Breyer Production: USA vs China

Certain hobby topics seem to be cyclical on social media. Every time a new model is released, whether it's a web special or a Premier Club horse or some other collector exclusive, there will always be people lamenting tiny flaws and complaining that Breyers were better before production moved to China. There's honestly a lot to unpack in such a statement, not the least of which are the xenophobic undertones. I try to keep this blog upbeat and positive, but I am really tired of hearing this unfounded and frankly ugly invective.

I have been collecting for 40 years now (holy crap), and my collection definitely trends very heavily to vintage models. I am a huge history nerd, so of course the old, rare, and weird models have great appeal for me. But I am also an artist and a horse color genetics geek, and while I am very selective about the new models I buy because I have limited disposable income, I am an enthusiastic collector of the fantastic new molds and intricate, realistic colors Breyer has been producing lately. 

But first, a brief history lesson. As most of us know, Breyer started making model horses in 1950 at their Chicago, IL, factory. In 1984, Breyer was acquired by Reeves International, and production moved to Pequannock, NJ, for a few years. Plastic injection molding is an expensive business---each steel mold costs more than $100,000 to tool---and by the early 1990s, Breyer, like so many other American companies, began to move some of their production overseas. The move happened gradually with the Stablemates starting production in China in 1992. The Little Bit/Paddock Pal and Classic scale molds followed a few years later in about 1997. And 2001 marked the last year that the Breyer dealer catalogs mentioned that any of their models were still made in the USA, meaning that all of the Traditional and Animal molds had been moved overseas by the following year.

So how do we judge what constitutes "better?" The quality and intricacy of the paint job? The anatomical correctness of the sculpture? The quality of the molding itself? Factory flaws? Value?

The quality of paint work seems to be the most common complaint when the subject of where models are made comes up, so I thought it would be interesting to compare Breyer appaloosas across the decades. The appaloosa pattern, in my opinion, is one of the most difficult colors to reproduce accurately in miniature. I still struggle with it despite having been a customizer for almost 25 years now. 

Let's have a look at the models in the photo below. The two appaloosa models on the left were made in the USA (1970s and 1996 respectively) and the two on the right were made in China (2023 and 2021). The appaloosa Quarter Horse Yearling on the far left is a typical example of how most appaloosa models were painted for decades with flicked-on spots over a vaguely defined white blanket. It gets the idea across, but it's not very realistic. Eventually, Breyer did begin to produce a few Appaloosa models with masked blankets and spots like Stud Spider, but because the masks did not fit snugly, the models all had varying levels of overspray. Cinnamon, second from the left below, is truthfully a weird outlier for Breyer, but she's definitely not the only questionable paint job from the USA years.

Adonis (rearing) and Danash's Northern Tempest (far right) are far more nuanced and correct. In terms of realism and intricacy, there's simply no contest. The models produced in China have carefully masked patterns that closely recreate real horse patterns. 

Breyer Appaloosas from varying eras

In terms of anatomical and biomechanical correctness, most of Breyer's new molds made in the last 20 years have been better than those of the past. That is not meant to be a knock on Chris Hess, the artist who sculpted the majority of Breyer's models from 1950-1987. He was a serious artist in his own right having studied at the renowned Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to sculpting, he was also the craftsman and engineer who tooled all of the original Breyer molds. While many of his models do suffer from some common anatomical flaws---eyes set too high, incorrect musculature, etc---some of his pieces are still highly regarded by collectors for their timeless correctness, like Lady Phase.

But horses are incredibly complex anatomically, and as much as I love a number of Hess' sculptures, they simply can't compare to the dialed in accuracy of the models sculpted in the last 20 years by the hobby's premier artists. While none of these new sculptures are perfect, the artists creating them have been better able to specialize in equine anatomy. They have had better and easier access to reference materials, and molding technology has improved to allow finer details and more intricate poses.

