Windsong Stables

Monday, September 3, 2012

Hartland Score!

In August, Gail Fitch published a new book about Hartland horses that have been manufactured since 2000. When she was writing it, she contacted me because I have a really rare piece in my collection. I took a picture of it for her and she published it in the book with my permission.

Of course, I bought a copy of her book (autographed!) and have been reading through it, learning more about the Hartland horses and their history. I have had a few Hartlands since my earliest hobby days, but have always preferred Breyers. (For perspective, I have 40 Hartlands versus 400+ Breyers and about 80-100 Hagen Renakers.)

I was intrigued to discover that, although the factory had gone out of business about eight years ago, there was a dealer, Sheryl Leisure of Horse Power graphics, who still had a few in stock and for sale. Needless to say, I checked out her website and ordered a couple.

I got a Dale Evans with her horse, Buttermilk and dog, Bullet ($40, #802, on left) and Roy Rogers with his horse, Trigger ($40, #806). A note on the packing slip says their manufacture dates are 2003.

(As a side note, I had a bouncing rocking horse as a child which I rode ALL the time. Its name was Buttermilk after Dale's horse.)

In addition to satisfying my cowgirl side with Dale and Roy, I also got this elegant set of Tennessee Walkers.

Amber Champagne Tennessee Walking Horse 3 piece set ($25).

Hartland score!!

Recent Acquisitions

I intended to document the growth and worth of my collection as one of the reasons I began this blog, so it might be a good idea to post information about my recent acquisitions!

From BreyerFest, 2012:

A woodgrain Jolly Cholly!

I bought this piece from Terry Richards, of Rockford, Illinois. She's an old hobby buddy from when I lived in Illinois and was putting on my live show, Lincoln Land Live. ($35)

Terry was one of the people asked to evaluate and dispose of Marney Walerius' vast collection when she died. Having known Marney, I jumped at the chance to get a piece from her collection.

This Lady Phase is an oldie but goodie, and all the more special because it belonged to Marney. ($15)

Folks who bought single-day tickets to BreyerFest got a special Stablemate as part of their ticket deal.

I am not a collector of stablemates, but the quality on this one is very high. Plus, my friend, Kathleen Moody, sculpted it. I love having a personal connection to my pieces. (Ticket price $20)

I also bought some models from my favorite dealer, Lynn Luther. She owns The Model Trading Post and has been in business since 1991.

Year of the Dragon (porcelain) ($60)

Champion Sprinkles 5 Gaiter ($34)

And, from the Breyer website because they can only be bought from the factory, I purchased this crystal mini Huckleberry Bey (sculpted by Kathleen.) ($45)

It comes in its own padded box, and for the moment I am keeping it in that for safekeeping.

It's a beautiful piece, but very, very fragile, and I think the glue would show should I break it and try to repair it.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

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.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Kathleen Moody - a Little History

On the Moody Madness list there has been an ongoing discussion about Kathleen Moody's model, Simply Splendid and whether it was released by Hartland.

Kathleen herself clears up the confusion but also adds some interesting Breyer history, too:

Sat Aug 4, 2012 11:45 am (PDT) . Posted by:

"Kathleen Moody"

*Okay. To set the record straight- I did Simply Splendid before my
involvement with Hartland existed. It was one of the first horses I ever
did in clay and the very first resin I ever produced. I had it cast
through DaBar Enterprises, who then released and sold it. It was never
associated with Hartland in any way. SS was the horse that one of my
model buddies took to Calif to a Breyer West show and got the attention
of Peter Stone which resulted in my being hired by Breyer over twenty +
years ago. Hartland produced Lady Jewel and Jade in plastic (who were
created to be companion pieces for SS). The** Mini, the Paso (and Pocket
Ponies which were created by Carol Gasper and Linda Lima) were released
through Paola Groeber as resins ** before I started work with Breyer.
**Paola painted alot of stuff including SS.** They were all created in
the same time period- thus the confusion. Splendid Adventure was a very
limited run released later as a variation of SS.

Friday, July 27, 2012

What IS This?

In addition to a beautiful rosette, my Windsong Sherif won this red china horse head as Reserve Grand Champion in the Americanware Show at Breakables (Breyerfest, 2012.) It was hollow inside, too. Odd. But what was it?

Maggie Barkovitz, the show's host, posted a thank you letter online, and that's how I discovered I'd won a stirrup cup! I'd heard of them, but did not know what they were. Wow! Sculpted by Kristina Francis Lucas - I cannot afford her work! Pretty nifty!

Second, I want to thank Kristina Lucas Francis and Marge Para. Kristina
your stirrup cups this year were genius. They were a fun and refreshing
change from the tiles. I hope the entrants liked them too. Keeping it fun
and fresh are two of my favorite things to do, and you delivered with these
cups. To Marge thank you for casting and glazing these wonderful pieces.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Chalky Black Bucking Bronco

(From Breyer History Diva, July, 2012. A post about BreyerFest, 2012.)

A Chalky Black Bucking Bronco! I had never seen one before - and judging from the reaction I got from everyone I showed him to, nobody else has, either. The fact that I found him at all - in this white-hot Chalky market - is absolutely astounding. (And so was the price!)

He’s pretty darn close to mint, for a Chalky. He’s a "White Plastic" Chalky, too, which means that there have to be more than just a handful out there. They might have just run the one batch of that plastic, but I’m not sure quite how many Bucking Broncos a drum of Tenite translates into. (A hundred? Maybe two?)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Breakables 2012 Winners

Since I have been known to forget who won what at model horse shows, I took photos to document my horses' wins from Breakables. (Note to self: the orange tablecloth in stable colors is a bit much as a backdrop!)