Back in the Vintage Club

Breyer did it again.  Sucked me back into the Vintage Club.  They did it with a gorgeous Western Horse, and a gambler's choice on the rarely-seen In Between Mare.  And then the color pic of the Belgian came out, and he's Wedgwood pinto, and I have a thing for blue horses.  I actually went grocery shopping early and got home in time for the new membership window to open up.



 I have a thing for the Western Horse, even though most of my older ones are missing eartips.

Someone asked if this was a reworked Black Beauty, but no.  I can see a vague similarity though - I think maybe it's the tail set combined with the head.

Curio #2, and SM shelves

Recent news:  Found a new curio cabinet at my favorite local thrift store.  Only $90.  I waited 20 minutes to see if my husband could get to the store (he works next door) and take a look, then decided the heck with that, and bought it.  So that's what I used my birthday money on this year.  It's really nice, although I'm not crazy about the light placement. 

 

And at Goodwill, found a media shelf that will do great for SMs, only $6.  Had to do a little tweaking, since this one has a black interior.  But, putting white paper on the back (a very tricky thing, getting it flat and getting the shelves in without wrinkling it), and scrapbook paper on the shelves, made a big difference in visibility.  

On the other hand, the tippy models can't go in this one - I can't wax them to the paper, since it's not attached to the shelves.  So, Friesians, the pawing Lusitano, and a couple others will have to go in the other shelf, so I can wax their tippy little dominoing selves down. 

 Shelf with scrapbook paper

 Shelf with white paper behind.

Finished adjustments.  Just need to rearrange and fill it up. 

Minstrel

No photo yet, but Tractor Supply restocked (although it didn't show up online), and I got the Holiday horse for this year, Minstrel.  And got to use my birthday coupon that didn't get used last time, although the registery realized it had been scanned already.  Cashier was helpful and gave me the $10 off anyway. 

Irises

Which I keep wanting to type as "Irish" - so I'll just have to name my bay Iris something with Irish in it.

I was going to try to swap my silver bay for the deco Iris, but after I looked at her for a few minutes, I sort of fell in love with her.  So. After some lurking and searching on eBay, MHSP, and a few Facebook groups, I managed to score this one at a tolerable-to-me price ($60 PPD).

And I LOVE this color. 

The SM Club Priscilla is also here, and other than being tippy as heck, is gorgeous.

 

It's been a lucky year for me with Stablemates.  Besides getting my two most-wanted Irises, I finally found the blue Alborozo unicorn at Tractor Supply (and then found two more), after months of searching every Cracker Barrel and farm store around, and ordering 9 blind bags from Breyer (last count - 7 Clydesdales, 2 Magnolias).  Tractor Supply also had 4 Spirit bags, and I found the chase Mustang in one of those.

 

Then, Breyer had a "buy one, get one free" sale on blind bags for Friendship Day, so I ordered a dozen of the series with the silver Alby.  I got one or two duplicates, guessed 11 out of 12 correctly when feeling the bags, and actually got a silver Alby!!  Found three of the rainbow Magnolia unicorns, and swapped one for a Sarge, and after buying 8 chestnut ASB mares, found a pair with the flaxen manes. Walmart also had two more pink Icelandics, and I grabbed a random Mini Whinnie which turned out to be the green dappled chase piece.

 

(I thought Sarge was blue.  Turns out he's green!)

 

And, icing on the cake, Breyer did another round of Stablemate Club grab bags.  I have no willpower, so I ordered a pair.  After seeing someone else get Coco and Wolfgang, the pair I got with the last grab bag, I figured I'd get a third set of those.  Nope, my luck was good, and I got Kohana and Fylkir!  And, it was the roan Appy Fylkir, the one I wanted most - he matches my roan Appy Scotty. 

Then there were the Spooky Surprises. Ordered four, managed to get all 3, and sold my duplicate mini Ichabod to someone who needed one.

However.  I'm now overrun with extra Stablemates, and need to do something with them all.  The Alby conga is almost complete - I don't have the Fairytale Club Alby, but I think I've got all the others.

SM Club Iris

The latest horse from the Stablemate Club arrived today.  Made it a day early, since UPS brought it instead of handing off to the USPS. This one is the Gamblers' Choice horse - the Highland Pony in either pinto, silver bay, cremello Appy, or blue and gold Deco.

I was hoping for the Deco, since I've got a collection of blue horses.  Second choice was the cremello, since I've got the Pony in roan pinto and silver dapple/dark palomino already.  So, which one did I get?  The silver bay, of course. 

Don't get me wrong, she's drop dead gorgeous.  But, that Deco!!  If it were anything but the Gamblers' Choice, I'd just buy a Deco and keep both.  But, seeing what the other GC horses are selling for, not really an option.  Off to the swap group on Facebook I go. 

Estate Sale (August 2)

One of the local estate-sale companies posted some pics with Breyers for a recent sale, so of course I went.  Hauled the not-a-morning-person kiddo out to go with me.  Another local collector wasn't going, but asked me to pick up a couple for her if the prices were right.  And they were. 