Morgen Kilbourn's True North mold (left) and Chris Hess' 
Quarter Horse Yearling mold (right), both lovely in their own way

When it comes to molding quality, once again, there's just no contest. Most older models have prominent seams pretty much all over---back, belly, up and down the legs, across the chest, and even on the face. Because I customize as well as collect OFs, I have become very well-acquainted with the seams on most molds, and I have found that prepping vintage models is usually a bit of a nightmare. The old mold Proud Arabian Mare pictured below was made in the late 1950s, but seams like this were typical on pretty much all models well into the 1980s and 1990s. 

Photo by Lindsay Diamond

Molding models in dynamic poses is a challenge, and the technology was just not there yet for some models molded in the USA-years like this Scratching Foal from the 1970s.

Photo by Jen Boss

In addition to prominent seams, many older models show evidence of careless seam cleaning and lax clean-up of the model in general. This can be seen in the form of chatter marks from dremels skipping over the surface of the model and sometimes extraneous bits of plastic that should have been sanded off but that were instead ignored and painted over.

Dremel chatter on a Clydesdale Stallion (Photo by
Jennifer Tirrell)

Excess plastic gunk on the belly of a Shetland Pony
(Photo by Matt Hanson)

Excess plastic on the neck of a Clydesdale Stallion
(Photo by Mel Grant)

Many older models, especially some of the Classics, are also more likely to need details sculpted back in when prepping, especially on the heads and legs. For example, I love the Classic molds sculpted by Maureen Love, but they take much, much longer to prep because of the poorly cleaned seams, misshapen legs, hooves, and faces, and often crooked, blobby ears. This is frustrating to deal with as a customizer because it means many hours more work to make the model suitable for painting. But as an OF collector, too, it's sad to see careless prep work on otherwise exceptional sculptures. The Classic Arabian Stallion pictured below is not at all unusual in terms of how poorly the seam across the face was cleaned, the blobby ears, and the shallow, barely there nostrils. And as if this poor guy didn't have enough problems already, his star is completely off-center.

Photo by Levi Kroll

In contrast, it's a breeze to prep modern, made in China molds because they hardly have any seams to clean. Most only need a little clean up on the manes and tails and behind the pasterns. These molds also have better sculptural detail such as well-shaped, concave ears and nostrils and realistic heel bulbs and frogs. Most older molds need to have those details carved or sculpted by the customizer, adding to prep time. In the OF show ring, most judges will excuse seams because that is just the nature of OF models, but cleaner seams and better detailing on an excellent sculpture is hard to beat.

No seams!

None here either!

Most older Breyers were made for many years, sometimes decades, so paint colors often varied over the course of the run. Collectors generally don't mind this kind of inconsistency because variation collecting can be a lot of fun.

Three variations of the #216 Mahogany Proud Arabian Mare

However, one of the common complaints about models made in China is a lack of consistency in painting, and I personally just haven't seen it. I often buy multiple examples of models I plan to repaint---one to keep OF and the others to paint and sell. For at least the last 10-15 years, I've been finding it much harder to pick out the nicest model to keep because the shading and detailing is pretty consistent across the board. There are nuances, but they're much more subtle than they were 20+ years ago.

I still can't decide which one to keep OF

Painting flaws like overspray, misaligned masking, or missed spots are another common complaint about models produced in China. And while those problems definitely occur, they were just as common on models produced in the USA. I would argue the mistakes made on new models are generally not as egregious or weird as some of the ones found on older models. For example, someone was having an off day when they painted the eyes on this Clydesdale Foal. Did they sneeze? Or have the hiccups?

Photos by Beau Schenfelt

The buckskin Quarter Horse Gelding sometimes had a thin partial dorsal stripe, but this poor guy has a giant dorsal blorp. This kind of mistake would be relegated to the regrind bin these days.

