Since we're winding down to the end of the month and there still hasn't been a bay horse shown in the sneak peek from last month's newsletter, I'm assuming that the bay was, in fact, a regular run, most likely the Arabian mare. It definitely wasn't the lottery model for the Collector Club, who turned out to be Flamingo, and whom was shown today: I can't tell y'all how much I need this gal in my life. She is a beautiful (possibly pearly?) rose grey on the Weathergirl mold, my second favorite Arabian mold next to Ashquar. She is, quite literally, his girlfriend in my personal opinion, just as Forever Saige is the girlfriend to Fireheart. I entered for her, however I haven't been picked for anything in two years now, so I'm not holding my breath. Not to help matters, they lowered the number of her to 500 pieces... I'm not sure if they made too many of the last lottery model, who was limited to 1,000 pieces, but I'm hoping more that this is a reflection of the current number of CC members for the new year. I know not everyone renewed their membership this year after so many flaws showed up on the specialty club models so it's possible the number of CC members went down a bit from people who feel like they don't need to rejoin the Collector Club if they don't join the specialty clubs.
Honestly though the Stablemate Club and Premier Club both had huge dips in resale value from the influx of Collector Club members the past couple years due to Breyer now offering the Deluxe membership, so sad to say but there needs to be less competition. I'm assuming that the Premier Club was probably reaching well into the thousands the past few years since it is unlimited and since the Vintage Club, which is usually less popular, is already up to 1,000 memberships. This year, I'm planning on possibly keeping all three of my Premier Club models. Due to still fixing up the new farm we bought last year, I didn't get the chance to purchase a second membership, however we'll see how things sit financially next year so that I can - hopefully - start offering Premier Club models on my website. The Vintage Club models could quite possibly show up on my website, however, since we have no idea what Breyer will have in store for us until they're released. Hello, everyone. I still haven't gotten a chance to message back anyone who has tried contacting me over the past couple weeks. We're still incredibly busy here. I've been pulling 10 hour days at work (I'm used to only 8 hours and it's leaving me pretty exhausted by the end of the week) so getting everything we need to done has been going a lot more slowly than we'd hoped. Our property is now partially fenced and the ground is being broken for our new barn but we still have a lot of fencing to do. We're aiming for everything to be completed the first week of April, pushed back just a bit from our original date of April 1st. Below are some updated photos: Sadly, I wasn't able to come up with enough money in time to bail the little Paso Fino mare I posted about from the auction fate. I was about $500 short, plus transportation costs (gas prices are $4.25 down here) but I'm happy to announce that a rescue group did end up getting the highest bid on her at the March 10th auction so she won't be ending up on the meat truck, thankfully. Thank you to everyone who tried to help her from purchasing my models, and the money I did make from my model sales will be put to good use. It will be going towards purchasing another auction rescue once we're finished setting up. I will update when we plan on heading to the auction. On the Breyer end, we've had a few releases that you've probably heard about by now, however for those of you who haven't, I'll quickly go over each of them. Anyone who collects plushies... P'eggy the Easter pony was released while we were moving but is now sold out. However, if you missed her like I did, she may be available second hand. A discovery has been had of the new Vintage Club release, Cooper. I wasn't able to sell mine (he isn't a very popular mold despite being on an outrageously beautiful color) so he had to be shipped to a relative until we get our mailbox up and all that new address paperwork completed. Until I see him, I've been told of an oopsie made by Breyer in which rather than Vintage Club 2022 stamped on his belly, I will see "Kingfisher 2022" instead. Here is Breyer's official announcement: This solved the mystery of the next Birds of a Feather series sneak peeked in the newsletter who apparently won't be the real Kingfisher, but instead was a mare and foal pair named Robin and Nestling. These two, topped in a high gloss finish, are too adorable for words. However, I'm betting that, like Cooper, they won't be too popular since they're on vintage molds despite having a jaw dropping color. It was, however, very gutsy of Breyer to offer these, being the first on the series on vintage molds Breyerfest VIP tickets are still available to the surprise of many. However, I think the fact that Breyer is making VIP ticket holders pick up their models at the event and not shipping them this year has a lot to do with this. I'm tempted to get one myself if they don't sell out within a few more weeks. Those of you that put down deposits on Breyerfest pickups... I announced July 1st for the remaining payment but remember this could change if Breyer needs payment by, say, the end of May. The only thing we know right now is that we'll be making our master lists in May, but when models will be chosen and payment due is anybody's guess. Just be prepared if it IS earlier than July 1st. Shipping will still be requested after the event when I weigh the packages (especially those that ordered multiple models) and can give an accurate shipping weight.