I picked up the black wolf, cougar, Custom kit horse, and Spirit for Tracy.  Wolf and Cougar were a screaming deal at $2 each.

The Duchess, Frolic Foal, and SMs are mine.  Most of what the owner had was from the Wild Mustangs Walmart sets, so lots of Mesteno series molds, which I'm not a fan of.  I didn't have the Duchess, though, and she's almost mint.  The SMs were the real score for me, especially this one.

Only $1, he was only released for a couple of years with the Horse Crazy card game.  Missing half his off-side ear, but still fine for photo showing, if I watch the angles. 

Lakeshores Anonymous part 2

Part 2 of the Lakeshore binge - more Houdinis. 

Top one is the RR chestnut, courtesy of Cindy's post-Breyerfest sale.   He cost me a whole $65, since there was a glitch with the discount code and Cindy honored the glitch price after I let her know there was a problem. 

Bottom one is the RR pinto - found for $50 including postage on MHSP.  He was sold as PSQ, but I can't find any flaws on him yet. 

A Goodwill find

Every now and then I find a horse-shaped something at Goodwill.  This time it was a Marx horse for a whole $3.

This time I found it in the toy section.  Last time, the FAM and Boxer were on the other side of the store in the knick-knacks and decorations aisle.  Which is why I go through the whoooooole store every time. 

Lakeshore Addicts Anonymous

My "I didn't go to Breyerfest" shopping binge happened.

It all started when Cindy Neuhaus was posting about a Houdini SR of 12, in a nice glossy bay.  I resisted until gorgeous pictures turned up on Facebook.  So that happened.

And then Cindy, darn her, ran a "Breyerfest is over" sale, so I bought a chestnut RR Houdini, since they're running low and I wanted that one anyway.  Which was followed by me searching MHSP and finding the RR pinto Houdini for $45 including shipping, since it wasn't LSQ.  Since I live-show once in a blue moon, PSQ is fine, and you can't beat that price.

So yeah, my BF binge was 3 Houdinis.  For a total of 9 Lakeshores now, I think.  Five Houdinis (2 RR, 3 SR), 2 Marshalls, 2 Miz Charismas (SR and RR), and one Status Symbol (RR).

1. Chestnut Marshall RR
2. Houdini SR - matte silver grulla 1 of 14 by Linda Watson Gresham
3. Miz Charisma SR - palomino tobiano  1 of 12 by Linda Watson Gresham
4. Miz Charisma RR - bay (free from the Lakeshore Club random drawing)
5. Status Symbol RR - bay
6. Marshall SR - glossy silver grulla by Karen Grimm (with broken legs) 1 of 25
7. Houdini SR - glossy bay 1 of 12 by Linda Watson Gresham
8. Houdini RR - chestnut
9. Houdini RR - bay pinto

First one was the Marshall I bought in 2009 at a live show.  

An Estate Sale Story

The area is up to 3, I think, people who hold estate sales, and they all put pictures online, and I try to remember to check them out weekly.  Last week, one of them had a couple of Marx horses in the ad (not a big draw for me), but also the Gabriel jointed Silver and Lone Ranger.  I have, or used to have (I assume I still have him somewhere) a Silver, but thought I'd go see if the Lone R
anger doll was cheap enough to come home with me. 

Unfortunately, not so much. 

Somehow, the sale runners had mixed and matched the sets, in spite of doing enough research to know that the dolls and horses were from Gabriel, but that the wagons were by Marx.  The wagons actually go with the Marx horses on the other side.  Not to mention, Silver never struck me as a wagon-pulling sort of horse.  The Lone Ranger set was $175, the Butch Cavendish set (which I'd never heard of) was $150.  And the Marx horses were $15 each.  So, didn't buy those.  I didn't even go back the second day for 75%-off time to see if they'd split the sets. 

On the other hand, as I walked in and saw the Marx/Gabriel sets, I spotted this guy on the top of a handful of small critters. 

Only $1, and he's probably my favorite SM mold ever.  Original bay, and aside from someone getting overzealous with the dremel along his crest at the factory, only a couple of rubs.  Found a little Britains horse too, and two Hartland 7-inch TBs.  Although I just realized that the Hartlands have a distinct odor of something, I'm afraid it's cat pee, so they are in a plastic tub with some baking soda at the moment. 

And then there was the cute Josef Original cat for $1.

I also remembered that where there are horse shaped objects, there may also be horse books, and looked at all the bookshelves.  Scored a pair of C.W. Anderson books, although neither have the dustjacket, and Heads Up - Heels Down is one I'm pretty sure I didn't have. 

 There were also a lot of ceramic deer, and after thinking about it over lunch, and being "deer pressured" by the Clinky Connection and Model Horse Liberation Front people on Facebook LOL, I went back for these.   These two are Lomonosov, made in the USSR. 

And this little guy I thought was a donkey when I bought him.  By R. W. Midwinter of Benslem England.  After much consultation, consensus is that it's also a deer, although a donkey-colored one.  Other possibilities were a rabbit, or half of a pushmepullyou. 