Photo by Kelly Weimer

Splatter dapples and appaloosa spots have a definite nostalgic charm, but I suspect most collectors would not find these streaks acceptable now. We give it a pass on vintage models because we know quality control was pretty lax for a long time, and there's nothing to be done about it now.

Photo by Sara Parr

Poor Cinnamon's ultra precise polka dots and pinking shears blanket go too far in the opposite direction. She's kind of cute in a "bless your heart" sort of way, but this too would never fly for modern collectors. (We definitely laughed about it in 1996 when she was released, too.)

Dani, the 2021 BreyerFest celebration model, meanwhile is perhaps the most ambitious, widely-available, mass-produced OF model horse ever made. For the price of a virtual BreyerFest ticket (early bird tickets were $72.50), collectors received this absolutely stunning model. That's hardly more than one would pay to buy a regular run model online or even in a store. It still blows my mind that Breyer offered a hugely complicated, BreyerFest auction model worthy paint job like this to thousands of collectors as a large, easily obtainable run. 

We have come SO FAR, my friends. This model just makes
my heart sing. She is so lovely.

In terms of value, regular run and special run models made in the USA and China have been a mixed bag. Some continue to appreciate in value while others can be hard to sell even below cost. Mold, color, and rarity have much more bearing on value than which country the models were made in. Prices on rare models from both countries have been trending up significantly in recent years, and while they seem to have peaked during the pandemic, the market doesn't seem to have cooled much on true oddities. 

With all this in mind, I think it's fair to say that both nice models and flawed models have been produced in the USA and in China. That is simply the nature of mass-production. But that said, it would be disingenuous to suggest that Breyer horses are regressing in quality and have been for the last 20-30 years. It's very clear to me, both from an artistic standpoint and from a showing and judging perspective, that Breyer models have only been getting better every year, especially the last 5 or so years. The technology for molding, masking, and painting has improved markedly in the last 20 years. Sure, there have been bumps in the road here and there, but by and large, the product Breyer is putting out is phenomenal for a mass-produced, still hand-painted-by-actual-human-beings toy. The models coming out of China, whether regular run or special run, are straight-up amazing. And to deny that is a slap in the face to all of the artists in our community whose sculptures and design work for Breyer have driven this renaissance in OF quality.

One last thing to consider is that Breyer moved production to China for a very good reason---cost, both production cost and consumer cost. For 50 years, they were rightly proud to declare that their products were American made, but when the choice is to either go out of business due to high production and consumer costs or move production overseas and stay in business, there really is no choice at all. It was cheaper for Breyer to move all of their molds to China and then pay to import the finished products back to the USA to be able to offer consumers a reasonable price-point for purchasing rather than to keep production in the USA. Obviously, that speaks volumes about how broken the manufacturing laws and incentives are here in the USA and also, even worse, how poorly workers in China are paid. (I am not a student of economics, so I'll leave a deeper dive on those subjects to others.) But I do have to wonder how many collectors who complain about the quality of Breyers made in China would still buy them at 5 to 10 times the price if manufacturing were returned to this country? I'm guessing not many.

So, with all that in mind, the argument that models made in China are not as good as those made in the USA is absolute bunk. As the photos in this post show, the models made in China are better in easily quantifiable ways. They're much better prepped before painting, and the paint jobs themselves are more complicated, more consistent, and more realistic. The sculptures are more correct, more dynamic, and more diverse in terms of represented breeds. It is of course absolutely fine to prefer older models stylistically; I too am nostalgic for the models I grew up with, and I thoroughly enjoy collecting older pieces and learning about their history. Who doesn't love a beautifully shaded old glossy after all? But declaring USA-made models "better" with no tangible examples as to why makes one wonder what these anti-made-in-China collectors are really complaining about. Why not just enjoy both for the positives they each possess? 

