Wrapping up the Winter Blues series today, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Meteorological spring started on March 1, with astronomical spring just around the corner next week. January and February were especially brutal this year. My gas bill was insane. March started better - we hit 78 degrees in Pittsburgh a week ago, ahead of a storm that I would swear dumped 2” of rain in fifteen minutes. It looked like we were under a waterfall. My poor sump pump couldn’t keep up and we got water in the basement and the garage (sigh).
Anyone who knows me knows I’m as big of a weather nerd as I am a model horse nerd. Half my BreyerFest photo album every year is clouds. So of course I saw Saturday’s beast coming on radar and was out snapping pictures and panoramics as it approached. The shelf cloud at the front of the storm was pretty cool.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m as big of a weather nerd as I am a model horse nerd. Half my BreyerFest photo album every year is clouds. So of course I saw Saturday’s beast coming on radar and was out snapping pictures and panoramics as it approached. The shelf cloud at the front of the storm was pretty cool.
Anyway, back to the ponies. I saved the Breyer Traditionals for last on purpose. You’ll see why when we get to the last horse.
In 2006, Breyer did their first Treasure Hunt series, releasing the Lady Phase mold in four colors - palomino pinto, fleabit gray, chestnut, and black appaloosa. The lucky finders of all four colors could send in the UPC codes from the boxes to redeem a prize model, who was this lovely Wedgewood. The snippet on the back of her box listed her number as #1248, but I’ve also seen #1215 listed. The latter makes more sense, since the other four colors were released with the numbers 1211 - 1214.
All four of the original colors came in both short- and long-tail versions, as did the Wedgewoods. I have a complete set of both. I wasn’t collecting at the time these were released, being a poor, overworked grad student, so I’ve come by all of them secondhand. I bought the short-tail Wedgewood Lady Phase from Model Horse Sales Pages in June 2011, and the long-tail Wedgewood joined my collection from a room sales pickup at BreyerFest 2018. I’ve only shown the short-tail; her show name is Stonewashed.
All four of the original colors came in both short- and long-tail versions, as did the Wedgewoods. I have a complete set of both. I wasn’t collecting at the time these were released, being a poor, overworked grad student, so I’ve come by all of them secondhand. I bought the short-tail Wedgewood Lady Phase from Model Horse Sales Pages in June 2011, and the long-tail Wedgewood joined my collection from a room sales pickup at BreyerFest 2018. I’ve only shown the short-tail; her show name is Stonewashed.
This little cutie is #710301 Shadow of Blue, a 2001 BreyerFest special run of 1600 pieces. I picked her up in room sales during BreyerFest 2013. She could pass for a realistic model in this crappy lighting, but she's definitely too blue for that when you see her in person. Her show name is Sapphire.
As soon as this guy was announced - #711508 Franz, a 2022 BreyerFest special run of 2000 pieces - I knew I had to have him. Even though it was twenty-cough-cough years ago, I distinctly remember my first time seeing Franz Marc’s blue horse paintings during an undergrad class for my art minor. They struck a chord (obviously, look how obsessed I am with blue horse-shaped things) so I didn’t hesitate to put Franz onto my BreyerFest special run preference list that year.
BreyerFest 2025 was one of those years where I didn’t really need any of the special runs heading into the event - except this guy, #B-EV-10441 To the Ties That Bind Us. Silver mold? Yes! Blue? Yes! Outlines of other Breyers, including Sham, on his butt? Yes!
Could have done with a shorter, less awkward name, but whatever.
The first few people through the tent line quickly discovered that there was a gold variation on this guy. Rumors flew that the gold was a micro-run, and the prices went absolutely nuts for the gold guys on eBay for a few days. As more people obtained and opened them, it became pretty clear that the blue and gold were evenly distributed and that the silver Silver (ha, silver Silver) was the micro-run. A silver Silver would have been cool (I’d have given it to my friend Nina for her conga) but I was happy to open the blue that I’d had my heart set on.
The high resale values on both the blue and gold have persisted well past BreyerFest, likely due to Silver's popularity in general and how well this particular release was received. They’re still selling regularly on eBay for $250-350.
And now … drumroll please … the paramount blue horse in my collection, the grail of all grails, the horse I never in a million years thought I’d ever get to own:
Could have done with a shorter, less awkward name, but whatever.
The first few people through the tent line quickly discovered that there was a gold variation on this guy. Rumors flew that the gold was a micro-run, and the prices went absolutely nuts for the gold guys on eBay for a few days. As more people obtained and opened them, it became pretty clear that the blue and gold were evenly distributed and that the silver Silver (ha, silver Silver) was the micro-run. A silver Silver would have been cool (I’d have given it to my friend Nina for her conga) but I was happy to open the blue that I’d had my heart set on.
The high resale values on both the blue and gold have persisted well past BreyerFest, likely due to Silver's popularity in general and how well this particular release was received. They’re still selling regularly on eBay for $250-350.
And now … drumroll please … the paramount blue horse in my collection, the grail of all grails, the horse I never in a million years thought I’d ever get to own:
The one, the only, Smurfy Sham.
