Collectibility Spotlight: Volunteer Models, Part 3

Finishing up my three-part series on volunteer models I’ve earned over the years.

 

 

I loathe the Croi mold with every fiber of my being, so when she was announced as the 2023 volunteer model, I thought maybe she would be the first one I’d ever part with. #711635 Chevalier came in three colors of 125 pieces each - sunburnt black, bay, and red roan, all with a snowcap appaloosa pattern. The sunburnt black and bay were given to volunteers at BreyerWest; the red roan wasn’t revealed until BreyerFest. If I had to pick, bay would have been my choice (shocking), but I wasn’t surprised when I received the red roan after volunteering at the C&Y show. Mathematically, it just made sense. All 125 red roans were given out at BreyerFest, while a good portion of the 125 unburnt blacks and 125 bays were given out at BreyerWest.

I put her up for trade in my CHIN room that night. I was specifically looking for a glossy Bravour 54, who was given out as a diorama contest prize. The relative rarity was pretty lopsided - there were 125 of Chevalier and only 41 of the glossy Bravour - but Bravour wasn’t all that popular, so I thought it a fairly even trade. I have a sizable Trakehner conga and glossy Bravour would have fit in nicely.

I spent the entire night looking at Chevalier from across the room and going, “Wow, she’s actually kind of pretty.”

She’s still here.

Her show name is Earthquake Curtains; for the story on that, check out my November Show Stopper’s post.

 

 

I was secretly pleased when Bluegrass Bandit was the volunteer mold for 2024, though she wasn’t received with as much enthusiasm in the rest of the hobby. I only had one BGB in my collection to that point, the original Bluegrass Bandit herself, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the mold. Like Chevalier, #10130 Worth It was issued in three colors - flaxen liver chestnut, flaxen medium chestnut, and flaxen light chestnut, all with a sabino pattern. There were 133 of each color made. I loved all three, but the lightest one was my favorite, and that’s who I was lucky enough to get at BreyerFest. She is unshown so far.

 

 

#B-EV-10472 Salud was the 2025 volunteer model on the Duende (Spanish Stallion) mold. His patterns were designed by equine genetics and color expert Lesli Kathman and were intended to showcase some of the unique colors and patterns present in the Mangalarga Paulista breed from Brazil. The three colors were black with Belton spotting, fleabit gray with reverse markings (a dark leg where there would normally be a white one), and salpicada, which produces a really interesting distribution of white hairs throughout the horse’s coat, similar to roan but not identical. There were 126 pieces of each color produced.

For me, these three models represented a really nifty idea with not-so-nifty execution by Breyer. Breyer isn’t known for keeping to realistic colors or patterns on the pieces they produce, so trying to find a good breed assignment for many models can be a challenge. That’s not what happened here - they consulted Lesli, who put three colors that occur in Spanish breeds onto a Spanish mold and gave detailed explanations of why and how each color and pattern occurs in nature. Any of the three Salud models could represent a live horse and should thus theoretically do well in the show ring. Lesli is extremely good at what she does, and I would encourage anyone to follow her blog and read her books (especially if you show or judge), because you’ll learn a ton.

However, I don’t think the patterns translated well to Breyer’s production techniques. I just don’t think Breyer could replicate what Lesli asked for. Belton spots look extremely cool on real horses (seriously, give it a quick Google search, they’re neat) but the ones on Salud ended up looking like an Oreo blizzard. The salpicada also didn’t translate as Lesli had intended (by her own words) - the division between the white-ticked areas and the dark areas wasn’t supposed to be quite so stark. The gray is my favorite of the three; the dark lower leg looks a little weird, but it’s easy to find examples of that in Spanish breeds (and some others as well).

I received the salpicada for volunteering at the C&Y show. I also stewarded for BOO that year and was hoping for a gray, but received a second salpicada. I had my extra salpicada up for trades for a gray at BreyerFest this year, but was only offered a black one, not a gray, and I just couldn’t love the black one with those Oreo legs when I saw him in hand. I’ll hang onto Salpicada #2 and hope to trade him for a gray in a future year.

 

 

I just talked about my eyeless #B-EV-10781 Vegvísir in July, so you can go read more about him there, if you’re so inclined.

 

There are so many volunteer models on my wish list, but I only foresee being able to afford a handful (like both of the other colors of Worth It). Someday I'd love to add a Poet, Sonnet, Blue Grass, the unnamed silver bay sabino Wixom, and the unnamed chestnut Legionario.

 

I swore I've given up on trying to predict the volunteer mold, but I may or may not have already started a prediction spreadsheet for next year ...