRCC Spanish Horse SR

I received my Hagen Renaker Collectors Club special run Spanish Horse in the mail yesterday! And he is luscious.

 HRCC SR Spanish Horse in Buckskin, 125 made, 2017 only, $50, 11/10/2017.

I am not sure that I would call this color buckskin, though. Maybe a sooty buckskin? Chocolate bay?

Regardless, I like him very much and am happy to have him!

2017 Vintage Club Stablemates

Licorice and Jelly Bean arrived today!

 Licorice and Jelly Bean, 2017 Vintage Club Stablemates, #712212, free, 500 made, 11/2017.

Mine are more a brown charcoal than the black, but that's fine with me!

HR Elephant Pair

On our way from from visiting Jessica over Fall Break, I stopped at Countryside Antiques and found this pair of Hagen Renaker Elephants.

 Circus Elephant (Standing), A-881, $5/baby, Spring 1987 - Fall 1997, Countryside Antiques, 10/2017.

Glossy Indian Elephant Baby, A-17, 1976, $5/Circus Elephant, Countryside Antiques, 10/2017.

Lenox Appaloosa

I have wanted this piece for a long, long time.

 Appaloosa, Fury of the Plains by Lenox, 1990, $60, Staff Bodamer (at Nancy Falzone's party), 11/2017.

Sleeping Fjord

Kristina Lucas Francis had ten of these Sleeping Fjords for sale at Nancy's. They sold quickly - there were only four left to choose from when I decided to get one!

 KLF Sleeping Fjord, $100, 15 made, 11/2017/

Okaptopus

Also at Nancy Falzone's party, I picked up one of Kristina Lucas Francis' Okaptopus!

 Okaptopus, $80, ceramic, #5/6 in purple orchid glaze, 11/4/2017.

 I am not a fantasy animal collector, but I do like this one!

Early HR Elephant Baby

Jamie Rott and her mom, Yvonne, surprised me with a gift at Nancy Falzone's get together yesterday.

This sweet little elephant baby!

 Elephant Baby, A-264, Monrovia, early version with pink ears, painted toenails, gift from Jamie and Yvonne Rott, 11/2017.

Sugarmaple

Gosh, I love Breyer's clearware! And Sugarmaple, their Fall decorator, is proving to be really popular.

Sugarmaple #1782, Fall 2017 Special Edition Decorator, $60, Back in the Saddle, 10/14/17.

This is a photo I pulled off of Blab; apparently there is a lot of variation in the color. Mine seems amber/orange as its dominant color.

B Stamp Proud Arabian Stallion

Sell It Here continues to be a great place to shop for models! I went back a couple of times to see if that vendor who's had the black point PAM and the two 1980 JAH unpainted models had added anything new. Both times I left a dirty Proud Arabian Stallion behind. (I left it behind when I bought the unpainteds, too.)

Then it occurred to me that I might want to check it for a B stamp - after all, the JAH horses are from that era, and since this piece was probably from the same time frame, maybe it had the stamp. So I went back yet again to check.

 Proud Arabian Stallion, #211, 1971-1976, 1978-1981, $20, 10/5/17, Sell It Here, Lafayette, IN.

 He's a rare B stamp, all right!

I will give him a bath and then some time in a sunny window - he'll be a nice addition to my PAS conga!

Unpainted Clydesdale Mare

I ended up going back to Sell It Here later in the afternoon and picked up that Clydesdale Mare.

 Unpainted Clydesdale Mare, 1980 JAH Special Offer, $20, Sell It Here, Lafayette, Indiana, 9/23/2017.

Cosmus

I am liking many of Breyer's new decorators, including Cosmus.

Cosmus, #62052, $25, Amazon, 9/2017.

Unpainted Indian Pony

My third find of the day (all from the same vendor) has already been sold to Jamie Rott.

 JAH Unpainted Indian Pony, (JAH VII, #3), 1980, $20, Sell It Here, Lafayette, Indiana, 9/23/2017.

I had just posted her picture on Model Horse Liberation Front (Facebook) when Jamie Rott messaged me and said that, if I ever wanted to sell the piece, to let her know.

Well, I have about 1,000 models now and for me, a lot of the fun is the hunt for models at antique shop and thrift stores. While the Indian Pony is my favorite mold, I don't need an unpainted one. Nice to have? Yes. But I know Jamie would be thrilled to have her, whereas I am simply happy, not over the moon like Jamie.

So, I will take her to GLC in October and hand her over to Jamie. I am charging her $20 as I certainly don't need the money - getting what I paid for the piece is fine with me.

I am actually quite excited at helping Jamie get a piece that excites her so much.

Proud Arabian Mare with Black Points

My second find of the day:

 Black point Proud Arabian Mare (Version D), 1982-1984, $20, Sell It Here, Lafayette, Indiana, 9/23/2017.

She is beautiful!! People seek after this piece - I could not believe I lucked into finding one.

Ebony Woodcut TWH

While poking around Sell It Here today, I found a shelf of about eight model horses. Three came home with me.

This Hartland ebony woodcut TWH was a terrific find!

 Hartland TWH, mane on left side, #888E, 1965-1966, $20, Sell It Here, Lafayette, Indiana, 9/23/2017.

 There is a small seam split on his back that is barely noticeable.

And, he has his original hoof pads!