Full Spectrum: "Surprise" Web Specials

For today’s Full Spectrum post, I’ll be talking about my two decorator “Hey, here’s a surprise web special!” models.

 

 

For all that he’s not blue, this is one of my favorite decorator models in my collection. He's a lovely bay, nicely shaded, and fall is my favorite season of the year.

#712046 Fall in Love, a run of just 200 pieces on the ever-popular Nokota mold, was a surprise Cyber Monday special run in 2011. Like many web specials, he was offered by random drawing. I was not lucky enough to get selected.

On Saturday, April 28, 2012, I was attending the Southwest PA Classic show in southwest PA, hosted by my friends Bonnie and Leslie. I was just sitting there minding my own business when one of my friends (I think it was Kelly W) came over to me and said, “Fall in Love is available for straight purchase on Breyer’s site!” I didn’t have a smartphone until 2015, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t have my work laptop with me, so I have no idea how I ordered one. Maybe Kelly let me borrow her phone? Whatever the case, I was successful in snagging one. He gets to show in collectibility from time to time under the name Hojas, which is Spanish for leaves.

 

*****

Let’s talk about the Vault Sale.

In December 2012, five days before Christmas, Breyer announced that they would be releasing limited quantities of rare things through the Collector’s Club Vault sale. No one knew exactly what to expect. That round, they had Connoisseurs, including Silverado and Moon Warrior. Everyone promptly lost their shit. Breyer’s website malfunctioned quite a lot and most of the stock was grossly oversold (like … 30 people thought they got a Silverado, and less than a half dozen people actually ended up with one).

In May 2013, they announced another vault sale. This one invited us to “Strike the Mother Lode” with a limited run model. People were a little more wary given the issues from last time, but most of us dutifully logged in at 9:00 p.m. to take a chance.

The website crashed. As in HTTP error: 504 Gateway Timeout, “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” crashed. Amidst the flailing and constant refreshing, this wonderful LOTR meme was born:

 

After 13 minutes, the #760238 Mother Lode models appeared - a run of just 100 pieces, split into 80 of the solid gold charm, 10 appaloosa, and 10 pinto. They sold out within seconds. I am a huge Lady Phase fan and had one in my cart, but the checkout page took too long to load, and I got the sad notification that the stock was no longer available and my cart was empty. Blab and Facebook were full of many, many angry and disappointed people. I was among them.

Then, an hour after the models finally appeared on the website, someone posted in the Blab thread that more were back up. I ran straight to the site, did not pass Go, did not collect $200 … and I got one!

 

I didn’t quite believe it til I got the order confirmation and shipping notice. Obviously I got the solid gold charm, which was fine with me. I’m happy to have gotten one at all, and for cost. She gets to show occasionally; her show name is Vera Madre.

Collectibility Spotlight: Volunteer Models, Part 1

BreyerFest is my favorite week of the year - and I do mean week, since I am down there Monday through Sunday - and it’s less than 60 days away. I’m starting to get excited.

I wanted to go to BreyerFest ever since I saw the first advertisement for it in the 1991 box catalog. In May of 2010, I quit a terrible job and bought my first BreyerFest ticket all in the same day. The former was an act of self-preservation; the latter was me saying, by God, I need some joy in my life, so I’m going to go do this thing I’ve always wanted to do. Later that day, I chatted with my parents about it, and when I said that I’d wanted to go to BreyerFest since I was a kid, I distinctly remember my mom saying, “You should have asked us. We’d have taken you.”

I was torn between kicking pre-teen/teen me for the missed opportunity, and awe that they would have even considered taking on the expense and the 8-hour drive each way for pre-teen/teen me to gallivant amongst plastic ponies for an entire weekend. I don’t think I ever would have asked for that much, but I’m glad to know all the same that they would have said yes. They have always been my biggest hobby champions and enablers.

BreyerFest 2010 was a magical experience. I’ll cover it in one of my “bonus” blog posts - perhaps later this month. Whilst wandering around the events at KHP that year, I learned that you could apply to volunteer for various jobs throughout the weekend - seminar attendant, the kids’ craft and activity tent, the diorama contest, the swap meet, and more - and that you got an exclusive model for doing so. In 2011, I applied as a workshop/seminar attendant, and was chosen. I have volunteered eleven more times since then - in 2013 for the diorama contest, and every year since 2016 (except 2020) as the results manager for the Children & Youth Shows. In 2025, I also stewarded BOO, Breyer’s fall online show. I have 12 volunteer models in my collection thus far.

 

 

This guy, #711430 Nottingham, the 2011 volunteer model, got his own post back in March as a sentimental favorite. You can go read more about him there, if you like. I don’t think I can say any better how much he means to me.

 

 

This is also #711433 Opry’s second appearance on the blog; I talked about her in my January Singles Bar post as my only Clydesdale Mare. She was the 2013 volunteer model.

 

 

This dude exploded every algorithm I was using to try to predict the volunteer mold. Blew them all to smithereens. He was used here as #711468 Caipirinha, a run of 163 models for volunteering at BreyerFest 2016. He was also used that year as a glossy prize model AND an auction model, which was absolutely unheard of. I still grumble about him every time someone asks me if I’m doing predictions.

 

 

I still remember the collective hobby head explosion that happened when this gal, #711271 Assam, was revealed as the volunteer model at BreyerFest 2017. The Weather Girl mold has been tremendously popular in the hobby since her first release in 2011. She’s pretty and typey and conformationally solid, and this particular release commands quite a price on the secondary market. She shows fairly well for me; her show name is Almira. She was the overall breed reserve champ in the BreyerFest division at BVG Live last year and got me a gigantic rosette.

Next month, I’ll go over my volunteer models from 2018-2022, and in July, I’ll finish up with 2023 and on. The timing of the July post should coincide with my receipt of my volunteer model for the Children & Youth Show. Since they started splitting into three colors, I have always received the third colorway, so I anticipate that’s what I’ll get this year as well. We’ve seen sooty buckskin and palomino so far. They said it’ll be another dilute; I’m hoping for a nice dark dun or a silver bay/silver black. I’m terrified it’ll be a double cream dilute (cremello or perlino), because those are my least favorite.

Special Effects: Tour Models

Starting in 1994, Breyer hosted “Tour” events across the country, at which a special run model was available for purchase. These events continued through 2002, then reappeared again briefly for 2007 and 2008 before being discontinued. I didn’t attend any of these events myself, but have picked up three of the tour models on the secondary market in the years since.

 

Ironically, the order I purchased them in is also the order in which they were released. 

 

 

As a person who congas Big Ben, I had to have #700301 Stormchaser, the 2001 tour model. His official production quantity was never released. I looked for one for many years, but his asking price was always more than I wanted to spend. Then, at my first BreyerFest in 2010, I found one for sale for $40 at the CHIN. Score!

 

 

#703002 Banat er Rih was the tour model for 2002. Like Stormchaser, her production quantity is unknown. I purchased mine from a seller on Model Horse Sales Pages in December 2011. Her color is soft and lovely; she’s one of my favorite releases on the PAM.

 

 

#703018 Caliente was the 2008 tour model and was a run of 1,000 pieces. I’m picky with chestnuts, but this guy’s color is outstanding. The glossy one is even more delicious; a friend of mine has one and I drool over it whenever she brings him out to a show. I purchased my matte one from the Black Horse Ranch collection sale during BreyerFest 2015. He doesn’t get to show often - there are better Spanish sculpts out there these days - but occasionally a class list will be split out enough that I give him a go for collectibility reasons. His show name is El Volcan.

The only tour models remaining on my wish list are the unobtainium raffle models - Silver Twilight, Batal, and Amira.