Stop the presses! Mini plastic Zara!

As I was wrapping up my work day this afternoon, my friend Sarah texted me this amazing picture from a new Breyer catalog she had just received in the mail. My mouth quite literally fell open when I saw it. We often text back and forth about new models we'd like to see from Breyer, especially Traditional scale models shrunken down to Stablemate scale. And because Breyer has offered mini crystal versions of some models before offering them as minis in plastic, we both agreed that the Proud Arabian Mare (produced in crystal in 2022) had to be in that pipeline somewhere. And apparently she was, but not quite in the way either of us could have predicted!

Because this new Stablemate Club model for 2025 is not a mini Proud Arabian Mare---she's a scan of a Hagen-Renaker Large Zara made miniature! This is literally history-making. It's the first new Hagen-Renaker design licensed to Breyer to make in plastic since the 1970s. Kristina Lucas of Hagen-Renaker Tennessee assured collectors via social media today that this is an exciting new collaboration between the companies. (The beautiful fleabitten color with blood marks (patches of ungreyed coat) was designed by Lesli Kathman, the hobby's most knowledgeable color genetics enthusiast and author.)

The Large Zara is of course the model that Breyer copied for their Proud Arabian Mare mold in the late 1950s, leading to a lawsuit and the discontinuation of the PAM until Breyer negotiated a deal with Hagen-Renaker in the early 1970s. I have been slowly writing a post about the relationship between Hagen-Renaker and Breyer, and with that in mind, I photographed a bunch of our Hagen-Renakers and their Breyer counterparts this past July when I was visiting my parents and sister (and the herd). Since Breyer has sprung this amazing model on us, I thought it would be a good time to share photos showing the differences between the Proud Arabian Mare and the Large Zara.

Unlike some of the other models that Breyer copied in the 1950s (Boehm, Rosenthal, etc), the PAM is not an exact copy cast from a Zara. They are subtly different sculptures. The most obvious difference is that Zara's head is turned to the left while the PAM is facing straight ahead. In person, you can see that Zara's whole body has a slight curve to it, making her stance subtly different from the PAM. She is also slightly larger and more refined and detailed than the PAM.

Note the slight lift to the edge of Zara's mane

 

 

I will continue to dream of the possibility of Traditional scale plastic Large Zaras that I can buy by the dozen to repaint in every color my heart desires (dapple grey! bay sabino! flaxen chestnut! a Trabag portrait!), but in the meantime, I will be looking for all of the copies of mini Zara I can get my hands on. I wonder if my coworkers would mind if I got them Stablemate Club memberships? (Only joking...I think.)