As promised, the 2026 Breyerfest--season splurge or find

 Last year (or the year before?), on BF weekend, I found a Hagen-Renaker Monrovia-era Marmion collie at the thrift store, for a whopping single dollar.  Mint condition.  

 This year, I found a mint-condition, black-point dapple grey Proud Arabian Stallion in Columbia, thanks to the Buy & Sell page on NextDoor.  This year's find wasn't the screaming deal that Marmion was - I paid fair market value of $125 cash.  But, he was four miles away and didn't have to risk shipping.  

Excuse the suboptimal photos, the small light box isn't quite tall enough.  

 

The Second Chance horses

 UPS has dropped off three boxes in the last two days.  My luck was not great - no green clearware Surprise, but I got a chestnut sabino to go with the bay pinto.  Second Wild Things was not the green version, either.  But, my Fight Song is the variant without a base, so there's that.  

The final list: 

1. Quagga A
2. Quagga B
3. Surprise A - dark bay overo matte, run of 950
4. Surprise B - chestnut sabino matte, run of 950 (the greenware was a run of 650)
5. This is My Fight Song - the baseless variant was a run of 875, the "normal" variant is a run of 1,625
6. Wild Things A - both the normal chestnut run of 1,950 (the green variant is a run of 1,050
   
7. Wild Things B 
8. Percy A & B
9. Athenian Lady 
10. Blue Zeus 
11. Just Like Fire, the Classic
12. Better than Revenge, the fruit-stripe Fjord
13. the 4-pack of single-day Stablemates in deco dapples
14. the 5-piece Best of Breyerfest SM set 

Holy cow, maybe I need to spend less at BFest.  Eight Traditionals, 11 Stablemates, a Classic, and two plushies.   

Also.  I get that Breyer is using this waffleweave paper instead of bubble wrap, to try and be more eco-friendly.  But when the packers don't expand the waffle paper, and it's just left flat, it offers crap all in the way of protection.  They can do better.