Glossy fun

 And also this week, Breyer started shipping the glossy Store Specials from Breyerfest.  Glossy Benelli is here to join his matte twin.

I should have bought a lottery ticket

 Breyer had two lottery Web Specials recently.  The first was a decorator pair on the newer Eberl Andalusian Mare & Foal molds:  La Molina in silver filigree, Masella the foal in blue filigree.  The other was Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (aka Space Bears!): the Bear and Cub in a panda pattern, but with pearl white, and (fuzzy) stars on the blue areas.  My luck was running good - one account got drawn for La Molina, the other got drawn for the bears, and then the first account got drawn on the bears waitlist.  But, given my past record of trying to buy things to re-sell, I just passed on the second set of bears.  

 

The Andalusian pair looks great in pictures with the blue filigree Benasque, but since I didn't win that one, my pair has to make do with the silver filigree Sherman Morgan as the stallion.  Or High Tide, or the silver filigree Callahan.  

The bears are amazing, and will fit in with my blue and space theme collections.  I do wish the stars had been crisper instead of fuzzy airbrushed spots, but oh well.  

And the herd grows again

More new horses recently.  

 

 

First, a small group from the local auction.  These were listed as "small dishes and other stuff" or something.  It's a really mixed lot - the large one is wood, from Sweden.  Then there's the metal foal, the little blue spotted one is ceramic, and the tiny brown one is some unidentifiable substance.  Maybe plastic, maybe celluloid or something.   (Mini Magnolia is there for scale)

Finally got the palomino Hamilton.  I paid about $80 for this one on eBay, and of course the next morning Breyer decided that they were going to let people order a specific model from the 70th Anniversary assortment.  Oh well.  This one does have better masking and dapples than the ones I saw early on. 

Walmart locally finally got the newest series of SM unicorns.  My feeling skills are still on point, but no purple chase yet.  And (again) the next day someone on the east coast found the series 4 unicorns, with a black and gold filigree chase. 

Breyer did another holiday SM blind bag set.  I got duplicates of the red filigree Smart Chic and gold filigree Darwin.  Managed to trade a gold Darwin for the green filigree Croi, but I don't think anyone will want to swap a red for the silver filigree Vanner. 

And, the winter Web Special is La Molina and Masella.  One of my CC accounts got drawn for a pair and they're gorgeous. Too bad I don't have the Benasque to complete the family.  They look beautiful in pictures.
 

The latest round of newbies

 My two Breyer orders were delivered last week.  

 

The bonus horse from the Vintage Club, Barrington, is really nice.  My first on the mold.  

Honeybunch, a "pony for Christmas" - comes with a nice gift box and a cute blanket.  Also my first on the mold, and I was waiting for something other than a solid dark color. 

Christoff, sort of a little brother for St. Moritz.  Lovely, if a tiny bit tippy. 

And five Anniversary SMs, to get one order up to the free-shipping limit.  No chase, of course, and the Smart Chic won't stand on his own.  But, another charcoal Fighter, an IMC, and a pair of Emmas.

Mixed lot

 Since I've been avoiding estate-sale crowds, I've been spending a good bit of time going through the online listings for the local consignment auction place.  That's where I got the alabaster trio a few weeks back, and a mixed lot of ceramic horses and other animals in the summer.  Today I drove out to pick up the latest batch.  For $4.40, I got an assortment of tiny dishes, and 4 horses.  One is wood, with a Sweden sticker, one is metal, one ceramic, and the fourth one is made of a mystery substance that I can't identify.  Might be celluloid, might be plastic, it's hard to tell.  

Also today, thanks to eBay's daily search emails, I scored a Sam Savitt racing hall of fame puzzle for less than $40 shipped.  Granted, the seller makes no claim about whether it's complete or not, but the next cheapest one is $50 for a claimed-incomplete puzzle, and complete ones are listed now for over $100.  The box of the one I bought looks almost new, so hopefully the last owner was as careful with the pieces as they were with the box.  

Breyer, Breyer, Breyer

 Are you trying to drive us all mad?  First, I ended up with two Valerio unicorns, and apparently they're the least popular of the four.  I've been trying for a week to swap one for the Appy, but no luck so far.  One trade fell through over a tiny flaw, the other one because I didn't see the post soon enough.  I'm still looking, and may have to just settle for a rose grey or the palomino pinto, since the Appy seems to be the hottest of the four. 

