Almost Famous

Some of the most interesting things about collectibles (to me, anyway) are the stories that come with them -- how a piece was discovered, how you got or bought it, where it came from, and even who it used to belong to.  Part of this is provenance -- the history of the ownership of a valued object, and a mark of authenticity.  And part of it, like the proverbial fish story, is just a good tale -- particularly when it involves "the one that (almost) got away."

Not all of my model horses have an interesting provenance or story.  The ones I bought new off the shelf, or via mail order, just because I happened to like the mold or because it fit my collecting philosophy of the moment, rarely have deeper significance.

However, many horses that I've been gifted with, or that I've bought in memorable or unexpected places, have good stories.  And a couple of my horses are, indeed, almost famous.

We seem to be in the midst of a time right now when a lot of historic collections are being dispersed, often, sadly, because of the passing of the previous owner, but also because some collectors with impressive collections are now reaching a certain age and, either by necessity or by choice, have decided to downsize.

One of my "almost famous" horses came from a collection dispersal of the second sort -- an older collector auctioning off a portion of her collection in an effort to downsize.  That person was Marilyn Sweet, THE expert on all things Beswick, who not only wrote her own book on the subject, but contributed to all the Beswick animal guides put out by the Charlton Press.

My "Almost Famous" Welsh Cob

Marilyn recently held an in-person and on-line auction of many of her model horses and I logged in to watch it, mostly just to see what was on offer.  I didn't expect to be able to afford anything, but I did make note of a few lots that I might try for if the bidding was slow.  And somewhere in the midst of the auction, that's exactly what happened.  And so I became the proud new owner of one of Marilyn's Beswick pieces, a first version dapple grey Welsh Cob.

After the auction was over, I realized something else about my new Welsh Cob.  He had a very distinctive eye, and I knew I'd seen that eye somewhere before.  And yes, there he was -- the very model chosen to represent the first version Welsh Cob, not only in Marilyn's own book, but in all the Charlton guides as well.  A minor celebrity!  And now he's mine.

My Cob in a Charlton Press guide

I don't know the initial owner of my other "almost famous" piece.  I've recently become enamoured of the old Breyer and Hartland Western Horses and Ponies, and was looking for a nice older Breyer Western Pony to add to my collection.  Triple Mountain Model Horses had just had a large sale of Western Horses, so I knew they were fairly well stocked with these critters and thought I'd check to see if they had a nice Western Pony for me.  They did, and so he came to make his home with me.  After he got here, though, I was checking for the details of his issue dates on the Identify Your Breyer database, and I noticed that the black and white pinto with the snap saddle looked remarkably like mine, even down to the slightly misshapen bit ring on the left side (it doesn't close properly, leaving a little tag of metal sticking out of the circle -- you can see it best here).

My "Almost Famous" Western Pony

The resemblance was so striking that I asked Eleda at Triple Mountain and she said that yes, she often sent pictures to the database in case they could be of use there and the picture used to illustrate the black and white pony with the snap saddle was a picture of my guy.  So there we are -- almost famous horse #2.  Just as everyone who checks out the first version Welsh Cob in a Beswick book is looking at a picture of my horse, so anyone who looks up the Breyer Western Pony in black and white with snap saddle on the Identify Your Breyer database is looking at my horse too.

I am so grateful to those people who compile databases and guide books for model horse collectors.  I'm a huge fan of documenting all aspects of the hobby, and I think one of the best ways that a collector can share a collection is to contribute photographs of their pieces to the people who need them to put these databases and guides together.  Collectively, we all learn more than any one of us can learn individually, and if that's not a good enough reason to share the special pieces in your collection, I don't know what is.