BreyerFest Open Show 2014: More exquisite equines!

On Friday morning, we were up bright and early... Scratch that. Dark and really early as you can see from this picture my sister snapped as we waited for the doors of the show hall to open.

Mom and me and lots of coffee

This was our 25th year attending BreyerFest, so early mornings and little sleep are par for the course. Happily, the busiest part of our show day takes place first thing, so we were well caffeinated and raring to go (no pun intended) for collectors classes at 7 AM.

At BreyerFest, the collectors classes are split into three divisions: novice, variety (essentially collectibility), and commonality (theme). I'll do a post specifically about collectors classes later, but for those of you who may not have seen them before, the purpose of these classes is to showcase a small subset of a collector's best and rarest models. The classes allow you to display 8 to 12 models, and creativity and good documentation are encouraged. Here are some of the winners from each division.

NOVICE

Novice 1st place

Novice 2nd place

Novice 3rd place

Novice 4th place

VARIETY

Variety 1st place

Variety 2nd place

Variety 3rd place

Variety 4th place

Variety 5th place

COMMONALITY

Commonality 1st place

Commonality 2nd place

Commonality 3rd place

Commonality 4th place

Commonality 5th place

Commonality 6th place

As you can see, there were some pretty amazing rarities to be seen! If you're a collectibility nerd like me, it's worth getting up early just to go and spectate. I wish I'd had more time to take pictures once the regular collectibility halter classes began, but both my sister and I had a full showstring, so we were on the move all morning once the collectors classes ended. Maybe next year! :-)

NAN 2014: Pretty pony picture post!

I have a lot of new posts in the pipeline, but before I buckle down and finish writing them all, I thought it might be fun to share some of my pix from NAN and BreyerFest since that weekend was all about collectibility for me and my family.

My mom, sister, and I have been collectibility nuts for quite a long time, but we had never showed at NAN in that division until this year. Since most of our show horses were coming for BF anyway, adding an extra day to our annual Lexington pilgrimage was easy and fun. As to be expected at the North American Nationals, the competition was fierce! We were thrilled to come home with a pile of plaques and rosettes.

Breyer Davy Crockett with all original accessories including the box and instruction sheets. This is the only known set with the original box. This is the very set mentioned in Marney Walerius' book.

Hagen-Renaker Designers Workshop Bedouin in mint condition with all tassels, original rifle, and sticker.

Breyer Wedgewood Running Foal with original box. She won the toughest decorator class I've ever seen. I did not envy the judges their task!

Nymphenberg "Fallen Horse" sculpted by Theodor Kärner. One of only a handful of color-glazed examples known.

Breyer Mountie with all accessories and the original box. This is the hard to find version with Drewries Brewry stickers on the saddle cloth.

OOAK Stone Arab test run painted by Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig

Breyer Alabaster Family Arabian Stallion in his very rare original "Touchability" box

Breyer "Ford Pinto" Family Arabian Foal

Breyer Kelso with an elusive, possibly unreleased "dumb bell" sticker

Breyer G1 Stablemate Saddlebred 1975 25th anniversary silver plated model.

Breyer Woodgrain Proud Arabian Mare (Really thrilled by this win!)

And last but not least, the circa 1970-1971 test run Proud Arabian Mare from Marney's collection. This model is believed to have been a test for the re-release of the Proud Arabian Mare mold in 1971. Marney brought this piece home from the factory in that year, and she's been treasured by collectors ever since.

Posting all of these pictures makes me itch to tell the stories behind these rare models, and I promise I will as I am able. I think they might be perfect for some future Friday Featurettes!

BreyerFest pictures coming in the next post!