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.