Other Makes: Clinky Things Part 1

With Clinkypalooza imminently on the horizon (just three weeks from when this blog entry posts) and my “Other Makes” series up for discussion today, I figure now is as good a time as any to talk about a couple clinky pieces in my collection.

I love Chinas, and there are some truly outstanding OF and CMG China pieces in the hobby that would look really pretty on my shelves - but I don't collect them. That’s for one reason and one reason only: If it’s breakable, I’ll find a way to break it. I wish that wasn’t the case, but just as with real horses, I prefer to admire from afar, rather than touch.

So how is it, then, that these two highly breakable things found their way into my collection?

I was antiquing at The Hub in Pittsburgh in January 2018 and saw them for $25 apiece, and impulsively bought them, that’s how.

The top one is Pamela Du Boulay’s “Black Beauty and Merrylegs,” issued through the Franklin Mint in 1990. The bottom is “The Arabian Knight” from the Lenox International Horse Sculptures collection in 1988. I really know nothing about them other than that. They're the two biggest clinky things I have. The other six are minis, and I'm planning to talk about them in October, along with whatever free goodies I might bring back from Clinkypalooza.

I’d love to move these guys on to someone who will appreciate them more than me, but I haven’t gotten any bites when I’ve listed them for sale, and the thought of having to pack and ship (or even pack and transport) them somewhere makes my skin crawl, so they’re still on my shelves.

Show Stoppers: Traditional Paints

It’s no secret by now that my collection heavily favors Stock molds. I’ve rotated quite a few models in and out of my show string over the years, trying to spread the love, mostly between my Lady Phases ... and trying to figure out what judges like in stock molds, with only moderate success.

Here are six models I’ve shown in the Paint class over the years.

 

 

This Lady Phase, #1214 Palomino Pinto, was part of the 2006 treasure hunt. I took a drive out to a closing Breyer dealer in Blairsville, PA (Horse & Rider Etc.) in May 2011 when they were liquidating their inventory and mentioned having a bunch of her for sale. I think she was $15.

She only brought home a single 6th place ribbon in her first half dozen times out in the show ring, so I retired her. Her show name was Fashionably Late.

 

 

This Lady Phase from the #1446 Overo Paint Mare & Foal set has been one of my most successful stock horses. She’s placed in some massive classes and has about a 50% success rate in getting a ribbon. Of the 21 times she’s been on the table, she has 10 ribbons, 2 breed NAN cards, and a section reserve champ. I hand-picked her from my friend Bonnie’s Breyer dealership (Breyers By Mail) in February 2012. Her markings are some of the cleanest I’ve ever seen despite the intricacy of her pattern, which might be part of why she does so well in the ring. Her show name is Alice.

 

 

#711161 CC Shuffle Surprise was a BreyerFest special run in 2013. This gal, the blue roan pinto, was the rarest matte color. She’s now retired due to some slight yellowing, but got a couple breed ribbons and a couple collectibility NAN cards in her show career. Her show name was Sheza Lil Loopy, which you can read more about back in my Nov 2025 Show Stoppers post where I talked about goofy names.

 

 

#90174 Bobby Jo is one of my favorite Premier Club releases. I think the sculpt is conformationally excellent and she looks good in a lot of colors. I wasn’t in the Premier Club that year, so I bought her secondhand from my friend Kelly W. in May 2016.

She’s been on the table 15 times so far, placing in breed six times, earning 4 breed NAN cards, and cleaning up at the 2024 NY Breeders Show in Region 10 with a section champ and overall division champ.

 

 

I first talked about #90122 Hope N Glory in my February 2026 Special Effects post, where I discussed the few Connoisseurs in my collection. She has a cool acquisition story; you can read about it back on the other post. Her show name is Phrenology. She gets into the show ring quite a lot because she’s both a good breed horse and a contender in collectibility. She does okay; as I mentioned in my February post, there’s another Hope N Glory in my region that she’s often up against, and that one is a little nicer.

 

 

This #711400 Seven Arts Surprise in glossy bay maximum sabino was a run of 325 pieces at BreyerFest 2019. He was just featured on my blog back in July when I talked about glossy surprise models. He’s been on the show table 7 times and has four ribbons and a section reserve champ so far.

I like naming my horses something analogous to their issue names, so it was a no-brainer to assign him as Bob Ross. I grew up in awe of the real Bob Ross and regularly watched The Joy of Painting on WQLN (our local PBS station in Erie) as a kid. I couldn’t (and still can’t) believe what that man could do with a canvas and oil paint in just 30 minutes.

Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Misty & Stormy

Since time is of the essence and I’ve mentioned my sister a whole bunch lately, today I will share the last two Breyers she gifted me when she decided to stop collecting. I’ve already talked about her #839 dapple gray PAS and her #859 Family Appaloosa Stallion on Stud Spider. 

 

 

These last two are pretty iconic. This is #20 Misty of Chincoteague (or just Misty, or Marguerite Henry’s Misty, or Misty by Marguerite Henry, or Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague, depending on the year and catalog) and her foal, #19 Marguerite Henry’s Stormy. I don’t think there’s a run in the history of the company that has been produced as long as these two have.

Misty has been in the lineup in some form or other since the mold was introduced in 1972. That’ll be 55 years next year! She’s come with books and camping gear, by herself and in sets with Stormy, in various boxes, and has had some pattern changes, especially early in her production. There’s a three-eyed Misty and a four-eyed Misty (depending on whether or not there’s a white circle around her left eye). Despite her lengthy run, people who really know Misty can look at any Misty model and tell by the color and pattern roughly what decade it was produced in.

Stormy wasn’t introduced until 1977, but she has also faithfully been in the lineup every year since then, alone or in sets with Misty.

I believe my sister got both of these in 1992. They would have been sold separately then, not as a set.

A Misty and Stormy connoisseur I am not, and a Misty and Stormy mold fan I am not (my only other Misty is Sari, and Stormy is a singleton), but it would feel a little weird to have over 1500 Breyers and NOT have the set that’s been popular enough to be faithfully produced every year since before I was born.

I’m really happy my sister decided to get them and then passed them along to me.