And, Breyer, what's with this one new release popping up every day routine?  After Bennington and Honeybunch last week, the next day came Christoff.  Being a mini St Moritz, and Frozen-themed (kind-of), and blue, yeah, I bought one.  

And then yesterday or today, they add a new Classic unicorn, Nova.  On my favorite of the newer Classic molds, the Frolic stallion, but good grief. 

Good grief, Reeves, slow down!

 

Another flood month of Breyers.  Late last month was the Halloween horses, where I got a trio of Mini Poltergeists and one Mini Nightmare, plus Ratsputin and the plushy.

 

Then I stopped at Becky's Breyers for Yuletide and a couple of Anniversary SMs that weren't the chase pieces.  I messed up really badly with the Smart Chic, thinking it was an Indian Pony. 

 Traded one of the Mini Poltergeists for Mini Twilight Terror.  

Then the 5th SM club horse, times 2.  And today they released the optional Vintage Club horse, Barrington, the new jumper in classic Cantering Welsh Pony chestnut, and a non-black Carltonlima Emma as a Christmas pony in palomino with a cute blanket.  

 

 

 Sigh.  I hate to think what that all adds up to.  I thought about the Yuletide enamel pin, but changed my mind.  

 

One of the Stablemate Club horses arrived today, the other will be here tomorrow.  First one is the blue and purple pinto unicorn, which was third on my ranking.  Depending on which one I get tomorrow, I may try and trade for the pinto or Appaloosa.  Or maybe not.  

 

Vintage auction score

 I usually find some luck once a year at the estate sales here, but I haven't been to an estate sales since March, thanks to COVID.  But, there are other options.  Yesterday, the local consignment auction had a sale ending, and I remembered to look through the online catalog.  And, bingo, Breyers.  Listed as Breyers, of course, so there were multiple bidders.  I didn't bid on many of them, just 3 lots with Breyers and one lot of random animals that was mostly bone china horses, but a wood horse and a Hagen-Renaker Lying Foal in the mix.  

Big score, and the one I spent the most on, is a glossy alabaster Semi-Rearing Mustang, with red eyes.  He's gorgeous.  There are some rubs on his mane and nose, but the black marks came off, and he's great. 

Next is the alabaster Running Stallion, who is older than I am.  Lots of times you'll see something online that looks like an alabaster Running Stallion, but it's just a Unicorn that's lost the horn and beard somewhere.  This one, I'm pretty sure, is the real deal. 

Third is a glossy alabaster Pround Arabian Foal, who was peeking out of a box surrounded by a doll and some kind of stuffed animal, and a lot of odds and ends.  

Then, on a whim, I bid on the group of small animals, because the bay foal looked familiar.  Turns out he's a Hagen Renaker.  Of course, he's also the only one that was broken, but the piece was with him and it should be an easy fix. 

Took a nice drive out this morning to pick them up, and spent a little time cleaning them when I got home.  Managed, with work, to get most of the black marks off the Mustang, so they're all gorgeous now. 

Zahra is here

 UPS delivered a day earlier than their first estimate - although really, leaving the box 10 feet from the porch, in full view of the street, is not optimal.  

But, Zahra is better than I expected.  I got the matte palomino - the other two possibilities in the gamblers' choice were glossy bay and glossy grey pinto.  I'm a sucker for a palomino, but the dapples in the promo pic were way too obvious.  Luckily, Breyer again has horses that look better than the promo pics.  The dapples are more subtle, and importantly, not perfect circles.  

The body is smooth, but the lower legs have some roughness that I'm curious about. And the chestnuts are really tall.  

She looks pretty good. 

An unpleasant discovery

 Made an unpleasant discovery over the weekend.  Not a surprising one, but still unpleasant.  

Happened to peek into a box with a few old Trads in it - Midnight Sun, a pair of 5-Gaiters, and a Pacer.  One of the 5-Gaiters is Project Universe, and I noticed at first that he was horribly yellowed, more than I remembered him being (wood heat and Dad smoked, so yellowing happened).  Took him out, looked at him, and put him back.  

Later on, I took him out again to show DH how yellow he was, and noticed an oily patch on his neck. 

Yep, I've got a shrinky.  Damn it.  And there will be more, since I bought quite a few horses during the late 80s and early 90s when shrinkies were being made.  There are four that I really hope aren't shrinking when I find them - the Sears Appy SR set (palomino Running Stallion, black Performance Horse, and a blue-grey leopard Stud Spider), and Precipitado Sin Par.  But I'm pretty sure I'll find more, and I'm dreading the discovery. 

