This might be my biggest find ever at a sale, even bigger than my chalky Donkey.
To set the stage - there was a massive estate sale in town this past month. Seriously massive - the house was so full that they had to hold four separate sales, over about six weeks. One sale was 3 days and just the books from the house. They weren't hoarders, but they were massive accumulators of stuff. The husband and wife were both artists and art teachers, and they liked everything.
I did go to the books-only sale, and found a few horse books. The first version of Justin Morgan Had a Horse, a Jeanne Mellin book, C.W. Anderson's A Touch of Greatness, and the World Book of Dogs, plus two Rick Brant mysteries and an old issue of Asimov's magazine. None in the greatest shape, but I thought they were worth the $6 each that this company wants for vintage books.
That was the appetizer. This past week they had the final sale (I missed the first two), and there were a couple of Breyers in the preview pictures, plus a pair of ceramic Art Deco animals. The Breyers were an alabaster Semi-rearing Mustang, and the original USET trio. Luckily, the sale started on Wednesday, and I didn't have to work on Wednesday (although it was the last day of school for the year, so I had to do the school pick-up at 12:30 instead of 3:30). I went over to the sale location early, to pick up a line number, and then went back and got there about half an hour after the sale opened, with the teenager in tow.
First order of business was to find the Art Deco animals. They were much larger than I expected, but that made the $40/each price easier to justify. I carried one in each hand, and went looking for the Breyers. The house was like a maze, most of the rooms connected so you could go in a big circle. Found the Breyers, but the Mustang was missing his tail and part of both ears (priced at $8). USET horses were in similar shape for $4 each, but I did find a ceramic Made in Japan horse for $4. We looked around inside and found a few other things, then paid for the finds and went outside to look at the rest of the sale. They had two tents/canopies, plus a garage and an overhang/porch area and other nooks and crannies.
And there, in the last outdoor nook, I spotted a clear acrylic Don Manning "Artistic Doe"!! For only $3!!! Grabbed her PDQ and looked around hoping for the Buck as well, but no luck. Oh well. I've been looking for those for a long time, and wasn't really clear about whether I was looking for something Trad sized, SM sized, or what. Now I know.
A hunting scene, done in metallic something-or-other.
The large pink ram? Bighorn sheep?
Small Made in Japan or China horse, about Classic scale. One broken and repaired hind leg.
The scale of these three. Blue deer is about 2 feet tall, pink sheep-critter is about 18 inches.
The Doe!! She is stamped Don Manning on one hind leg.
Massive deer-critter, with photobombing by Modernistic Doe.