Apparently the issues that plagued Breyer last week have not yet been fully resolved because they sent out an email today for their winter decorator (available via lottery draw) and shortly after I entered I saw on their website that entries had temporarily been suspended due to technical issues. They said they are planning to update as soon as they can, so I'm expecting a change in the dates on the entry form to make up for it depending how long it takes to sort out their computer issues. Not sure what's going on over there. Anyways, the winter decorator is Zugspitze on the beloved Georg mold, the main reason why I entered for him. He is one of the molds I'm going to continue to conga once I phase out my collection. They thankfully raised the number made to 450 to compensate for the growing number of Collector Club members and upped the price to $225 plus shipping. Pretty steep considering the larger amount when most of the lottery models were only 175 to 350 in number and cost less. Then again everything is going up. I just got hit with the news from my hay delivery guy that our hay will be going up $50 for a month supply. Not happy, but sadly just the way things are right now. I actually don't have a silver filigree anything in my collection, believe it or not. I had a silver filigree Misty at one time (Time to Party) from Breyerfest 2014 but ended up selling her and later regretted it, although admittedly I think Georg was made for this color. His large body just makes him look like a snow covered mountain. It says he is supposed to portray the Wetterstein Mountains in Germany. Breyer is already going all out with the German Breyerfest theme, apparently. Speaking of Prost! Breyer released ticket information today as well. There are going to be five different tickets in total. Three in-person tickets and two virtual tickets. Social media has been in a tizzy today in regards to the special runs being kept solely for in-person Breyerfest ticket holders, but honestly guys I'm not surprised. Breyerfest has always been an in-person event prior to the pandemic and Breyer probably lost out on a lot of money in shipping last year with everything getting delayed and needing to be shipped separately. Plus, unless you were international, Breyer didn't even charge shipping for anything. We need to be thankful they even had Breyerfest at all! At least now the special run models will still be a limited number. Ok, so now that that's off my chest, the three in-person tickets are: VIP, All Access (previous 3 Day) and General Admission (previous Single Day) tickets. They are the exact same as last year except you will be at the KHP rather than on your computer. The two new online tickets are Traditional Access and Stablemate Access. With Traditional you will get the celebration horse plus any store models you wish to purchase. Again NO SPECIAL RUNS WITH THIS TICKET. With Stablemate instead of the celebration horse you'll get a stablemate and any store models you wish to purchase. Both virtual tickets get all three days of online access. Here is Breyer's breakdown of cost and what is included with each ticket: Now that ticket information has been announced, I know many of you are wondering about pickups, especially my customers out West who are unable to attend in person. So I'm still going to continue to do pickups on everything except the surprise models, however I will be offering them a bit differently this year from last year. Last year, I went ahead and had everyone pay in full up front. This year, I'm going to offer a few with a small deposit due upon reveal of the model (most likely January/February) and the rest due a week before Breyerfest and shipping due the week after Breyerfest. So I will bill you to whatever payment method you used for the deposit around the beginning of July for the rest of the payment for the model and then again the Monday after Breyerfest for shipping.