Good grief, Breyer

 Again with "when it rains, it pours" Breyer style.  On Tuesday, the last horse for the Vintage Club this year was available.  So, $140 out the door for Zahra and a SM ride-along. I'm hoping for the glossy bay.  I'd want the palomino, but those dapples look way too obvious.

 

 

And then, in good Breyer fashion, yesterday they put the Halloween horses up.   

I've already got Apparition, but had to get the glow-in-the-dark Classic Ratsputin, and the blind bag SMs, and the free Halloween plushie.  And then today, went back for 2 more SMs so I can have a chance at the whole set.  But with today's order, the Club discount worked, so $4.99 off.  

So, I must avoid eBay for a while.  And any other temptation to buy more horses.  

The planned purchases for the rest of the year: 

• Holiday Horse - when TSC puts out stock and sends my birthday discount
• SMC Valerio x2 (the Alby gambler's choice)
• SMC #6 x2 - the new stock mare mold
• SMC bonus horse - the dapple grey mini Clydesdale Stallion
  
• Anniversary SMs - if TSC has some out so I can feel them
• maybe Barrington, the bonus VC horse
• maybe whatever surprise horse they come up with for Christmas

And I think that's it.   I hope that's it.  Quicken told me what I'd spent on Breyers for the year so far, a few weeks ago, and it was a scary and depressing and surprising number.

Incoming Stablemates

 The next horse in the Stablemate Club is on the way - a glossy bay G1 Arabian Stallion called Sultan.  I'm doing a slight experiment with mine - ordered one alone, one with a ride-along - to see if my idea that ride-alongs slow things down in the shipping warehouse might be right.  

And Tractor Supply had the paint-your-own suncatcher SMs on sale, so I ordered 5 for in-store pickup.  Ended up with 3 Magnolias, a Warmblood, and a Walking TB. 

The Breyerfest Horses

 The Breyerfest haul arrived last month sometime (don't ask when, I'd have to look).  I ended up with:

1. Ballynoe Castle - the bay Show Jumper
2. 4-piece Single Day SMs
1. Jersey
2. Skye
3. Orkney
4. Aaran (which I think is misspelled)
3. Thorn - glossy
4. Brigid and Beltane
5. Glossy Benelli (not here yet)
6. Benelli
7. Eire
8. another Eire
9. 5-piece SM set
1. Warmblood (with horridly overlarge dapples and massive overspray)
2. Django
3. G2 Arabian
4. G2 TB
5. Rivet   

 

Conditionwise, everything looks great except a couple of the SR Stablemates with painting issues.  Oh well.  

 

 

Virtual Breyerfest 2020, Day 3

 Ooops, forgot to write this last month.  Ah well.  Day 3, as I recall, was mostly watching the seminars and how-to videos, and the Icelandic Horse documentary.  I'm glad I had the chance to "attend" Breyerfest, even if it was online and not real-world. 

Virtual Breyerfest, Day 2

Day 2 - another day of hitting Refresh many times.  But now that we found out that restocking happens every 2 hours, on the half-hour (ish), that leaves 90 minutes for doing other things. 

Saturday was a day of 5 orders.  Got a glossy Benelli, in case I couldn't get a matte one, then managed the SM set at 1130, matte Benelli at 3:30, a second Eire a bit after Benelli, and then used my Swag coupon on the green t-shirt. That finishes my shopping.  I was going to get a grab bag, but the only ones I ever saw in stock were a $200 warehouse (way out of my price range), and the SM Lovers bag, which was $100 (also out of my range).  Since I got the glossy Benelli, that sort of makes me feel better about skipping the grab bags, and honestly, my grab bag luck is very hit or miss. 

Spent the rest of the day watching videos.  Watched the RCMP Musical Ride, and a lot of the tutorial videos.  Can't remember all of them, but did watch most of the all of the seminars other than Reckless - Hobby History, Learning to Collect, : t Jenn Danza's repair video with how to make a one-shot mold out of silicon and baby  powder, Leah Patton's mule video.  For the tutorials and workshops, it's been he cataloging and history of collecting, Celtic Battlecorns, the mari lwyd, breed documentation, and a few others.

