Roy Rogers & Trigger Set

I was a little upset after my visit to Indianapolis to see my surgeon about my incisional hernia. Finding out that the surgery was going to be far more intense than I'd imagined caught me off guard. So, what better way to cheer myself up than a little retail therapy??

Craig and I stopped on the way home at an out of the way antique shop, and I had a terrific find. A Hartland Roy Rogers and Trigger set! Complete with box and original hang tag!

Roy Rogers and Trigger, #806, 1955-1963, (Second version of Trigger tail), $96, Countryside Antiques, 3/3/2020.

It was the box that really grabbed my attention - how often do you see a Hartland box in the wild? Plus, the seller gave me a big discount on the piece, so home with me it came.

Trigger has a few black marks that I will clean off.

 The box has some damage but the hang tag is pristine.

Aside from missing his hat and one of the guns that has fallen down inside his leg, Roy is in good shape, too. I'll carefully work the gun out of there with some tweezers and put it back into its holster.

 Front side of the hang tag.

 Back side of the hang tag.

A closeup of the autograph - they did a nice job of making the ink look like it came from a fountain pen. At first I thought it was real, but then I noticed that the autograph was on both sides of the box. 

 A closer look at one of the sides made me smile.

"Bobby W." has signed his certificate of ownership. My heart melted - I remembered being a Bobby and doing the same thing. (I can't help by wonder where Bobby is now.)

The other side of the box.

I have found other Hartland horse and rider sets in the past, but I've always sold them. "Bobby's horse" is here to stay.

Worth the Fifty Year Wait!

Fifty years ago, Horse and Rider magazine published an article on model horses, the article that introduced collectors scattered around the country to the early beginnings of the model horse hobby. I was one of the readers of that article, and I fell in love with the Beswick Appaloosa that won Best Pleasure Model of 1970.

Appaloosas are my favorite breed, and the Beswick Appaloosa is absolutely lovely. I was on the lookout for one of my own from that moment on. 

Sadly, the piece proved to be very elusive.  It wasn't until twenty-five years later when the advent of the internet began opening up possibilities that I found what I thought was the Beswick Appaloosa. I discovered a Royal Doulton shop that was selling Beswicks online, so I placed an order and waited excitedly for my dream piece to arrive.

Only it wasn't the Beswick Appaloosa - it was the Royal Doulton version and not nearly as nice. I was so disappointed. But despite that disappointment, I kept it and even showed it a couple of times. And in the meantime, I kept my eyes open for the Beswick version.

I found a few more of the Royal Doulton version, but only once or twice did the Beswick come up for sale. And when it did, it was usually snapped up quickly - it remains a very sought after piece among collectors.

A month ago or so, another one popped up on an online model horse sales site. The ad had been posted for several days when I discovered it, so I assumed the piece had been sold. But I contacted the seller, just in case. I was stunned to find out that the sale had not yet closed - there was a person ahead of me who had contacted the owner about it, but that they had not yet committed to buy it. The seller contacted them and let them know that she had another person who was also interested and asked for them to make their decision. They backed out of the sale, and the piece was mine.

 It arrived today on my doorstep.

 Pepper was very interested in it; but not nearly as much as I was!

The seller had carefully packed the model with layers of foam. When I lifted off that last layer, I felt such a rush of happiness.

At last! After FIFTY YEARS of waiting and looking, I am now the proud owner of a stunning Beswick Appaloosa. Usually I am pretty good with words, but I simply cannot articulate how happy I am to have this piece.

Coming soon: a comparison of the Beswick Appaloosa with the Royal Doulton one.

Metal Thoroughbred and Jockey Sets

I do not collect "clankies," (metal horses) but when I saw these Stablemate sized Thoroughbreds and jockeys for sale from a vendor at the GLC show, I could not resist.

There were two sets, each with a silver and gold painted Thoroughbred and jockey.

At $5 each, I snapped up all four pieces. 

I will keep one set, and then plan to give the other pair to a friend of mine who loves horse racing.

Now, to keep myself from going down the rabbit hole of collecting clankies!

70th Anniversary Indian Pony

One of my favorite molds. I could not resist!

 70th Anniversary Indian Pony, 1825, 2020, $42, The Model Trading Post.

70th Anniversary Saddlebred

Breyer is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and they are putting out some lovely models for it. I generally collect only vintage molds, but I could not resist Hamilton in palomino!

 70th Anniversary Saddlebred, 1825, 2020, $42, The Model Trading Post.

Vintage Chestnut Cantering Welsh Pony

I found this lovely vintage CWP on eBay.

 Cantering Welsh Pony, #105, 1971-1976, has USA stamp, $8, eBay, Dawn Lovett, Worton, MD

Web Special Carter

Breyer's first web special of 2020 was this beautiful boy.

 Carter, 2020 web special, #712341, $75, Breyer.