So, not the last new ponies

 Because I managed to get a Spice Drop on Christmas morning, and it was already delivered. 

I was kind of hoping for purple, but green and gold is fine. 

And then, on the other account, I was (shock!) drawn to buy the black and gold ram, Montana.  

Totally unrealistic color, but I must have been a magpie in a former life, because the glittery flashing things appeal to me.  

And now that Breyer has revealed the horses for the Stablemates Club next year, I'm very tempted to get a second membership again.  The gambler's choice is the Fjord, and mini Fireheart is the bonus model. 

Overall, my luck is running great on the Breyer side of life.  Well, except that I can't find anyone who wants to swap a silver Christmas Clydesdale for my second cranberry one.  

Brighty

 Just bought this one on eBay.  

 

 Brighty is going for bonkers prices lately, listed for $50 and up (usually up).  I got this one for just under $50.  However, a drawback of bidding on the phone is that this one was listed as a chalky, and after a better look on a bigger screen, I'm not sure he is.  Still a decent price, considering, so a lesson learned.  I should have learned that when we bought a DVD set on Amazon's phone app, and managed to buy the Region 2 version that we can't actually watch. 

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. 

 

Candy Cane and Clubs

The first horse of 2020 (*) is Candy Cane.  Who technically isn't a horse, but an equid. 

My blue horse herd continues, because I got the blue Candy Cane today.  Was kind of hoping for the 1-of-12 random Licorice, but then I'd feel guilty and think about selling it because that's a lot of money.

I was a little surprised to find the box in the mailbox, not on the doormat.  This is the first Zebra I've seen in person, and it's smaller than I realized. 

(*) Technically, Candy Cane was paid for on Christmas Day, but it's the first horse in the door for 2020.  And usually I date my spreadsheet by the day the critter is actually in my hands. 

In other news, I was sucked back into the Vintage Club for 2020, mostly because of the In-Between Mare.  And then Breyer announced the horses for the Stablemate Club, and the darn Mini Alborozo is the Gambler's Choice model for this year.  So after much waffling and calculating numbers, I signed up for a second membership, because I figure (as do other people) that the secondary-market prices for Alby are going to be high enough that the second membership will be cheaper than buying one on eBay or whereever. 

Figuring that the club, plus the Collector's Club membership, will run about $180, and guessing that I can sell 4 of the duplicate models for about $20 each (a loss of $5-10 each), that makes the Alby portion around $100. 

Gah.  I'm actually talking about $100 SMs without cringing. 

Estate Sale (August 2)

One of the local estate-sale companies posted some pics with Breyers for a recent sale, so of course I went.  Hauled the not-a-morning-person kiddo out to go with me.  Another local collector wasn't going, but asked me to pick up a couple for her if the prices were right.  And they were. 

I picked up the black wolf, cougar, Custom kit horse, and Spirit for Tracy.  Wolf and Cougar were a screaming deal at $2 each.

The Duchess, Frolic Foal, and SMs are mine.  Most of what the owner had was from the Wild Mustangs Walmart sets, so lots of Mesteno series molds, which I'm not a fan of.  I didn't have the Duchess, though, and she's almost mint.  The SMs were the real score for me, especially this one.

Only $1, he was only released for a couple of years with the Horse Crazy card game.  Missing half his off-side ear, but still fine for photo showing, if I watch the angles. 

Estate-sale Wildlife

I had some estate sale luck recently, purely by luck.  There was an estate sale within walking distance of home.  I stupidly forgot to look at the pictres that the company posts online until the second day of the sale.  About the time the sale opened, I took a quick look through the pictures and saw this one.  And promptly put my shoes on and hustled for the sale.  

 

Unfortunately, I got there in time to see a fellow bringing up an armload to pay for, including a few (Moose, Bighorn) that weren't in the picture, and the foals.  I never saw the bull at all, darn it, but I did come home with all the non-horse critters.  Not sure why no one grabbed them, unless it's because most of them aren't marked as Breyer.  They were all half-price for the second day, and all in decent shape other than the buck.  He's got a broken angler, but has the piece, and for $5 for the pair I couldn't pass them up.  

I'm pretty sure I've got a deer family, and the Holi the Breyerfest elephant, but this is my first Kitten and German Shepherd.  I'm calling the Kitten Kittenzilla, because the scales are sooooo wild.  Kittenzilla could eat SMs for a snack, and have a Classic for lunch.

(9/10/18 postdated)