(from Breyer History Diva, February, 2012)
I finally opened my Dandy today - very nice! The paint job is beautiful, and the sticker is a spot-on reproduction of the original. Though I must point out that most Gloss finishes were discontinued before the "Big" Blue Ribbon sticker debuted ca. 1969.
I know, I know, they picked that style of sticker so they could print the name on it legibly. It’s sort of my job to be nitpicky, you know.
My other nitpick with it is the certificate - as far as I know, the Clydesdale mold debuted in 1958, not 1957. It’s true that the Poodle was technically "debuted" at the 1958 Toy Fair, but it was available from multiple retailers in 1957; I haven’t seen any evidence of the same situation for the Clydesdale.
If it wasn’t available for retail sale in 1957, it wasn’t "released" in 1957, period.
Showing posts with label blue ribbon sticker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blue ribbon sticker. Show all posts
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Breyer Stickers
(Breyer History Diva, 200p.)
Any Breyer collector worth their salt should know about the Breyer stickers: the gold foil "Tenite" sticker seen most often on early Woodgrains, and the blue ribbon sticker (both large and small) that appeared on most Breyer models from ca. 1966 through 1970. But there’s a third vintage sticker that most of you wouldn’t know about, because there’s only two pieces of evidence for it: a sheet of stickers in the Breyer archives, and this handsome boy:
The fonts, motifs and color choices of this dumbbell-style sticker indicates that it’s from the "brown box" era of Breyer packaging, dating from ca. 1979 to ca. 1982, and which replaced the white picture box that ruled the roost from ca. 1973 through 1978. (It is, in fact, dated 1980 on one side.)
I had no idea these sticker existed either, prior to my visit to the Breyer factory many moons ago. As I’ve said before, what reference materials they do have prior to 1985 are minimal. Most of it I had already seen, or had copies of via various hobby sources (most of them tracing back to Marney’s original copies!) Some of the newer stuff was interesting, but nothing was overly impressive - I had heard Marney describe the sorry state of Breyer’s recordkeeping before, so while it was a little sad to see firsthand, it was not unexpected.
There were still a few interesting things in the binders, though. A sheet of dumbbell stickers stood out: now THAT was something I hadn’t seen before! As an aficionado of stickered models, I was intrigued; since I had not seen - or even heard - of a Breyer model sporting this type of sticker. I just assumed it was either an experiment or aborted marketing attempt, but made a mental note nonetheless.
A couple of years later, I found the Silky Sullivan on a well-known hobbyist’s saleslist, and I just couldn’t pass him up. I mean, really - how could I not buy him?
I have no idea what the extent of this particular marketing program was. It may have truly been an experiment that was just tested in a few markets, or a few stores - in this case, the price tag on the sticker indicates he was sold at Woolworth’s. (His price? $4.97)
From the amount of information about the model on the sticker - name, number, brief biography - I am assuming that this was an test to sell Breyer models without boxes. Was this another try at "touchability?" Or just a way of eliminating the cost of packaging altogether? This cost-saving attempt was probably thwarted by the rough and tumble world of retail: a couple weeks of less-than-gentle handling by customers and employees probably rendered most of these sticker recipients into body box fodder quickly.
I haven’t seen or heard of another example crop up anywhere, though it probably shouldn’t be surprising since this isn’t the kind of sticker that (please forgive the inevitable pun) sticks around. Dumbbell stickers are designed to be torn off quickly and easily, and any models that wore these stickers probably didn’t wear them long once they left the store. Except for the collector or hobbyist who had the foresight to save this fellow.
Any Breyer collector worth their salt should know about the Breyer stickers: the gold foil "Tenite" sticker seen most often on early Woodgrains, and the blue ribbon sticker (both large and small) that appeared on most Breyer models from ca. 1966 through 1970. But there’s a third vintage sticker that most of you wouldn’t know about, because there’s only two pieces of evidence for it: a sheet of stickers in the Breyer archives, and this handsome boy:
The fonts, motifs and color choices of this dumbbell-style sticker indicates that it’s from the "brown box" era of Breyer packaging, dating from ca. 1979 to ca. 1982, and which replaced the white picture box that ruled the roost from ca. 1973 through 1978. (It is, in fact, dated 1980 on one side.)
