New horses

Unboxing a few new horses from the holidays, and I've gotta wonder - Why did Breyer put a grey/white tailtip on the new dark bay Classic Hanoverian? So out of place. What, is he a minimal-expression paint of some sort? Going grey in an odd way? Little accident with the bleach?

I also opened my Classic Morgan mare & foal set to find that they were a little too close together in the box. Nice little rub on the mare's hip and the foal's neck. Sigh.

Rats!

I just realized that I missed the deadline to mail in my form for Breyer's free gift offer. The irritating part is that I had it 90% ready to go, just had to fill out the form and stick it all in an envelope.

GAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!

At least I mailed my Color Crazy form in time.

Rarities

I'm reading a discussion on one of the chat forums about what rare horses we own, and I started wondering about my collection. My first thought was "I don't have anything rare" - my brain kind of defaults to the "well, if I own one, it can't be too rare" point of view. But that's a knee-jerk reaction, and it's not quite true. I do own a few horses that are either very limited runs or that are almost never seen for sale.

In general order of scarceness:

1. I managed to buy a 1-of-10 Palouse, Fiesta. Fiesta was the SR for the El Paso Equine Art Show. This one is the matte-finish variation with a star. Actually, she's one of 5, because half of the 10-horse run were etched and otherwise customized.
   
2. A possible one-of-a-kind SM - a glossy alabaster Swaps from one of the JCPenney sets. He came in a group of alabaster Breyers from Ebay. He might be factory gloss, or someone may have glossed him later. This year, I plan to soak him in Lestoil and see if he's factory or not. He's also got a broken leg, which I need to fix. I just need better light, because I want to make sure and not glue the leg on backwards. :)
   
3. Another Fiesta, the more common variation in satin finish with a blaze, 1-of-77. (There were 100 total - 10 matte/star, 12 glossy judges, 1 with black front hooves, and 77 "normal" ones.)
   
4. A Magnifico, the Peruvian Paso SR from Breyerfest that was supposed to be a regular-run horse the next year. Hasn't happened yet, so I'm glad I found him when I did. If I'd waited, I think he would have been more expensive - I bought mine when we thought he'd still be a RR in a few months.
5. Another Palouse, Echo, also a show SR. I think there were 45 in the run, and I've got two. The first one met with a slight accident when my son was learning to walk.
6. Quite a few Breyerfest SRs, including the porcelain circus ponies and Romantico.
7. Three Connoisseur horses. I lusted after a Masquerade until I finally found one secondhand at a price that didn't make me hyperventilate (too much, anyway). Then I was lucky enough to be drawn for both Rubicon and Blue Velvet.
   
8. Actually, I could probably just list all my Palouses, and most of my Stones, since they've stopped doing anything like a "regular run" horse. For Palouses, I've also got Canadian Sunrise (matte), Gingerbread Cookie, and Iskitpe. Then there's a Lapis ISH and Malachite ISH. Still mad at myself for waffling too long at State Line's website - Earl sold out while I had lunch.
   
9. For chance finds, I've got a Breyer Western Horse in black pinto, with the snap-on saddle. Found him at a thrift store for $12 years ago. He's lost an eartip in a fall, but otherwise he's in great shape for his age.
   
10. Extreme luck - I was drawn for both the Gold Charm and Honey Bay Lady Phases. I never found the charcoal Silver, though.
11. The palomino Classic QH mare and chestnut Mustang foal set that was a SR for American Girl.

And there are probably more, I just can't recall them right now.

Hollywood Gold & ALS Order

UPS dropped off my American Livestock order today. So much for calling this morning to cancel it (since I found Noelle cheaper elsewhere, and ordered it assuming that AL would be sold out of Noelle before my order shipped).

You have to watch AL. Last year I ordered some Breyers, and didn't find out until I opened the box that half of my order was out of stock. Today, I opened a box to find that two of the things weren't what I thought they'd be.

Instead of the old 4-pc SM set that was pictured on the site ("Contains 4 horses, Palomino Andalusian, Blue Roan Pinto, Sorrel American Quarter Horse, and Bay Saddlebred. (Palomino Andalusian shown) Stablemate Play Set.") , I got the new set with the G3 molds. That's not a bad thing, I only ordered the old set to get the free shipping, and I've been wanting the new set.

The other thing was the SM Pocket Barn - the one on the site was the Vet Barn with the G1 ASB in bay pinto. Instead, I got the new Pocket Barn set with the pinto Paso mare and G3 foal. Ah well. The first error I can see happening - no one updates the photos, both sets with the same name, easy mistake. The second one, though, is harder. My online receipt says Pocket Barn with Horse and Vet (ea) but the shipping invoice says "Pocketbarn w/mare & foal". Harder mistake to overlook, since they're more distinguishable than the 4-piece sets. But, for $5, it's not a big deal. And since the set isn't on the site anymore, and they're advertising a "Close Out" sale, I think there's not much to do about it anyway. Makes me wonder what would have turned up if I'd ordered more than one of those sets, though.

Now, how can I have a box from American Livestock, and two orders from Rural King on the way, and still feel like I never get to shop for Breyers?

A great deal

I just bought a Hollywood Gold (the Adios version) on Ebay. I was the only bidder, which surprised me, and I got a good deal at $30 plus shipping. He's New in Box, so hopefully the ties haven't done any damage.

Tuesday Morning Breyers

There's this intersting store called Tuesday Morning (named for the day that they put the new merchandise out). They carry odd lots of stuff, random overstocks and such, I guess. Occasionally they get Breyers, and they had some in this week's new stuff. So I packed up my little boy and we left early for the library today.

We came home with

• Keltec Salinero
• Cefnoakpark Bouncer
• the SM Vet Pocket Barn set with the G2 Paso mare (bay)
• Penny Play Set with the palomino G3 Pony (although his leg feathering is white and looks odd)
• the Mini Whinnies Appaloosa set
• the Mini Whinnies Canadian Show Jumping set

They had some other horses, a few Trads, lots of Minis. They had a Tregoyd Journeyman for $19.99 that looked nice. Too bad I bought a pre-owned, but NIB, one last week for $35 plus postage. Ah well. At least I only paid $50 for my Marabella Color Crazy set - the ones on Ebay usually have a Buy It Now price of $80 or more, since she's the rare one this year.

Oh, other new horses - the other two Color Crazy sets were delivered last week. Now I just need to send in the forms.

JCPenney set - finally

My Bouncer & Joe set from JCPenney was finally delivered last Friday, about a month after I ordered it. I'm glad I didn't wait to order it, though, since it's disappeared off the JCP site this week.

They've still got the 3-horse set from last year, though. Only $30.