Breyer Resin Quarter Horse

Breyer has a new line of resins, and they are really, really nice. I had not bought any, preferring to see them in person first since they are totally new from the company.

At Pat Reid's show, she had the Quarter Horse for sale.

Its coat has a gold metallic sheen, and I fell in love with it.

Breyer resin Quarter Horse, $15.

Indy Mini Show

Today I went down to Beech Grove (a suburb of Indianapolis) for an all-mini show held by my long time hobby friend, Pat Reid.

 It was fun to see some old hobby friends - here, Pat and Michelle Evans.

 Michelle and I were table partners, and that allowed us to catch up throughout the day.

Since Pat was judging, I didn't get to chat as much with her as I would have liked.

You can see that my herd (on the orange tablecloth) is much smaller than Michelle's. In fact, I had the smallest show string of the eleven collectors in attendance. (I am not much of a mini collector.)

Still, I had a very successful day, qualifying fifteen out the thirty pieces I'd brought for the National Horse Show. (To qualify, you must win a first or second place at a NAMHSA approved show.)

 The first to qualify was my standardbred, , in OF (Original Finish) Standardbreds.

 Fizzy Jig qualified by winning the OF Appaloosa class.

 And Rio did so by taking first in the OF Longears.

Fizzy Jig and Rio in the callbacks for the OF Stock Horse Division championships.

 And Fizzy Jig was named OF Stock Horse Division champion!

 Maryanne took second in OF Paso Finos/Peruvian Pasos, thus qualifying for NAN.

The next division was for chinas, resins, and Hartlands.

Popcorn, an old favorite, won the Other Light Pony class and the Other Light Breed Reserve championship.

I have two of this old HR mini, and I brought my Monrovia one to the show. It is so beautiful. As I put it on the table, I snapped its tail off. ARGH!!! A search of the floor ensued, and luckily I was able to find the place. I'll repair it later.

 Pat said she would not ding the piece since the break happened as it was being put on the table, and so Arabesque placed second in Other Light Foals.

 Hagrid won the Other Sport Pony class and then the Other Sport Horse Championship.

Sweet little Sunflower, my North Light Scratching Foal, won the Other Stock Foal class.

 Soloist won the Other Spanish/Iberian Pure/Mixed class...

 ...and then was named Other Spanish/Iberian Champion.

 Rembrant took second to Soloist in the Other Spanish/Iberian Other Pure/Mix class and then was OF Other Spanish/Iberian reserve champion.

I purchased the new Breyer resin Quarter Horse from Pat at the show and named it Gambler. It won the Other Quarter Horse class.

Its coat has a metallic sheen - it is stunning in real life.

 Counterpoint, a piece from my childhood, won the Other Tennessee Walking Horse class.

The next division I was entered in was customs.

 Creamscicle, a Moomate from ? won the Custom Stock Pony class.

Gold Digger, a Moomate from Otter, took second in the Custom Quarter Horse Class.

I enjoyed the day, and I have to say, packing and hauling minis around is MUCH easier than tubs full of traditionals! But, I think I will stick with my big pieces, and only purchase minis (like Gambler) if they really strike my eye.

New Woodgrains

I received two woodgrain Breyers to add to my collection this afternoon. I purchased them from Linda Pittman of Pennsylvania. (She's from a small town near Momence and Kankakee and a fellow Illini!)

Woodgrain Shetland Pony, 1959-1964

$80

Woodgrain Clydesdale Stallion

$90

More Chalky Documentation

(Photos from Blab, 4/12/13.)

Chalky Breyer Running Mare

 A smidge of blue under an ear rub.

Pink hooves.

This owner did the light test, and saw spots under the coat and then some blue paint near the ear rubs. This piece was a repainted copenhagen!

Hagen Renaker Circus Pony Documentation

I found this picture via a link from online collectors.

HR Circus Ponies, 1980-1983

No plume holes.

Photo from Ed Alcorn?

Chalky Examples

I am getting better at identifying chalky models, but I can still be stumped by my own models. Here are some reference pictures pulled from Blab.

The bottom of a chalky hoof is sometimes a clue - see the extra paint layer?

 Non-chalky Proud Arab Mare

 Chalky Proud Arab Mare

Chalky Proud Arab Stallion

More on the Balking Mule

With the news about Lucy, the Vintage Collector's Club special that was just announced, you can find some good information online about Breyer's Balking Mule. Breyer History Diva is a good source, and she posted the following within a post on her blog.

From Breyer History Diva, April 5, 2013

So here they are, in situ:

I used to have quite a few variations of everything in my herd, but I was running out of room real quick, so I pared them down to ones that (a) I really, really liked, (b) had some historical significance, or (c) came with an interesting backstory. The Mules, obviously, fell under (c).

And a little bit of (b), too. Like most Breyer models in the 1960s and through most of the 1970s, they were designed to come in both "lighter" and "darker" colors, to minimize culls. The lighter-colored ones would get painted first during a production run, and any that were messed up would get painted over with the darker paint job, if possible.

The painter that I talked to - one who had worked at the Chicago factory from the early days, forward - told me that the Balking Mules "lighter" and "darker" colors were going to be Chestnut and Seal Brown. She didn’t know why they switched the Chestnut to Bay, especially since the colors were not all that different.

So similar, in fact, that sometimes it’s difficult to determine where a "dark" variation of a Bay ends and a "light" variation of a Seal Brown begins.

Every once and a while I'll run across Mules that are on the very light end of the Bay spectrum, and make me wonder if that particular painter had anything to do with it. Probably not, but it’s still fun to imagine her tweaking somebody’s nose at the factory about that decision.

It didn’t occur to me to ask her what kind of Chestnut the Balking Mule was supposed to be. Flaxen Chestnut, like the Belgian? "Chocolate Milk" Sorrel, like the Five-Gaiter? Or more Red Chestnut, like the Man o’ War?

A few years later, we did get a Special Run of the Mule in the Five-Gaiter Sorrel color, as a part of the Black Horse Ranch set. That I have, along with all of the other Balking Mules, save for the Gloss Charcoal (never got around to it) and the Raffle Model Cactus (didn’t win, can’t afford.) No test colors, either, but considering that the mold was out of production for over twenty years, their scarcity shouldn't be too surprising.