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.