Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Birthday Gifts

After I received my first Breyers as Christmas gifts in 1990, I had Breyers on my birthday wish lists throughout the rest of my teenage years (and even occasionally into adulthood). As I'm sure I've said before, my parents have been wonderful enablers of my collection my entire life.

 

Today’s Don’t Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth post will feature some models that I know I received as birthday gifts. There are probably more, but I didn’t really keep track of when I acquired models until 2010, and I had to rely on family photos to help me piece these together.

 

 

This is #810 Action Appaloosa Foal, a regular run from 1989-1993. I got him for my 12th birthday in 1991. Even though I’m not usually big on appaloosas, I’ve always loved this little foal. As one of my first two dozen Breyers, he’s very sentimental to me.

 

 

1991 was a good birthday year, because I also got these guys, the #3040 Black Beauty Family, as gifts. This set had a long run in the Breyer lineup, from 1980-1993, and the molds are named after the models - Black Beauty, Duchess, Ginger, and Merrylegs.

Merrylegs suffered an accident in childhood shortly after I got him - a friend was playing too rough with him and broke his right rear leg. My Dad superglued him back together for me. This mold is pretty tippy to begin with, but Merrylegs’ repaired leg makes it even more difficult for him to stand, so he needs support under his back foot. He’s special enough to me that someday, I’ll send him to a repair artist for a more seamless and sturdy repair.

 

 

This set of three models is #710493 Wild Horses of America, produced for JCPenney in 1993. Nancy Young notes in her book that the projected production amount was 1500 sets, but no official amount was ever recorded. I was obsessed with the Fighting Stallion right from the start so this set was a must-have. I’m not sure if the Mustang from this set was my first, or if I got Rarin’ to Go before him.

I got these guys for my 15th birthday in 1994.

***

I collected only sporadically between 1997, when high school ended, and 2010. This was due to several reasons - the expenses of college, student loans, and grad school being the primary ones. In May of 2010, I quit a very terrible job, and the day I did so, I decided to buy my first BreyerFest ticket. That jump-started me back into collecting.

 

 

As I was browsing the internet and trying to get caught up on hobby stuff, I ran across this model, #712040 Valvella, a run of 700 models produced for the Rolex Three-Day Event at Kentucky Horse Park in 2009. I don't remember where I saw the ad for her, but it was through a retailer. My parents were aware of my renewed interest in the hobby, so I sent the ad to them and said if they wanted to give me something other than cash for my birthday, they could get me her.

So of course, they did.

Though I think she's one of the prettiest Strapless models they've ever produced, there are better sport breed molds out there, in my opinion, so I only show Valvella for collectibility purposes, and usually only at all-collectibility shows where the class lists are bigger. Her show name is Ghost Dance.