A New Circus Pony

I have such a soft spot for the Hagen Renaker Circus Ponies and have acquired quite a conga of them in my minis cabinet. 

But there's always room for one more! 

Linda Shawhan listed this HR Head Down Circus Pony (#A-267, 1956-1957) on Facebook's Clinky Classifieds for $35 plus shipping.  It had no breaks or chips and Linda (a friend) was asking a very fair price for it.

His paint job is pretty average - notice that the hooves are not completely painted gold as they should be. That's common in this piece as well as with the Head Up version. 

You can see the hoof difference in this photo of the new Circus Pony when compared with my first piece in the same color. That first piece also has the scalloped harness and bridle, and if you look closely, a red dot on the bridle where the noseband meets the headstall. Neither of the other two have that detail.

My second piece (in the middle) does not have the scalloped harness, but his hooves have a better paint job than the new one.

My new piece's upper eyelid line extends on both sides of his eye, unlike the other two. I really like his eye.

He is now in the minis cabinet with the rest of my Circus Ponies and a very welcome addition to my conga. 

Christmas Candy Zebras

I am so glad I set a reminder alarm on my phone Christmas morning to check Breyer's web site and see what their Christmas special was.

Christmas Candy Zebras were this year's offering! I got the gold one initially and liked it so much that I tracked the others down on eBay.

 #712304, 500 made of each color, 12/2019, from the Breyer factory. I paid $135 for the gold, $152 for the red, $127 for the blue, and $151 for the green. The green is named "Pam Green" in honor of my dear friend.

 I think they are absolutely delightful

 even though I am not a fan of the mold.

 But put those luscious colors on them and I was hooked!

I may have an oddity. On the green, red, and blue Zebras, you can feel the stripes. The gold one is absolutely smooth.

They will make a nice display on the shelf and I will most likely pull them out at holidays, too.

Appaloosa FAM Variation #3

As I said recently, I love variations, especially when it comes to the spots on Breyer's Appaloosas.

I saw this small blanket version Appaloosa FAM with spots scattered down her legs on an online sales site  and snapped her up right away.

FAM Speck, #38, 1968-1971, small blanket version w/USA, $22, Kristina Salisbury, 1/2020

She's my third Appaloosa FAM, very white when you consider her age,

 and with moderately large spots all the way down below her hocks. 

I love how she compares to my Appaloosa FAM #2, also a small blanket version, who has huge spots.

 Both of them have the USA mark, making them later than 1970.

 Appaloosa FAM #1 is a belly band version with smaller spots

and no USA mark, making her pre 1970.

 Here #1 is in comparison with #2 - you can really see the differences!

I'm watching some other Appaloosa variations right now - fingers crossed that I will add some more to my collection of variations!

QH Yearling Variation

I saw this chalky- looking QH Yearling on eBay and the spots caught my attention.

QH Yearling, #103, 1971-1988, $8, eBay, raylou1/Corinne Amato

 I love spot variations, especially the large ones.

The white areas are very bright and the coat has a different feel and texture than my other QH Yearlings.

 IYB and Nancy Young's book say the spots are black but I would call them chocolate.

 I prefer the chocolate spot color over the red brown.