Hartlands Oddities: It's Not Easy Being Green

If you grew up watching the The Muppet Show and Sesame Street like me, you probably remember Kermit the Frog lamenting in his signature song that being green meant he "blend[ed] in with so many other ordinary things." While green is indeed a normal color for frogs and leaves, in the world of model horses, green stands out as pretty weird, especially when it's unintentional! Such is the case with certain early Hartland models made in the 1950s and 1960s.

Exactly why these models have turned green isn't entirely clear, especially since some, but not all, from a given run have shown a tendency to turn green. But the most likely explanation is that something in the paint was sensitive to UV radiation in sunlight. UV is well-known to have deleterious effects on paint and plastic, especially with prolonged exposure.

The earliest green Hartland horses I know of are the aptly nicknamed "bile green" Victors made from roughly late 1948/early 1949 to 1950.¹ (The Victor is the model Mastercrafters Clock and Radio Company commissioned for their clocks that was subsequently copied by Breyer for the same purpose.) Breyer historian Nancy Young dubbed the color thusly, and it is quite apropos. Originally, the horses were a sort of shaded chestnut or sorrel color with grey, dark brown, or even black shading. Their saddles were painted to match. Nearly all examples, whether over a clock or freestanding, have turned a rather bilious shade of yellowy-green.

Hartland Victor and Mastercrafters Clock

My own Victor over the clock pictured above retains some traces of his original color under the saddle. This lends strength to the idea that a reaction to light is the culprit for the green color everywhere else.  

Finding Hartland Victors that are still the original brown color is quite rare, but I was lucky enough to snag the freestanding model below on eBay a few years ago. He does have a faintly yellow cast to his plastic which is probably age-related, but the contrast against the now-green clock Victor behind him is pretty striking.

Interestingly, this odd color was dubbed "palomino" in this June 1950 spotlight in Toys and Novelties. I'm not sure if Hartland ever called the color that or if it was assumed by the non-horse savvy writers of the magazine.

In the early 1950s, Hartland replaced the Victor with the Large Champ mold. It was released in several colors including palomino, and the earliest palominos had an unfortunate tendency to turn green as well. Most are not quite so dramatically green as the Victors, but they still stand out when compared to their non-green brethren. The Champ on the left below is the earliest of the three, and both he and his saddle are faintly green. The chalky palomino in the middle shows no signs of paint discoloration, and neither does the second version palomino Champ on the right. I'm not sure if the saddle is original to that horse, but it has turned a greenish-grey color. These horses were all made sometime between about late 1953/early 1954 until about 1957.²

Other palomino models from the '50s and '60s have turned green as well, but unlike the Victors which have nearly all turned green, with these somewhat later models, green is the exception rather than the rule. The ones that have turned green are painted in a similar, thin yellowy palomino color, and even a few bays and chestnuts have been affected as well. The greenish ones tend to also look slightly faded in intensity compared to other examples of the same models that have not changed color.

Here are some other fun examples of green ponies. This little horse on the base dates to around 1950, and very few painted examples of this mold are known.³ His color is similar to that used on the sorrel-turned-green Victors.

Some of the palomino 800 series horses that were made as part of the horse and rider sets in the late 1950s and early 1960s have turned a semi-neon green color like this poor guy. The lighting is not great in these photos, but the horse is indisputably green. Note the thin, faded look of the paint.

Photo from Etsy

Photo from Etsy

Horses from the later 1960s were affected as well. The 6" palomino weanlings shown below were made from 1964-1968, and while most have retained their proper palomino color, a few are definitely green.

Photo on the left by Lois F; photo on the right from Etsy

As I mentioned above, a few non-palomino models have been known to turn rather green as well. My 7" Tennessee Walking Horse family (made 1965-1967) which includes a palomino stallion, a bay mare, and a flaxen chestnut foal, have all turned green, but only on one side. Presumably, they all stood in a window for a time and changed color on the light exposed side.

I couldn't resist picking up an extra TWH foal at BreyerFest this year. He is exquisitely green all over. 

