The big estate sale find

 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.

A good tip and a lucky day

 I got a tip from a hobby friend of mine, thanks to Facebook Messenger and a local flea mall that posts pictures online.  I got off work early today and had enough time to drive out there before school pickup time, so I took a little drive.  My friend has a good eye and she was right - she spotted a Special Run in one of the booth photos - the Classic Secretariat, on the Terrang Mold, from Hobby Center Toys in 1988.  The price was a whopping $15, so I grabbed him right away.  Missing a bit of an ear tip, and a few rubs, but the original run was only 1,000.  

While I was there and had some time, I walked around the rest of the antique mall.  Most of it, anyway.  I saw a lot of overpriced (in my opinion) Breyers, including some Family Arabian Foals ($29 each) and some Classic Arabian and Quarter Horse families that I'm pretty sure were there last time I was - which was about 3 years minimum.  I did find a pair of vintage Breyers that I decided to buy - the Western Horse and Fury, both in old brown pinto, with their saddles.  The Western Horse even has the older O-link reins. 

Vintage Club Overload

 Covid must be messing with the shipping (still) - we've gotten two of the four Vintage Club models in one month.  

At the beginning of the month, Cooper the Appy Performance Horse showed up, with his vintage-style bareback pad and bridle.   He also has, instead of the normal Vintage Club belly stamp, the stamp for an upcoming Bird Series horse, Kingfisher.  Can't wait to see what the real Kingfisher looks like, and if it's on the same mold as Cooper here.

 

 

Then, just a few weeks later, Breyer released Sandman for purchase, Smoky the Cowhorse in a really nice red dun pinto with gloss.  And both eyes are looking in the same direction. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Other recent Breyer things:  My NaMoPaiMo horse for the year did get done before the deadline.  This year I painted a SM Iron Metal Chief as a nice buckskin.  I tried to blend the leg markings more, but it needs a little work. 

 

 

 

 

 

And I found two of these at the grocery store, one sort of light blue, the other fuschia.  They poop little tiny candy.

And Honeybear, the Collector's Club horse.  Gorgeous pinto, glossy, and chunky

Last horses of 2021 (I think)

 Last new ponies of the year (presumably)

 

Stablemates Club - Twist, and the bonus foals, times two

 

 

 

And, my luck was good - chosen to purchase Zugspitze!!  

 

Along with the accidental collection of blue horses, the silver ones seem to accumulate here too. 

 

 

 

 

 

In an odd twist, I got two boxes from Breyer today.  The first one I opened was a bit of a confusion and seems to be a mistake.  It's got a Balthazar, Arctic Grandeur ornament, Dazzle, and Le Mer.  So, tomorrow I get to call Breyer to fix that (someone's waiting for those) and ask for a replacement for the Twist who arrived with a nasty groove in one side.  

Breyerfest 2021 - Day 1

 The official Breyerfest shopping is done.  We son't add up the grand total yet, because it won't be a calming number. 

1. Ansel
2. Knossos 
3. Kaleidoscope
4. Palette
5. Favrile
6. Apollo de Solis
7. Breyerfest SM 5-piece set
8. Pop-Up Store grab bag
9. 4-piece Stablemate set (aka the one-day horses)

Happily, I got my top two picks on the SR list, Ansel (run of 2,000) and Knossos (run of 1,000).  The new Morgan is one of my favorite of the new Premier molds lately, and I can't remember if I have a Spanish Bull or not.  And, Knossos fits with my interest in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations.  

And now it's off to watch workshops and seminars.  I've managed to get the TV browser logged in to the website, and the videos will play on it, so I can watch while I delete mass amounts of email.  

Tomorrow, I've got two crafting workshops to attend - Suncatcher Stablemates, and Galaxy Stablemates.  The last of the supplies for the Galaxy workshop should be delivered today. 

Craft House Corporation kit horses

 I went down a memory rabbit-hole a while back, regarding the Craft House Corporation's "Woodlike Collector Carvings" horses.  Back in junior or senior high, I had the Quarter Horse kit (probably bought at Walmart in Eldon), and was painting it for the art class that year.  Can't remember if I ever finished it or where it is now, but hopefully it'll turn up in the basement. 

These kits were a partially hollow horse made of some kind of plastic.  They came with an instruction sheet, paintbrush, bit of sponge for texturing, and a set of paints and one color of wood stain, in case you wanted to make them look like a sculpture.  According to the box, they're a "reproduction of a wood carving by the nationally known wildlife sculptor Ed Dietz" - Googling for Ed Dietz is still ongoing.  

The Quarter Horse box mentioned three other molds: Arabian, Thoroughbred, and Clydesdale, if memory serves.  I happened to find and buy an Arabian kit on eBay a month or so ago, and set up a search email for any others.  

 

  

 The Arabian, with molded-on halter.  Looks not bad.

 

I usually get notices of the duck decoy and bird kits from the same series, but last week another horse finally popped up on eBay.  And, surprise, it was not one of the four I already knew about.  This one is a Shetland Pony (not the refined type, either). 

 

 

 

Shetland Pony.  Looks a little plain around the head, but I've seen worse.  

The other three shown on the Pony's box are a Quarter Horse colt, POA, and a Unicorn.  

 

Oddly, the Arabian was fastened to the box with a flat-head screw (note: box knife blades are not acceptable screwdrivers, and now I need a new box knife).  The Pony was more problematic, we had to find a small socket wrench to take that screw out.  Why they used something that not everyone will have in the house, for a kit marketed (presumably) to the general non-mechanical public, is another question for the ages. 

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.  

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. 

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.

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.  

 

 

New horses, with a stowaway

I met a local hobbyist (Tracy) in town yesterday - she'd bought a bunch of models from someone in her area, and I bought a few from her.  Also sold her a blue chase Alborozo.  So we met to swap horses. 

 

I now have the palomino Grazing Mare and Adios that I've been looking for. And the Elk!  Got him free, since he's got a bum antler.  Turned out that it's been broken before and was pinned, but broke at the original break.  But it should be a fairly easy fix. 

And, there was a stowaway gift - the vintage bay Stretch Morgan I've also been hunting for a while!!  He's even got eyewhites, and is practically mint.  Hobby people are good people.