I had no idea these sticker existed either, prior to my visit to the Breyer factory many moons ago. As I’ve said before, what reference materials they do have prior to 1985 are minimal. Most of it I had already seen, or had copies of via various hobby sources (most of them tracing back to Marney’s original copies!) Some of the newer stuff was interesting, but nothing was overly impressive - I had heard Marney describe the sorry state of Breyer’s recordkeeping before, so while it was a little sad to see firsthand, it was not unexpected.
There were still a few interesting things in the binders, though. A sheet of dumbbell stickers stood out: now THAT was something I hadn’t seen before! As an aficionado of stickered models, I was intrigued; since I had not seen - or even heard - of a Breyer model sporting this type of sticker. I just assumed it was either an experiment or aborted marketing attempt, but made a mental note nonetheless.
A couple of years later, I found the Silky Sullivan on a well-known hobbyist’s saleslist, and I just couldn’t pass him up. I mean, really - how could I not buy him?
I have no idea what the extent of this particular marketing program was. It may have truly been an experiment that was just tested in a few markets, or a few stores - in this case, the price tag on the sticker indicates he was sold at Woolworth’s. (His price? $4.97)
From the amount of information about the model on the sticker - name, number, brief biography - I am assuming that this was an test to sell Breyer models without boxes. Was this another try at "touchability?" Or just a way of eliminating the cost of packaging altogether? This cost-saving attempt was probably thwarted by the rough and tumble world of retail: a couple weeks of less-than-gentle handling by customers and employees probably rendered most of these sticker recipients into body box fodder quickly.
I haven’t seen or heard of another example crop up anywhere, though it probably shouldn’t be surprising since this isn’t the kind of sticker that (please forgive the inevitable pun) sticks around. Dumbbell stickers are designed to be torn off quickly and easily, and any models that wore these stickers probably didn’t wear them long once they left the store. Except for the collector or hobbyist who had the foresight to save this fellow.
Lying Foal - Bumples
Several years ago I worked at an injection molding firm; I already knew quite a bit about the injection molding process by the time I got there (the production manager was quite impressed that I actually knew wasTenite was) but I also managed to pick up quite a bit more information about injection molding – the kind that has proven quite helpful in my model horse research.
(It was car parts, not horses or toys, BTW. At one point I tried to convince this particular company that horses might help with their “cash flow” problem, but that was a nonstarter. And it is also, now, a noncompany.)
During some downtime I actually skimmed some of the reference material in the engineering and design studio, and in the process ended up solving a minor Breyer mystery: why the Traditional Lying Down Foal has “pimples.”
On most of the earlier Lying Down Foals, the pimples are fairly prominent – to the touch, if not the eye – and cover a large portion of the righthand side of the mold. Most of the more recent releases of this mold don't sport the pimples anymore, but I don't think it has anything to do with any alterations or corrections made to it: I think they're just being polished off or removed with an acetone rubdown – after assembly, but before painting. This may explain why they haven't released many Lying Down Foals recently – it requires too much prep work!
What probably happened to the mold was something called “orange peeling.” Here's a concise explanation of “orange peel” from the bookTool and Die Making Troubleshooter, by Richard M. Leeds (published by SME, 2002.)
During the polishing process, exerted pressures have a burnishing rather than a cutting effect that can be the principal cause of a localized plastic deformation known as orange peel. Orange peel is characterized by a rippled appearance, which develops when polishing pressures exceed the yield strength of the steel at its surface. Once orange peel appears, there is tendency to apply more pressure to eliminate the rippled appearance, and doing so often results in severe pitting of the steel.
Pits are small depressions that may form when small abrasive particles are torn away from the surface where polishing pressures exceed tensile strength. The appearance of pits during polishing is frequently blamed on defects in the steel, but this is often not the case. A clue to the source of pits may be their orientation. If the pits are the result of nonmetallic inclusions present in the steel, they will usually be randomly oriented and few in number. However, if pitting is the resulting of overpolishing, they will tend to be numerous and spread over most of the polished surface.
Those little depressions would turn into bumps when the parts are molded. They're numerous, and spread over most of the righthand side of the mold. It seems a reasonable assumption: the Lying Down Foal mold was overpolished. There's some evidence that the Lying Down Foal mold was extensively retooled prior to full production, so it's likely that the orange peeling and pitting occurred sometime during that phase. I know it had to have happened at least before 1971: all of my early Lying Down Foals with Blue Ribbon Stickers - including the little one at the top of my post - have pimples.
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