Lancelot, Teton, and Gwenevere

Well, no email from Breyer, so I guess I didn't get picked for the Teton list. That's okay. The "Check Engine Soon" light in my car came on today. It's a 20-year-old car, so I expect this will be a not-cheap trip to the mechanic.


 The Lancelots arrived - I ordered one with a pair of blind-bag SMs, and found two helpful Blabbers to order for me. Ended up with 2 blue, one Appy (my order), a palomino mini-Magnolia, and the funky gold-peach Andalusian. Already worked a swap to get a palomino, which should be here on Friday.

 These blues are gorgeous, and I don't just say that because I have a thing for blue horses.  There are gold/green undertones on the flanks, the masking is really good overall, and the color is NICE.  The star is shaped like a conch shell - they were going with an ocean theme, I guess.

 Appy Lancelot is also darn nice.  The spots are all masked, I'm pretty sure - they're all very uniformly placed in the pictures I've seen. 

 After Gwenevere and another blind-bag SM turned up in a bubble mailer (Seriously, Breyer??!!) I sent them an email about the unacceptability of mailing SMs like that.  Especially $20 SR Stablemates.  They offered, I thought, to replace the mini box, since mine got kind of smushed.  Turns out that they sent a whole other Gwenevere, in the usual super-sturdy brown mailer.  So now I have two Gwens.  New Gwen, I think, is one of the ones with the straighter head/neck, but it's hard to tell from some angles.  She does seem to be less stable than Old Gwen. 

Breyer goings-on

First of all, my Gwenevere from the Stablemate Club finally arrived - a day before I got the shipping notice from Breyer.  Ha.

I'm in an Endgame mood, so I think her name may be Time Heist 3000.  She is gorgeous, a sooty caramelly-toned palomino, with pearly mane and tail.  And the mold seems to have held up (better than the Morgan Stallion and his sausage leg, or the QH mare with muzzle issues).  Mine does have a flattish spot on her tail, which I think she came with - I did drop her, but I don't think that would make a flat spot.

And yesterday, Breyer released the newest Collector's Club Gambler's Choice - Lancelot, on the Love Man o' War mold, in palomino, blue, or Appaloosa.  I've only got one Club account now, but I found two Blabbers to order for me.  Hopefully my Scotty and Calvin luck will happen again and I won't have to swap.

I wish I could figure out how to put pictures side-by-side on Blogspot. 

A trip to the Antique Mall

I went to an estate sale this morning, where I found nothing much (some cheap art supples - total $6), but I drove past the Midway antique mall on the way.  So I stopped in on the way home.

There were some perennial inhabitants there - that $98 Grey Appy Rearing Mustang is still there, and still hidden in a corner, for example.  The $30 Poodle is also there, but I didn't find that Fitz & Floyd bird again. :( 

I did come home with this - same dealer as the Poodle.

The box has a little staining and damage, but other than an eartip rub and a few little hoof rubs, this gal is practically mint. 

My lucky day at Goodwill

After a decade or more of regular visits to the local Goodwill, and finding nothing but knock-off My Little Ponies at best (and one Marx horse, but that wasn't the local GW), I finally found Breyers yesterday!

Two, to be precise, and only one was a horse. 

But first, go chronologically. 

I started off at Orschelns Farm & Home, because it occurred to me that even though they usually only have Breyers during the winter holidays, they might be stocking the blind bag unicorns all year, like they do the Schleich and now CollectA animals (they seem to have dropped Schleich, sadly).   I was right, surprise surprise. A whole bin of the unicorns, and oddly enough, all sorted out - first 7 drafters, then a few Magnolias, then a dozen or so that were either Mag or the Arabian (I didn't get specific on those), and then 4 mini Alborozos.  I bought all 4 Albys, since I've already got 7 pink and green drafters. 

In the next bin were Spirit SM bags, so I felt those, hoping for the chase horse.  No luck, but I bought 2 - the brown reiner, and what I thought was the bay Appy Warmblood, since those would both camoflage the eyebrow issue.  And on the way out, I found a nice chestnut CollectA foal. 

Turned out that none of the Albys were blue, darn it, and I was way off on that Warmblood, because it was really a cremello Lusitano with obvious eyebrows. 

 

 

Then I went to Goodwill.  Found the clear glassware I needed, and then on the next aisle (not in the toy section even), I saw a dog's head sticking out.  Thought it might be worth buying for a Blab PIF, even if it was cheap plastic.  Got a little closer and realized it was a Breyer Boxer - which is a mold I don't have yet.   A little closer, and saw the original vinyl collar, and a bay Family Arabian Mare laying on the shelf behind him.

 Knock me over with a feather.  The Boxer was $3, with a few rubs here and there, and odd bumpy texture on both shoulders.  The FAM was only $2, in played-with condition, but I couldn't leave the old gal behind.  She'll probably clean up decent, especially at t hat price.  I think she's a vintage matte Sheba, but haven't looked really closely at her yet.