Technically, the state of green-ness of these Hartlands is the result of damage, but I personally find them fascinating and quirky. My green Hartland Victor clock is one of my most favorite oddities in my collection. Even Kermit realized that being green is beautiful, and these neat old models are, too.



Sources:

1) Mike Jackson's Hartland Site, Mastercrafters Clock history: https://www.myhartlands.com/?page_id=276

2) Mike Jackson's Hartland Site, Champ History: https://www.myhartlands.com/?page_id=232

3) Fitch, Gail. Hartland Horses and Dogs. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Limited, 2001), 169.

Pottery + Model Horses = Nerdy Bliss

My friends, I have a confession to make. I am a pot head. Yes, you read that right.

I. Love. Pottery.

There, I've said it. Now you all know my terrible secret. Model horses are (obviously) my main collecting passion, but I must confess to having a pottery addiction as well. There are pots all over my apartment. I seek them out to admire in museums. I even want to make my own. The horror!

Zuni, Hopi, and Acoma pots

I'm not sure I can quantify what it is I love about glazed ceramics. I am drawn to soft, matte glazes...

As well as brilliant glossy finishes.

I definitely have a thing for earth tones---shades of brown, grey, blue, and green.

I have pottery that was made near my home town.

Red Wing Pottery from Red Wing, MN

I even have a pot that once belonged to a famous person who owned a famous horse.

A pot from the estate of Penny Chenery, owner of Secretariat

But my particular pottery interest is Puebloan pottery made by the Native tribes of the American southwest. I grew up surrounded by Native American artefacts---Navajo rugs, Chippewa beadwork, Zuni jewelry, and Acoma pottery---and I can finally afford to indulge my interest in Native arts on a small scale. 

(The Black Bisque Quail is Hagen-Renaker;
the pots and black horse are Native made.)

Sometimes, my model horse and pottery addictions intertwine---I do collect a lot of ceramic horses and animals after all---and they display beautifully together on my shelves. 

One of my ceramic horses is actually a piece of Native pottery.

Santa Clara horse figurine

I also have a great deal of interest in ancient pottery, especially Ancestral Puebloan (aka Anasazi) pottery, in particular the beautiful and enigmatic figural Mimbres pieces. Such pots are far out of my price range, not to mention the due diligence needed to buy legally collected ancient pots, but happily I live near the Field Museum which has an incredible collection I enjoy visiting regularly.

Just one of many display cases full of amazing Ancestral
Puebloan pots at the Field Museum

I have also had the pleasure of visiting the lovely Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum at Mesa Verde National Park near Cortez, Colorado.

Me geeking out over pots

My second love when it comes to ancient pottery is what is generally lumped together as Greek. This includes the early Minoan, Mycenean, and Geometric styles as well as the later, better known black-figure and red-figure pottery of Classical Greece. As you can see from my Native pottery collection, in addition to earth tones, I am also drawn to patterns of black and white or black, white, and red.

In terms of ancient Greek pottery, I love the simple geometric designs of the oldest Minoan and Mycenean pieces (circa 2600-800 BCE)---concentric bands of alternating color, patterns of circles and spirals, key patterns, and more. I am also hugely enamored of the many wonderful figural Minoan pots covered in googly-eyed octopi and other sea creatures.

L to R: Photos by Wolfgang Sauber, Olaf Tausch,
and Marie-Lan Nguyen

Styles in Greece transitioned from patterns of predominantly black designs on white backgrounds to the Classical form termed "black figure" in the 600s BCE. These were pieces featuring black designs painted on a reddish-orange background with fine details picked out in white. The decoration also morphed to feature the human figure predominantly, especially scenes from mythology or athletic competitions. The finest examples of Greek pottery were very often prizes awarded at various athletic games held every 2 or 4 years depending on the location. Some would have been large bowls intended as vessels for mixing wine while others were beautifully decorated containers for olive oil, a valuable commodity.

