Vintage Club Starlight

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I thought that Breyer's glossy black Appaloosa was one of the best colors ever done on the Fighting Stallion. 

But I sure like it on other molds, too. To my delight, Breyer's second release in the 2020 Vintage Collectors Club is Starlight, the Eberl Shagya Arabian, and it is done in the old glossy grey Appaloosa.

 Starlight, Vintage Club #2 for 2020, #712324, $127, 3/2020, 500 made, Breyer.

She is lovely in this color, and is my first piece from the mold. (What a shelf eater she is!) But I think Breyer did a super nice job with her and am happy to clear some space for her.

Just for fun, I pulled out all my glossy grey Appaloosa models. She fits right in with the rest of them.

Breyer's offerings this year just keep knocking it out of the park!

Vintage Club Trailblazer

Oh, Breyer, I wish you celebrated your anniversary every year! The offerings, both regular run, club, and special runs are awesome!

Trailblazer is the first offering to Vintage Club members.

Not only does he come with a slip saddle, but he has the old style grooming kit, too!

And a hang tag!

His color is beautifully done, too. 

Breyer, you outdid yourself with this one and I can't wait to see the next Vintage Club offering!

New Acquisitions

I have been doing some model horse shopping, both online and in thrift shops, and have three new goodies to add to my collection.

This  Andalusian Foal looked like a possible pearly or chalky, so I bought it. It's not, but it's still cute.

Breyer Andalusian Foal, #3060, 1979-1993, $10, Etsy/Emily Cisco, Byron, Georgia.

Believe it or not, I did not have a matte bay Family Arabian Foal, so I snapped this one up when I found it.

Breyer Family Arabian Foal, #15 Shah, 1967-1974, has USA stamp, 3/9/2020, Etsy/Julie Borg, Bethel, CT

And I love the old Stretch Morgan in black, and found this lovely boy.

 Stretch Morgan, #48, 1965 - 1987, USA stamp, semigloss, $6, Sell It Here.

He has a chipped ear and I am going to see if I can sculpt a new one and fix it.

Early Clydesdale Stallion

I spied this lovely Clydesdale for sale at last month's GLC show and, after thinking about it for a few hours, went back and bought it.

Breyer Clydesdale Stallion, no muscle version, #80, 1958 - 1961, $35, Ellen Vogel/GLC, 2/29/2020

 He's the early, no-muscle version and in great shape for his age. 

The eighth bob has been reglued as has an ear tip  but that doesn't bother me one bit. There is no Breyer stamp, either, so between that and the no-muscles, that makes him a very early piece. (There are five versions of the bay Clydesdale; this is version one. Some version ones had eye whites while others, like mine, did not.)

One of my first Breyers was the bay Clydesdale Stallion with gold bobs. I named him Hercules, and he was the "strong man" of my carpet herd. A gentle giant. As a result, I have a very soft spot in my heart for these early Clydesdales.

So, I am really happy to add this piece to my collection.

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!