Please be aware since the event is in person, it is possible there could be cancellations since an in person Breyerfest is relying upon the luck of the draw and not a computer. For this reason I try to keep the initial orders small, but I will refund you as soon as I know that you won't be getting your model(s). Since all models were sold out last year, I'm also going to also be making a backup waiting list once the initial orders sell out in case I end up with more models than I sold. These will NOT require a deposit and if there are any extras payment in full will be due the Monday after Breyerfest weekend. As is usual, I will be sure to check over each model before they are sent for any major flaws. I will explain how this will all work out through my website shortly after the first of the year. If you would like the celebration horse and nothing else, and don't really care about the virtual material, I am offering the celebration horse, Nikolas, for sale in my store right now until sell out. A couple years ago, Breyer offered a limited release that, as a reminder of the Connoisseur days, was painted here in the US rather than abroad. Well, they've yet again brought that back this year despite not doing one last year, and were smart this time to do him as a lottery rather than a free-for-all like they did with Ambrose, who sold out so quick that lots of complaints were to be had, including yours truly. I kept trying to tell myself he was too pricey, I didn't like the mold, etc just to convince myself that I didn't need him in my collection. This year's all American boy is called Midas, and he is on the Flash mold. Outside of the Premier Club, this is probably the only time to get a horse with mapped markings. He's a hefty $295 plus shipping but those complaining about the price... I invite you to take a look at stonehorses.com for comparison as to how much horses made in America cost. Speaking of the Premier Club, Zafirah, the first 2022 Premier Club release, has had her off side revealed. She is a lot nicer on her off side than her show side. I love the blending of colors in her mane and tail. Truly does look like fire. My only issue with the mold itself is the same issue I had with the new Friesian mold... Breyer's vintage Arabian molds are in pretty much the same pose as this guy. I understand that it was a replica of the original resin, but I wish they would have changed it just a bit. Given her more of a high carriage to her tail rather than just slightly lifted for example, which is the hallmark of Arabians. I don't know. Maybe I'll like this gal in other colors when Breyer releases her in future. I felt the same with the release of Emerson. Didn't think I'd like him until I got Rocket and now I have a small conga of him. It was the color throwing me off. We also have learned who the other two sculptors are going to be for next year: Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig and, directly from the horse's mouth as it were, "the artist of two previous Premier Club favorites, Dundee and Geronimo". I'm not sure why they aren't saying Kitty Cantrell's name (maybe she herself asked them not to use it) but she was Mooning Piglet Studios when she made Dundee. I have to say, with Dundee as one of my all-time favorites, I'm super thrilled that she's in the lineup next year. Sarah I'm iffy about. I loved Croi, but didn't care for her Marchador mold. In giving her the benefit of the doubt, going off her previous molds, she is very good at making dynamic sculptures, which I like to see over portrait models.
Now, Breyer, we know you won't spill many secrets of next year's Vintage Club (maybe the optional release if we're lucky) but could you perhaps share the Stablemates Club lineup? As of right now as I type this I have NOT joined. I'm downsizing on my stablemate collection to only a few select molds, and I really want to see if those such molds will be part of the SM Club next year. Pretty please, Breyer? Well apparently we didn't need very long to get the reveal for the new Wild Animal Series shown in the September newsletter. His name is Baruti and, as I predicted, he is on the Carrick mold. I could tell those ribs anywhere. Here is the full reveal: Made to look like a Gemsbok, this guy costs $195 to anyone who wins one via lottery drawing. Although not something I care to have in my own personal collection, his pattern is definitely inspiration for possibly a future custom I may do. I notice a rather steep price increase from previous lottery models in this collection and it's probably due to the cost of shipping going up. Breyer has to make up for it somehow.
I'm literally hyperventilating on this one! One of my favorite animals, outside of horses of course, are BIRDS! I currently have chickens, ducks, turkeys, quail and a family of fancy pigeons in my backyard as well as a trio of Cockatiels that share my home. Yeah, you could say I'm a bird person, so the new Birds of a Feather series by Breyer is right up my alley! That black neck in the newsletter apparently wasn't Shannondell, but I was pretty close in that it was a drafter. It is actually Wixom in an adorable Puffin costume complete with Puffin beak colored tail bobs: Unfortunately I have decided to pass on her though only because every Wixom I've ever had was tippy. Also I typically only get picked for one lottery model per year so I want to save my chance for something I really want. Hopefully they'll release a colorful parrot decorator in future! 🦜 She's $175 plus shipping if you're a CC member and would like to enter the lottery. Note that Breyer has changed the entries to one per account instead of once per day. Just for fun... a picture of one of my beautiful pigeons named Almond... ...and my 9 year old albino Cockatiel, named Elsa by my 8 year old daughter, who is sitting on me as I'm typing this:
"A few more sleeps" my foot! Breyer has already started taking names for the lottery drawing of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the new celestial set. Yep, I was correct in guessing the bears, but I wasn't expecting panda bears. Although they're cute (love me that bluish-black color) I don't collect Breyer's other animal molds so I'm going to pass. They are $175 including shipping and only 350 pieces were made. I would like to announce to all my readers that my web store is now officially up and running! I'm offering FREE shipping with purchases over $100 for the month of December. I'm also offering a layaway program on purchases over $200. You must contact me to do the layaway program... it is not available in checkout. I accept most major credit cards for the store but only Paypal for the layaway program. Items are usually shipped within 48 hours of receiving payment, though I really do try to get them out within a day. Once I receive news about the 2021 regular runs, I will be offering those for pre-order here on my website as well. Finally, I will have some never before seen customs available this Friday so be sure to check them out if that interests you. Thank you all for your support!