Needless to say, I was hugely excited when I saw Nemea, the BreyerFest 2023 special run inspired by this black-figure amphora depicting a chariot race in the British Museum. This pot was made in Athens circa 410-400 BCE and was found in Cyrenaica (modern Libya). It would likely have been a prize for an athletic competition, presumably a chariot race.

Photo by Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany, CC
BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Breyer artist (as well as fantastic artist in her own right) Heather Puleo did a magnificent job translating this work into a Breyer design.

Photo from breyerhorses.com

Breyer clearly has my number when it comes to all of the recent models inspired by historical figures or ancient art. I can't wait to add Nemea to my shelf along with Boudicca and Knossos!

Secretariat, the Return of the Decorators, and a Missing Link Test Run?

This year marks the 50th anniversary---the golden anniversary no less---of Secretariat's Triple Crown victory in 1973. To celebrate, Breyer has produced a new gold charm Secretariat model on the Smarty Jones mold reminiscent of the one they released almost 25 years ago on the original Secretariat mold. And they have also recently debuted a classic scale gold charm Secretariat for the Vintage Club on the Man O' War mold. So it seems particularly fitting therefore that a gold charm test run model possibly related to that first gold charm Secretariat model came to light just a few months ago.

Unfinished test run gold charm Classic Black Stallion

But first, a little backstory. As everyone knows, Secretariat swept the Triple Crown in 1973 in dramatic fashion, winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in stakes record times before smashing the Belmont by 31 lengths in a new world record that still stands to this day.

As I've mentioned here and on my studio blog, I have been a horse racing fan my whole life. I learned to read with C. W. Anderson's horse stories, and I was always enthralled by his memories of great horses like Native Dancer, Stymie, Exterminator, and especially Man O' War. Despite all the talented horses he saw in his lifetime, Anderson never wavered from his opinion that the original Big Red was the greatest of them all. He died in 1971 however, two years before the mighty Secretariat swept the Triple Crown, and I have always wondered what he would have written about the second Big Red.

While I'm too young to have seen Secretariat, I do nonetheless have a very clear memory of the evening news reporting Secretariat's death on October 4, 1989. I was only eleven at the time, but I had seen his Triple Crown races on a VHS tape my parents had bought for me of the (then) eleven Triple Crown winners. I knew he'd been a phenomenal racehorse, and Lady's Secret and Risen Star had proved that he was a good sire as well only a few years earlier.

Breyer did not release a Secretariat model until 1987, almost 15 years after the great horse's Triple Crown triumph. Breyer historian Nancy Young wrote that Breyer had approached Penny Chenery, Secretariat's owner, shortly after his great victory to make a model, but Penny had declined, feeling that a toy was inappropriate. Peter Stone finally won her over years later with an appeal of "what about the children?" Secretariat debuted as part of the Artist Series, a line of small traditional scale models by well-known equine artists like Chris Hess, Rich Rudish, and Jeanne Mellin Herrick. It was the last model Hess sculpted for Breyer before he passed away.

I honestly don't recall a thing about buying my regular chestnut Secretariat model, but I do very well remember acquiring one of the next colors released on the mold, the gold charm.

This model was in storage for 30 years, hence his bright,
untarnished gold color

In the late 1980s, after Reeves International bought Breyer, Peter Stone continued to work for the company and travel the country promoting Breyer models. For several years, Breyer hosted a series of signing parties at various toy stores where Peter would visit for an afternoon and sign any models customers purchased or brought in from their own collections. In 1990, a special run gold charm Secretariat model was offered to signing party attendees. My dad very sweetly drove me and my little sister Sarah to a toy store in downtown Atlanta where we stood in line to buy a gold Secretariat and have it signed by Peter.