BreyerFest in 1991 was divided into four parts across the country - Redmond/Bend, OR; York, PA; Lexington, KY; and Pomona, CA. Each location had its own raffle model of 21 pieces. Oregon had a Copenhagen San Domingo, Kentucky had a Gold Charm Man O' War, and California had a Florentine Legionario. #414091 Sham was the York, PA raffle model in the fourth original decorator color, Wedgewood.
His issue name wasn’t Smurfy, though it should have been - their attempts to replicate the Wedgewood of the 60s decorators went a *smidge* sideways. I don’t know who coined the term Smurfy for him, but it’s dead-on.
Being a Sham nut, I always wanted to have a Smurfy, but never expected to actually get one for several reasons. (1) There have been a ton of fakes of this guy over the years, so I had to have one with provenance - one that came from an original winner (or at least had a definitive chain of ownership leading back to an original winner). (2) My pocketbook for rarities is fairly pitiful compared to the heavy-hitters in the hobby, so even if I could find a real one, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to compete. (3) Even if I could technically afford it, I typically have trouble pulling the trigger on large plastic pony purchases. The odds were not in my favor.
In 2020, of all the years, nothing was in anyone’s favor. Everything was cancelled. Work and school occurred from home. Social events happened on Zoom or not at all. The Seattle event (for which I'd been lucky enough to get picked) was cancelled and BreyerFest was moved entirely online. It was a time of isolation, depression, and fear for a lot of folks.
BreyerFest in 1991 was divided into four parts across the country - Redmond/Bend, OR; York, PA; Lexington, KY; and Pomona, CA. Each location had its own raffle model of 21 pieces. Oregon had a Copenhagen San Domingo, Kentucky had a Gold Charm Man O' War, and California had a Florentine Legionario. #414091 Sham was the York, PA raffle model in the fourth original decorator color, Wedgewood.
His issue name wasn’t Smurfy, though it should have been - their attempts to replicate the Wedgewood of the 60s decorators went a *smidge* sideways. I don’t know who coined the term Smurfy for him, but it’s dead-on.
Being a Sham nut, I always wanted to have a Smurfy, but never expected to actually get one for several reasons. (1) There have been a ton of fakes of this guy over the years, so I had to have one with provenance - one that came from an original winner (or at least had a definitive chain of ownership leading back to an original winner). (2) My pocketbook for rarities is fairly pitiful compared to the heavy-hitters in the hobby, so even if I could find a real one, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to compete. (3) Even if I could technically afford it, I typically have trouble pulling the trigger on large plastic pony purchases. The odds were not in my favor.
In 2020, of all the years, nothing was in anyone’s favor. Everything was cancelled. Work and school occurred from home. Social events happened on Zoom or not at all. The Seattle event (for which I'd been lucky enough to get picked) was cancelled and BreyerFest was moved entirely online. It was a time of isolation, depression, and fear for a lot of folks.
Some hobbyists coped with that by putting out ISOs for their grails. And they started finding them.
On May 11, 2020, after seeing yet another person get their hands on something crazy rare they’d always wanted, I said, “What the hell,” and I made an ISO post for Smurfy on the Rare Model Horse Sales Facebook group.
Later that same day, I got a message on Messenger from my friend Nina. I knew she had a Smurfy (even before she messaged me), but I also knew that he was incredibly sentimental to her - her mother had won him at the York, PA BreyerFest, and her mother had since passed, so he was extra special to her. I didn’t think she’d ever part with him for that reason, so I was really surprised when she responded to my ISO post. She said she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to let him go, but she’d think about it, since she knew how special he'd be to me and that he'd have a forever home here. I told her to take her time and if she decided she wasn’t ready, that was totally fine.
Within a couple weeks, she messaged me that she was ready and named her price.
I have never transferred money between my bank accounts that fast in my LIFE.
Later that same day, I got a message on Messenger from my friend Nina. I knew she had a Smurfy (even before she messaged me), but I also knew that he was incredibly sentimental to her - her mother had won him at the York, PA BreyerFest, and her mother had since passed, so he was extra special to her. I didn’t think she’d ever part with him for that reason, so I was really surprised when she responded to my ISO post. She said she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to let him go, but she’d think about it, since she knew how special he'd be to me and that he'd have a forever home here. I told her to take her time and if she decided she wasn’t ready, that was totally fine.
Within a couple weeks, she messaged me that she was ready and named her price.
I have never transferred money between my bank accounts that fast in my LIFE.
Smurfy at FAMulous 2022, winning all the things.
He’s come to every single show with me (as long as I’m not judging the Breyer division) since things started up again post-pandemic in late 2021. He’s been on the table sixteen times, hasn’t ever been shut out of the ribbons, and has completed the ribbon rainbow - nine firsts, three seconds, and one each of third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. He’s also been section champ twice, section reserve champ twice, and an overall collectibility champ once. His show name is Once in a Blue Moon.
He is one of the most special models in my collection, and I will be forever thankful to my friend Nina for allowing a piece that was so special to her to find a new home on my shelves. He is greatly treasured here.
He is one of the most special models in my collection, and I will be forever thankful to my friend Nina for allowing a piece that was so special to her to find a new home on my shelves. He is greatly treasured here.
Once in a blue moon indeed!! Congrats!! I was at that 1991 PA BreyerFest. I've been in State College since 1987 and it was clearly my only choice.
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