Fantastic Finds: A Good Day for Vintage Painters

Today’s models weren’t a “find” in the strictest sense - they were purchased in room sales at the CHIN during BreyerFest in 2014. They were right there on the shelf for anyone to notice. I'm putting them in the Finds series because, given that I stopped dead in the hallway once I saw these models out of the corner of my eye, I’m kinda shocked no one else picked them up sooner.

They’re #151 Bows and #141 Grazing Mare in bay. Both of those releases had extremely long runs, Bows from 1965-1981 and the Grazing Mare from 1965-1980. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of them out there. I run across them often when antiquing, especially the foal. I’ve had several of both the mare and foal in my collection over the years, but none as nice as these two.

 

 

The mare is who caused me to abruptly about-face in the hallway and go back to the room. Look at that shading! She’s even more gorgeous in person. She’s about as common as they come from a run standpoint, but sometimes painters took a little extra time with a model or just had a really good day in the booth, and she's the beneficiary of that. She is lovely.

 

 

Bows isn’t quite as outstanding a copy as her mom, but she’s still the nicest bay I’ve had in my collection to date. And you know me - I don’t separate sets. They were standing together on the shelf and I was absolutely buying the mare, so I had to buy the foal as well.

The best part? Both of them together were only $25.

Show Stoppers: BFL 2026 Mini Winners, Part 2

Continuing on with my recap of successful models at this year’s BreyerFest Live mini show.

 

 

I have a thing for G2 SMs in general, and the foals are no exception. This little bay dude is from the #5980 Stablemates Show Stoppers set (ha - an appropriate name given the title of this series for my blog!), produced from 2012-2014. I bought the set from my friend Bonnie’s dealership in early 2012 when I found myself with some spending money from Christmas. This little guy is one of my most successful minis, with 13 ribbons to his credit. The RR stock foal class at BFL was 54 models deep, so it was extra cool that he did so well. I credit myself a little bit - I picked a table spot on the end facing the windows, so the light would highlight how nicely shaded he is. His name is Jaywalker.

 

This G2 Scrambling Foal is from the #5972 Stablemates Fun Foal 5-Piece Gift Pack, a regular run from 2007-2008. I hand-picked the set myself in August 2011 from a local Breyer dealer in the area, Shady Acres Saddlery. She also does pretty well in the show ring, with 9 ribbons. Her name is Earthshine.

 

*****

I showed 19 SR minis at BFL. Only three brought home ribbons, but again, I wasn’t surprised. The classes were massive. I didn’t get to count every one, but I tallied 105 models in the Arabian/Part-Arabian class (I dearly hope they split those out next year!), 71 in the ASB/TWH class, and 85 in the Mustangs class. Stiff competition for sure. 

 

 

I picked a number of models that I wouldn’t typically show at anywhere that isn’t BFL - and haven’t ever shown anywhere else - and gave them names reflective of their randomness. Those names included Beau Rando, On a Whim, What the Hay, Arbitrary Mary, On the Off Chance, What’s the Worst That Could Happen?, and Slapdash Kash.

This is the one I named Slapdash Kash. He’s from the #410185 Parade of Breeds II set, a JCPenney SR in 2005. I got the set as a Christmas gift from my parents that year.

 

 

I love the G3 Standing TB, even though he’s got ears as long as a mule’s and a rather cartoony face, like many of the other G3s. I have a modest conga of 17 of the guys; my Cecil is the only one who regular shows, and that’s because he can be competitive in collectibility. BFL is where you chuck spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks, though, so this guy made the trip. He’s from the #410176 Parade of Breeds III set, a JCPenney SR in 2006. I picked him up from a seller on MH$P in February 2012. His show name is Visionary.

 

 

I only own this guy because my friend Beth E. is awesome. He’s from the #90178 Mini Hermosa and Corazon set, the Premier Club bonus SMs from 2015. There were about 750 sets made. Beth had a set and only wanted the mini Hermosa, and knew that I conga the G3 Standing Foal, so in May of 2016, she asked if I wanted to split the set. I normally cringe at splitting up sets, but it wasn’t my set to begin with, and I really wanted the little dude, so I said yes. His show name is Kelvin and he’s been a great show horse for me. When I add in his BFL result, he now has 7 breed ribbons, 4 breed NAN cards, 8 collectibility ribbons, and 4 collectibility NAN cards out of 11 total shows.

I also think it’s neat that my very first horse on the table for the day and my very last horse on the table for the day ended up with the two first place ribbons and NAN cards from the show. That was representative of the day in general - it was amazing from start to finish, and not just from a ribbons standpoint. I had such a great time the entire day. I am already looking forward to next year.

Show Stoppers: BFL 2026 Mini Winners, Part 1

This month’s Show Stoppers series will be split into two posts as I cover the nine other minis that got ribbons at my first ever BreyerFest Live show. My most successful model that day, Clarissa, a bay G1 Morgan Mare, already got her own post last month, so you can head over there if you haven’t already read about her.

My regular runs did much better than my Special Runs, but that’s not altogether a surprise to me. The SR classes were significantly bigger. I knew they would be, so I focused my show string on the RR classes. That turned out to be a great strategy.

 

 

This G4 Loping QH is #6040 Appaloosa, a Breyer regular run from 2018-2021. I bought her in late 2018, along with the rest of the Stablemates Assortment she was part of, as part of the Collector Club Appreciation Sale. I showed her a couple times prior to BreyerFest, but this is her first ribbon. Her show name is Aurora.

 

 

The G2 Appaloosa is one of my favorite SM molds. My conga is 32 members strong at the moment. This one is #5410 from the Tractor Play Set, a regular run from 2009-2013. I bought him way back in 2012 from a seller on MH$P. There are better stock molds out there (IMO) but he actually does okay for himself in the show ring. His show name is Can’t Catch Me.

 

 

This G4 Hanoverian is from the #5908 Stablemates Assortment, produced from 2011-2015. I bought him from my friend Bonnie’s dealership in November 2011. I showed him 8 times prior to BreyerFest Live; this was his first ribbon. His show name is Unprecedented.

 

 

This is #6037 Icelandic Pony from the same Stablemates Assortment as Aurora above, and was purchased in December 2018 during the CCA sale. This is his third ribbon out of five times on the table so far. His show name is Honnef.

On Wednesday, I’ll finish up the RRs with my two foals who ribboned, and then share my three SRs who held their own against some really tough competition.