 

 

At that time, it had been more than 25 years since Breyer had produced the original decorator models, and needless to say, the gold charm Secretariat caused a bit of a stir. While we stood in line, my dad and I chatted with other collectors about it, and part of the excitement was the reintroduction of a decorator color after so long, and part of it was due the fact that it was not quite a traditional gold charm model. Instead of having a white mane and tail, bald face, and four white feet like the '60s gold charm models, the new Secretariat was gold all over with a blaze and 3 socks like those of the real horse. And as a run of only 3500 pieces, he was considered somewhat limited in those pre-internet days.

 

 

A 1960s gold charm Mustang for comparison

Later that summer in July 1990 at the inaugural BreyerFest, yet another new decorator was released, a florentine Misty raffle model limited to 21 pieces. The color and style of this model were a close match to the florentine models of the 1960s.

1990 BreyerFest raffle model florentine Misty

A 1960s florentine Mustang for comparison 

The following year, Breyer held BreyerFest events at four locations---in Lexington at the Kentucky Horse Park as they done the year before, as well as in Redmond/Bend, OR; York, PA; and Pomona, CA. Each location had a different decorator raffle model, and unlike the florentine Misty from the previous year, none of the 1991 decorator raffle models were a match for their 1960s counterpoints.

The 4 original 1960s decorator colors

The florentine Legionario does not have a white mane and tail, has only two socks and no bald face, and has grey hooves instead of pink. The copenhagen San Domingo does not have a white mane, tail,  socks, or bald face, and he also has grey hooves. The gold charm Man O' War is gold all over except for his star to match the real horse. And the wedgewood Sham has a white mane and tail and four socks but no bald face, and grey hooves instead of pink.

The 1991 BreyerFest raffle decorators (Man O' War photo
from Identify Your Breyer, Sham photo by Mel Grant,
Legionario photo by Sarah Wellman, San Domingo photo
by Molly Bates)

Subsequent decorator models such as the 1996 BreyerFest raffle model Malibu, a wedgewood Hackney, returned to the style of the 1960s models with white manes, tails, bald faces, socks, and pink hooves.

So when this gold charm Classic Black Stallion turned up in an online auction a few months ago, it immediately caught my attention because it reminded me strongly of the gold charm Secretariat and the 1991 raffle models. I was certain he was original finish because everything about the way he was painted, from the way the gold on his legs fades into white socks to the distinctive way the underside of his tail is not painted, suggested he was absolutely factory original. After 40 years of collecting, you just know that OF look.

Interestingly, he escaped the factory unfinished (his hooves and eyes are not painted). His gold paint has oxidized ever so slightly in the 30 or so years since I believe he was created. The Classic Black Stallion mold was introduced in 1983, and until about 2002, it had some rough pimply spots on the barrel. The mold was smoothed out in 2003. This gold charm model does have the pimpled barrel, so he had to have been made sometime between 1983-2002. But I think the window for his creation date can be narrowed down to just a few years, probably sometime between 1989-1991.

Because he was painted with a gold mane and tail and a solid gold face and because he is a small standing model, I can't help but wonder if he was painted when Breyer was testing options for the gold charm Secretariat release. The models are of a similar size in a similar pose, and the non-traditional gold charm paint job is very alike in terms of style. He also bears a strong resemblance style-wise to the unconventional 1991 raffle models.

While I can't prove that this model is the missing link that brought decorator colors forward into modern production after a long hiatus, I think it's highly likely that he dates from the right time period. Furthermore, we do know of a few other oddball decorator colors on classic scale molds from this period, such as the wedgewood Classic Man O' War and the wedgewood Classic Kelso that were sold at the 1997 and 1999 BreyerFest auctions respectively. At the time, the models sold in the BreyerFest auctions were true factory tests plucked from the archive shelves, not one of a kind models made deliberately for the auction as they are now. Both of those models were likely painted several years earlier around the same time as the 1991 raffle models. Could this gold charm Classic Black Stallion be a part of that series of test models, too? I'm not sure we'll ever know for certain. And that is part of the thrill of collecting and hunting for rare Breyers. You just never know what unexpected things will turn up!