Right on time! Tractor Supply told me the estimated delivery date for Eclipse would be Thursday and here he is, although sadly his box was crushed in the mail. Thankfully the horse was ok. In hand, this guy is a stunner. It appears that the blue on him is in the black paint and not over the white areas (kind of hard to tell from the promo pictures) but that just adds to his collectibility, otherwise he'd just be like any of the other previous TSC black and white pintos. The particular horse I received was very blue compared to most of the ones I've seen. Breyer is really hitting it out of the park this year. Although I'm not too happy about the damaged box, I am glad it wasn't worse, as so many people had theirs show up crushed to where there were flaws. I don't think the flaws he has are from the damage because the flaws were nowhere near the crush site. They just appear to me to be typical paint flaws that are common with TSC horses. I'm super thankful to have been able to get one at all. I feel like he's going to be a big sell out. If anyone is interested in purchasing the Tractor Supply exclusives online, here is the link. I wasn't too sure about this mold when the original Emerson came out, but I have to admit that after seeing Winx and this guy, the mold is really growing on me. I think it was Emerson's coloring that I didn't really care for. Winx is probably the only plain bay I have in my collection besides American Pharoah, both horses I was fond of watching race. Plain bay actually looks good on this mold because it looks just like what a typical young, staturistic Thoroughbred should. I try to resist congas, but I may try to conga the obtainables on this mold. Also, remember that foal in the August newsletter? Well here he is, and he's got a buddy! I thought the sneak peek was going to be the Collector Club fall special run, but it turns out that it's actually a lottery of the next in the Wild Animal Series. They are $150 for the pair, and if you're a Collector Club member, you can enter to try to win them. I'm kind of relieved to be honest, as this is a series I don't collect and I have a lot of dealer orders put in for this month so spendings will be a bit tight for September. Hopefully if they're going to release a fall Collector Club SR this year (provided COVID didn't affect production) they'll hold off on releasing it until next month. Maybe we'll see a sneak peek for it in the September newsletter?
This gal was the teaser picture in the June Collector Club newsletter. Although it's not uncommon for Breyer to change series up a bit, I was a bit surprised that they chose to do a decorator for their Berry Pony Series. I thought for sure it was going to be the sneak peek of the fall special run for flagship dealers since those are always decos. I don't know what it is about this pattern but I kind of like it. If she were pearly pink instead of clearware, I'd probably enter for her if my funds weren't drained from Breyerfest. Really, Breyer, give us a break! Her name, fittingly, is Strawberry. My Breyerfest loot is supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I can't tell you all how excited I am! I'm going to be like a child opening her presents on Christmas :)
Everyone asked and Breyer listened! Here is the Bouncer that everyone has been wishing for: Not sure what's with all the appaloosas this year (Goji, Lionel, the second PC release, Klaus, Thorn, Oak, the 70th anniversary Indian Pony and now this guy) but it must be the year of the spotted horses for sure! While he's cute, I'm not too big on leopard appys. Now before y'all start hating on me I do love them in real life, yes, but I don't always like them on Breyers because of all the blank color. Now, depending upon if the white is chalky (basecoated) or if it's simply bare plastic is a huge factor in whether I'll buy them or not. This guy I admit I think is one of the better leopards that Breyer has done. If he were glossy, I'd probably take the gamble of seeing if his coat is chalky or not, but I don't really have the $160 to throw on him right now to find out. The bare plastic is the reason I traded my appy Nayati for a pinto. The Nayati I traded for came with an unusually pink face. The gal I traded with said she got three of the same, and I'm pretty sure the pinto she sent me pictures of wasn't the same one she sent me because that one had a lot less white. Still, I rather like the pink face, and he fits in a lot better with my flashy pinto herd than the appy. I'm actually rather fond of the pinking. There is apparently a world wide paint crisis I don't know about, or a lot of really bored people hoarding art supplies. Whatever the case, all the local Walmart stores in my area are out of paint. If they don't stock up soon, I'm also going to be out of paint and thus the horses I'm currently working on now will have to be my last customs for a while. I finally finished my Classic giraffe, my tiger Misty and Stormy and an American Dream inspired by Mischief Night. I have a few stablemates left that are almost done but, again, these will probably be my last customs for a while. Apparently Breyer is also dealing with their own set of quarantined problems because I have three orders that have not been shipped yet, including Altynai, and I ordered him the day he was released. Very unusual for Breyer to be so backed up... not sure what's going on. Usually they have my shipments out with a couple of days.
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