A few posts ago, I mentioned a love-hate relationship with decorator and fantasy models.
Until probably the mid-2010s, I was well known amongst my friends as being a decorator hater. As a kid, and even well into adulthood, I often said, "If it doesn't look like a real horse, I don't want it." Real horses didn't come in blue or gold or green or rainbow or the old-school paint jobs that Breyer called roan, and real horses didn't have wings or horns, so I wasn't interested in collecting models that did.
Well, that was mostly true. There are a few decorator and fantasy models that managed to sneak their way in early in my collecting years.
Before we get to them, can we please observe an honorary moment of silence for my #750010 Flicka in the Wild G2 Rearing Arabian, who decided to take a four-foot swan dive as I was returning one of today's featured models to the shelf, and snapped his right rear leg clean off?
Can we also observe an honorary moment of silence for my sanity, because I still can't find that damned leg after 20 minutes of searching? Some idiot (it's me, I'm the idiot) bought black shelving units, and trying to find a half-inch long solid black Stablemate leg amongst models crammed onto solid black shelves has been an exercise in stupidity.
The first model to break the "realistic horse color ranks" was this guy - #832 Hyksos. I can tell you what drew me to him - he's an Arab, he's got an Egyptian name (and I've always been fascinated with ancient Egypt), and he was the 1991 Commemorative Edition, limited to 7,500 pieces. Mine is numbered #736/7,500 on the belly. As I said in my last post, Young Collector Me was very interested in anything that was proclaimed to be limited in quantity, even though 7,500 pieces is a pretty substantial run size. I'm not sure how or when I acquired him, but he was in my first set of collection photos from September 1992, so it was before that.
I showed him exactly once at Hoosier Pony Live, an all-collectibility show in 2016. He took first place in the 1990s Unrealistic Regular Runs class. There were only two models in the class; Breyer didn't make many regular run decorators in the 90s. His show name is Effigy.
I don't know what it is about Sherman Morgan, but put a decorator color on him and my brain glitches and goes, I MUST HAVE THAT. This is #1105 Carpe Diem, released in the year 2000 only. He was designed to represent sunrise on the first day of a new millennium. I'm almost certain this guy was a Christmas present for me that year, but I don't know for sure. I showed him a couple times in the mid-2010s at the Greater Pittsburgh Model Horse Show (GPMHS) which was all-collectibility and had over 130 classes just for Breyers. His show name is Sun Pillar after the nifty atmospheric phenomenon that occurs most often at sunrise or sunset.
This is #1102 Durango, who was the 2000 Commemorative Edition, with 10,000 pieces made. Mine is numbered #8188/10,000 on the belly. Throughout high school and college, I tried to get both the Limited and Commemorative Editions every year. That's how he came to join the collection, even though he's one of my least favorite sculpts and the only Smoky I own.
Raise your hand if you're surprised that the first unicorn in my collection was a Sham.
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
#410301 Lavinia was a JCPenney special run in 2001. I got him for Christmas that year from my parents. The ad text in the catalog was amusing - "Her golden horn and hooves shimmer as she appears to canter away."
Not only is Sham not a mare, but whatever he's doing, it sure as heck ain't cantering.
He's also been shown a few times. His show name is I'm So Vain. He's the one who caused me to send poor Flicka flying, so maybe I should rename him SM Killer.
Unsurprisingly, there aren't any vintage (pre-2000s) decorators on my want list. Not that I would turn one down if it found its way to me on the cheap at an antique store or flea market, but I don't see myself ever actively hunting them.
Modern decorators, on the other hand - well, let's just say that while I haven't fully embraced them, I'm a lot more open to them now than I used to be.
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