Most model horse collectors have some elusive pieces that they hope to find and add to their collections some day. I am no exception to that - I may have a large collection, but that doesn't mean there aren't some things I have been looking for for a long time.
I have a real soft spot for circus ponies. I think it's because my father owned a circus pony, O'Boy, as a child. (Go here for a recent post about him.) My sister, Leslie, and I used to pretend we were bareback riders for the circus - we even had little cardboard suitcases we packed with our clothes and pretended to board the circus train to our next destination!
I have many of the Hagen-Renaker circus ponies, and a Donna Chaney mini circus pony resin custom painted as a leopard Appaloosa with red plumes. (I'd love to get a full sized china one, but that is way beyond what I can spend in good conscience.)
Several years ago, I discovered some obscure circus ponies on eBay - the Freeman Leidy ones. I fell in love instantly, but the cost - yikes! And the few that were available were damaged and missing pieces of their ribbons.
Finally I found one that had minor damage and a Make an Offer button. I took a deep breath and put in a very lowball one, expecting that there would be a counter offer. To my surprise, it was accepted without quibble, and I became the owner of my very first Freeman Leidy piece.
I was taken aback when it arrived, expecting a piece about the size of a Breyer classic model. I had no idea that the Freeman Leidys were 11-12 inches tall and very heavy!
But size didn't matter - I fell in love with the piece and crossed my fingers that I might find more.
I found pictures on eBay and other sites of these circus ponies in blue and in purple. There is also a circus coach that goes with them in pink, bue, and purple colors. But the prices were in the hundreds of dollars, and every piece had damage of some sort. (I have learned since that they are very, very fragile, and having been manufactured in the 1940s, fully intact pieces are rare.)
I've kept looking, but they don't come up for sale very often.
Then, two weeks ago, I did an Etsy search on a whim. And up popped two purple ponies and a coach. The seller wanted the same amount as an eBay seller who had two damaged ponies in blue and no coach. Aside from a tiny chip in one tail ribbon, all three of these pieces were mint.
Head down circus pony in purple.
Figuring I had nothing to lose, I contacted the seller and offered him $175, a significantly lower price on the three pieces. He countered with $200, and I accepted and paid right away, pinching myself that I had finally attained one of my most wanted collecting goals.
The box arrived yesterday. Craig texted me at school with this picture:
"It's a major award!" he texted, tongue in cheek. (He really did think I had ordered a lamp.)
The seller did a fantastic packing job - the best I have ever seen, in fact. But still, the plume broke off the head up pony.
I could see why that happened, despite being so well wrapped and protected. The china inside the pony's head is crumbling - it did not take much to break that plume, and most likely the rest of this piece is just as delicate.
I am going to fix it this weekend and then handle it as little as possible.
The coach is hollow and open at the top - I think it may have been intended to be used as a planter.
I have the three pieces displayed in my dining room for the time being. After I fix that plume, I will tuck them into the china display case with my Hagen Renakers, Breyer porcelains, Goebels, Beswicks, and other china horses.
