A Blue Ribbon Elephant

I remember getting a new Breyer as a child and peeling off the blue ribbon sticker that used to come with Breyer's early pieces. I'd play with those blue ribbons just as much as I played with the models they accompanied. And now all those blue ribbons are gone. I did not save a single one.

Once in a while I purchase a vintage piece just because it still has its blue ribbon sticker, so when this elephant was listed on an online sales site, I snagged it. 

Along with having its sticker, the price was good and the piece was in great shape.

But when I actually had the elephant in hand and could take a good look at it, I could tell right away that it was different from my other elephants.

It was a grayer color, but then color variations among Breyer are very normal. Was it a chalky? The paint did not feel thick, but just in case, I shone a flashlight through it. The light was blocked. Excitedly, I shone the light through the other two elephants, just to compare, and it shone through as expected.

So, the elephant blocked light like a chalky would, but it did not have the thick base coat of paint under its grey coloring. I then flipped it on its side to check its feet.

There was my answer - the feet were a solid grey color - the elephant had been made with grey plastic. This happened during the oil crisis of the early 1970s when Breyer had difficulty getting the right materials to manufacture models.

You can see the difference between its feet and my other two elephants. (They have drain board patterns on their feet which is also pretty cool.) And if you look at its tusks, you can see that they are unpainted grey plastic while the other two have white tusks.

Super thrilled to have gotten the double bonus of a blue ribbon sticker and grey plastic to add to my vintage collection!

2013 Retro Western Pony

This piece is from the 2013 line and apparently is second in a series. I did not know that, and since I have the first in the series, I decided to go ahead and purchase this one. Besides, the paint job is beautifully executed, with eyewhites and a blue ribbon sticker!

Limited Edition Retro Western Pony, #1491, $21, The Model Trading Post, 2/2014.

Yellow Mount

Here is a picture of my Yellow Mount. I got it in the early 1970s and it is most likely a chalky:

Breyer History Diva did a blog post about this piece, and she wrote some interesting things that had me checking my piece.

 Mine does not have the blue ribbon sticker  or the dorsal stripe, but it does have the forearm spot and pink/red hooves. As I recall, I got it shortly after Breyer began producing it, if not the year of.


(From Breyer History Diva, September, 2012)

The earliest variation, with the blue ribbon sticker, dorsal stripe, and pinkish hooves would be ideal, of course, but they’re way more difficult to come by than the early Man o’ Wars. It’s been years since I’ve seen one like that up for sale, and the price it went for was definitely not to my liking.

I’d settle for a Presentation Series piece, or a nice Chalky, or even a late example with no forearm spot and dark greyish hooves. 

As I noted above, the earliest Yellow Mounts had dorsal stripes - a subtle acknowledgement of the fact that the real Yellow Mount was actually Red Dun, not Chestnut. Breyer called him a "Chestnut Paint’ right from the get go, though. From the 1970 Collector’s Manual, the year he debuted:

I don’t know if this was a simple mistake, or if Breyer "simplified" the color for the general market. Yeah, the really horse-crazy kids would know what a Red Dun is, but an average consumer has a hard enough time telling a Bay from a Chestnut. It had only been a couple years earlier that Breyer itself had even figured out the difference!

It’s not that big a deal nowadays - in fact, trying to upsell an older mold with an exotic color is all the rage these days. (Remember the "Silver Dapple Dilute Dun" on a more recent release of the Adios, Frappe? Of course you do!)

The Yellow Mount lost his dorsal stripe early on - like so many other early decorating changes, a matter of cost. 

Red Roans

(from Breyer History Diva, 2010)

Different day, same chaos. Had to spend most of yesterday reassembling the china cabinet. (No fatalities, but lots of stress nonetheless.)

It appears I slightly dissed the old-style "freckle" Red Roans in my previous post on the Buckshot. Didn’t mean to give that impression, as I’m very fond of the color. I think I have every regular run release of it, and most of the special runs. (Yes, including the uber-rare Running Foal and the ultra-desirable G1 Draft Horse.)

Breyer’s original Red Roans were a relatively short-lived phenomenon. The first regular run release of this peculiar color appeared in 1968, on the Running Stallion. It was followed by the Lying Down Foal in 1969, the Scratching Foal in 1970, and the Running Mare in 1971.

The Mare and two Foals were gone by the end of 1973, but the Running Stallion lasted through 1974. He’s relatively "common" for a Breyer of that era; a nice one with attractive roaning will set you back a little bit, but not as much as a Gloss Charcoal. The Lying Down Foal isn’t too difficult to find, either.

The Mare, surprisingly, is the scarcest of the bunch, with just a three-year production run. That may seem like an eternity today, but for a model of that era, it’s a little unusual. It took me a while to find one myself:


I found her - along with the Stallion, the Lying Down Foal, and a few other beauties - at my fabled local flea market several years ago. In fact, they were the very first things I saw as I walked up to the entrance!

All of us who have had some modest flea marketing experience have had a few of these rare and wonderful moments. For an instant you freeze and pretend that you didn’t just see what you’re seeing. You scope out the immediate territory to make sure no one else has zeroed in on your target. Your heart begins to pound, and then you immediately break into your brisk, practiced, pretending-not-to-be-too-interested kind of walk …

(Can you tell I miss the flea market? Darn you infernal groundhog!)

You may notice that this Mare has an unusual feature: a Blue Ribbon Sticker. It’s unusual because Blue Ribbon Stickers were discontinued by the end of 1970, and the Red Roan Mare wasn’t introduced until 1971. It appears to be original, or at least contemporary; the Stallion, the Foal, and a couple other models in that collection had stickers, too.

It’s possible that the Mare may have been released in late 1970, in time for the Holiday shopping season - as I’ve discussed before, a not-uncommon practice. Since Breyer was on the verge of discontinuing the sticker program, it would have made sense to substitute another Running Mare sticker, instead of printing up a fresh batch of correctly numbered ones. Her sticker is actually for the #121 Smoke, who had been discontinued by the end of 1970 anyway.

I have no actual evidence of an early release for the Roan Running Mare, though. The simplest explanation probably is the best one, here: Breyer (or the retailer) was just using up their old sticker stock.