Virtual Breyerfest Day 1

Well, Day 1 of Virtual Breyerfest was exciting and frustrating.  As expected, there were technical problems.  The SR Tent times were running about 3 hours behind, so my 3:00 ET slot ended up being available sometime between 4:30 and 6 (when I got back from the grocery pickup run).  For the Tent horses, I ended up with Brighid and Beltane, the new mare and foal set, and Thorn, the appaloosa Trakehner who's a 50/50 split between matte and glossy.  I think both of those were high on my preferences.  I like the old Trak mold, and while I would love a Georg, I have some worries that Breyer will be able to pull off the resist dappling and mottling well.  Can't wait to see who the Slainte Surprise mold is. 

Just before I left, I finally managed to refresh the Fling store and find some things in stock.  Shock!  First was an attempt to get Greenman, Eire, and Benelli - Benelli sold out while Paypal was processing, but I still got my green ponies.  Then when I went back to the store, Benelli was still in my cart, and the SM set and Mackenzie the plush were in stock, so I tried another purchase.  That ended up with only Mackenzie still available.  But, that's 3 of the 5 I wanted taken care of, with two days left to shop.  And, since Breyer's holding everything to combine shipping, it doesn't matter if I have to buy one thing at a time. 

Still trying to get Benelli and the SM set (even though I'd be reselling at least the Arabian), but Breyer's offering pre-orders of glossy Benelli, Cheesecake, and Topgun as an apology for the technical glitches.  So, I could just get a glossy Benelli and stop trying to score a matte one. 

For the rest of Breyerfest, I watched some videos.  There's a video of last year's performace of the RCMP Musical Ride.  Watched part of it last night, and am in awe of their ability to do all that riding at a sitting trot, with a double-bridle's worth of reins in one hand.  Some of them were smiling pretty hard, too.  Seeing the Ride in person is on my bucket list.

Then there are all the workshop and how-to videos.  So far, I've watched 2 on Arabian halter making, one on paint matching for touchups, and one on making braided reins.  the color matching was helpful, but I really need to know if there's a way to match the hooves without an airbrush.  The black Stretch Morgan is having hoof issues, thanks to someone with glitter nail polish somewhere in his past. 

Shopping haul so far

• Brighid & Beltane
• Thorn
• Eire
• Greenman
• Mackenzie

When it rains, it pours

Or, the flood of new horses. 

First, Breyer announces the mid-year releases, which include Apparition (a blue-purple glow-in-the-dark Halloween horse) and the 70th Anniversary shrinky-dink SMs.  I pre-ordered and paid for an Apparition at Becky's, and then went "damn the torpedos" and added a whole case of the SMs.  With any luck, I'll get one of the chase pieces, but even if I don't, I'll have neat minis of the Fighting Stallion, Fox Trotter, and all the others.  The mini charcoal Fighting Stallion will be awesome, if it looks anything like the large one.  Same for the pinto Indian Pony, the woodgrain Clydesdale, and most of the others.  They're doing two chase pieces this time - 1 in every 4th case, and a super-chase in every 12th, I think.  I'm betting one is an Alborozo, because they put mini Alby everywhere, and I think the other one might be the FAS or Western Horse, since those are the reliable old standards.  I just hope if it's a FAS, they don't go lemon-yellow on him.  But a mini Western Horse would be amazing.

Then they sent the email about the Vintage Club horse being ready to order.  This one is the Wedgewood pinto Belgian, Josiah.  I held out for a few days on ordering, since this week last year is when I paid for one of the SM Club horses last year.  And my patience was rewarded, because the email for Chroma, the clearware SMC horse, came a few days later.  So, combined shipping on one account. 



And now I must avoid eBay, because Breyerfest is next week, and while my Single Day SMs and ticket are paid for, the SRs and store specials aren't.  And I have a list.  Which will probably get cut down a lot after I see the prices on the store specials, but it won't go down to $0, I'm sure.



 

Naytuksi

Latest of the web specials, Nayati.  Once again, my luck held, and I got the two I wanted - the dunalino and Appaloosa, both glossy.  They're gorgeous.  I'm loving the dunalino especially.  These need Star Wars names, since they arrived on the 5th, which is close enough to May the 4th. 

 

The dunalino has some wide masking on  his mane, but it seems to be not too obvious. 

Appy is gorgeous too, but has a few flaws.  Mostly that they skimped when glossing his hind legs, but there's also a tiny rub on one knee (in the red, so it's obvious), a strange flaw on his nose, and then I think the gloss in his nostrils bubbled a little because they look pale and milky inside. 

But overally, they look great.