Bone China Circus Pony

I saw this bone china circus pony (probably by Shiken) on eBay and made an offer for it. My offer was accepted, so home it came!

 Bone china Circus Pony with grey/green plume, $10, eBay/Angie Childers, St. Louis, MO, 3/2016/

It's my sixth HR knock-off circus pony, and all are different! I wonder just how many are out there, and hope to find more of them. Vancouver, WA

Painted Over CAF

In her post, When a Chalky isn't a Chalky, self-styled Breyer historian Andrea Gurdon writes that the grey Bucking Bronco was discontinued early and painted over into black ones. No white basecoat was added; the pieces were simply painted on top of the grey.

Clues to look for in the black Bucking Broncos are a bluish cast in the transitional areas of stockings and the bald face, and shorter stockings and smaller bald faces (which makes sense - they were trying to cover up all that grey paint.)

I have two black Bucking Broncos, and naturally I pulled them out and checked them for any signs of that over-painting. Lucky me - both fit the description.

She also mentioned that the Classic Arab Foal had undergone a similar repainting. I checked mine, too - I've always thought it had an odd paint job.

It was very hard to photograph, but if you look at the knee on the left front leg, you can see a black line where the black paint stopped very abruptly and not very cleanly.

There is a black paint smear on one hind leg, and some of the blue-grey tinge.

Some overspray on the other leg - another sign.

See the thick, black paint and how it looks like someone took a paintbrush and only tried to cover the paint, not edge it nicely? More evidence.

I'd say my Classic Arab Foal is also one that has seen a second coat of pain!

Freeman Leidy Circus Horses

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.

I am so thrilled to finally have these pieces!

Hagen Renaker Roughneck

Yesterday I came back to my classroom after doing bus duty at dismissal and looked around. The classroom was in good shape, I was tired, and so I gave our classroom pet goldfish, Moment, her weekend feeder, grabbed my coat, teaching bag, and keys, locked the door, and went home.

Only I decided to head home via three antique shops that I hadn't visited since Christmas vacation. They're side by side in a large strip mall, easy access in and out (just what this tired teacher needed) and so I decided I would drop by and take a quick walk through.

I've had good luck at all three shops in the past, but it can be hit and miss, too. But, the finds I've had have been very good, so I always go in with fingers crossed.

Nothing at Klassy Klutter or Leaping Leopard, but when I was finishing up in Devine, I came around the corner, spied a small glass display case on a counter, and cried aloud, "Holy mackeral!!"

Score one for me - a Monrovia Hagen Renaker Roughneck - tagged for $45! (I was able to get 10% off because of the breaks.)

HR Roughneck with football sticker, #B-550, 1954-1974, $38, Devine Antiques, 3/4/2016.

He had a repaired tail and left hind leg, but still, he was a great find. (Look at those eyewhites!)

He was made from a brown slip and has a large pour home that was left unplugged.

The football sticker.

I am thrilled to add this foal to my china cabinet and collection!

2016 Vintage Club Storm

The first offering for the 2016 Vintage Club arrived this week, and it is gorgeous!

 Storm! The Man o'War mold with Stud Spider pattern in a beautiful glossy brown charcoal!

 Storm, #712168, Vintage Club #1 for 2016, $125, Breyer.

 Unfortunately, mine had a badly warped hind leg. I called Breyer who said they would send a replacement.

I decided to try the hair dryer method and see if I couldn't fix it - my model's coloring is darker and more rich than most of those being posted online, and I'd really like to keep him.

No pictures, but I was successful in getting it back where it should be, so this one is a keeper.

HR Krazy Kritters - Ponies

While reading the Hagen Renaker book that I got in December, I was surprised to discover that The Little Shoppe, a place where I buy my HRs, had done some mini animals in unusual colors, targeting children. They were called Krazy Kritters, and apparently there was a kids' club of some sort.

Intrigued, I did a search online and found them! I've been all over that web site and never seen them - but then, it's not got a search button and it's clearly administered by someone not very adept at technology. (Gerrie Bowman, who passed away about a year ago. Lee Bowman is continuing the business.)

They are teeny tiny, and not an HR mold I usually buy. But, I know enough about collecting to strike when there's an unusual opportunity, and these are SO odd, I'd never heard of them and never seen them on any saleslists!

Krazy Kritters Pony - Pink, #453b-KK, $10, manufacture date unknown, The Little Shoppe, 1/2016.
Krazy Kritters Pony - Yellow, #453-KK, $10, manufacture date unknown, The Little Shoppe, 1/2016.

Mini Me

Big and living or little and plastic or china, I love horses. According to my mother, that love goes back to my toddlerhood. I started riding at ten and got Amy, my first horse at twelve, but I began collecting model horses when I was six. (Santa, you had no idea what you were starting...)

1,000+ plastic, china, and resin model horses later, I still enjoy finding new pieces to add to my collection and love to scope out antique shops, flea markets, and other places looking for horse shaped objects.

My most favorite piece, a Hagen Renaker Designer's Workshop Sherif, that I found at an auction for $4 back in the mid 1990s.

Rumor has it that my mother may have been in collusion with Santa Claus.

She has never confirmed nor denied that rumor. 

(This photo was taken in my horse room which also serves as my sewing room. She and I were sewing a quiet book for my granddaughter, Corinne, and this is one of the pages we were working on. She knitted the snowman's scarf.)

I love to read model horse hobby blogs and especially enjoy those who take their collecting hobby further and make saddles, bridles, and other tack for their models. Some go beyond that and make scenes with dolls.

Over the holidays I had a chance to try my hand at making a doll scene. I have NO ability to create, but I can go to Hobby Lobby and get some dollhouse miniatures or repurpose other things. Here's my first go:

The idea is a living room/sitting room set up. No furniture yet, but I thought this display case looked a bit like built-ins in a home. That was my beginning piece.

The Christmas wreath was one of a pair of earrings that I repurposed (yikes, the things we teachers will wear to bring the holiday spirit into our classrooms!!),  and the pot of flowers is from a jump set I had from one of my performance show set ups. The model horses were a gift from a student years ago, and the books (dollhouse props) are miniature classics (Peter Pan, Moby Dick, etc.) The railroad lamp, another dollhouse prop, reflects my own love of trains (I go by train to Colorado and Utah to visit our kids and grandkids).

The doll is an old Brenda Breyer - I hope to sew her some new, more in-scale clothes. And the beautiful sleigh bells are a favorite of mine and were made for me by Jennifer Buxton of Braymere Custom Saddlery - they are perfect replicas of Abby's sleigh bells!

So many things that reflect me and the things in my life are included that I dubbed the scene "Mini Me." And while there is obviously room for tweaking, it's a beginning. Best of all, it was a fun project.