Colour Me Conflicted

I've written before about the differences between Breyer and Stone model horses.  I have admitted that, while I do not care for Stone's prices, I can sort of understand where they come from and why, in many instances, Stone just has to charge more than Breyer for a similar model.

However, some of the pricing decisions are not the result of the circumstances of manufacture, but the consequence of Stone's marketing decisions.  Their fixation on small special runs and one of a kind models mean that no one model is made in enough quantity to make back its cost of manufacture -- at least not if priced as Traditional Breyers are at around $40-$50 per piece.  However, price them in the hundreds of dollars -- usually $200 to $400 per Traditional Stone -- and you come closer to profitability.

This is not to say that Breyer doesn't use the same technique.  Breyer's online specials, particularly those limited to Collector Club members, have been getting more and more expensive over the years, with "Ambrose" breaking the $200 mark.  But Breyer also offers a wide variety of much more affordable regular run and special run horses, whereas Stone generally does not.

The one area that, for me, demonstrates the greatest difference between Breyers and Stones, is the price difference between Breyer Stablemates (SMs) and Stone Chips.

Breyer Stablemates routinely sell for $3.99 each, with special runs for the Collector Clubs coming in about $25 each.  Although no retail value is attached to the Breyerfest Single Day Ticket Stablemates, it's reasonable to price them at about $25 each as well, while Breyerfest Pop-Up Shop Stablemates are normally priced around $10.

With Stones, however, a blank DAH Chips body costs $59.99.  That's over twice the cost of Breyer's most expensive SMs before you even add paint.

Now it has been argued, with some justification, that the Stone paint jobs are superior to Breyer's.  No doubt this is true with regards to Breyer's regular runs, but I'm not convinced that it holds true for the Breyer Collector Club and Breyerfest specials.

And there are times when you stumble across a Breyer regular run that really makes you wonder.

This happened to me when I unbagged the Mystery Surprise Horse chestnut Reining Horse that came in my Collector Club Grab Bag.  He reminded me of something, and it didn't take me long to figure out what it was.

Not too long ago I decided to replace my rubbery Stone/Schylling Shetland Pony with a hard plastic one.  Stone was having a DAH sale, so I ordered a very simple Shetland in red dun with a white facial stripe.  Every marking you add increases the cost of your order, so I left it at that.

But my regular chestnut Breyer reminded me a lot of my pricey Stone pony.

It's hardly fair to compare the two pictures I have of them since the Stone is in nice crisp focus while the Breyer is not, but even given that you may be struck, as I was, by the similarity of the two paint colours.  Granted, one is a dun and the other is a chestnut, so the longer you look at them the more you see the difference -- the small zebra stripes on the pony's legs, her lighter coat colour, and of course her dorsal stripe.  The chestnut does have some bend-or spots, but they're difficult to see in this photograph.

So yes, I have to admit that the Stone has the better paint job, but at first glance there's not much to choose between the two of them.  There are, after all, only so many paint colours in the world so sooner or later Breyer and Stone had to stumble on the same formula for "red."

Given this, was the pony worth the extra 55-plus dollars?

Colour me conflicted -- I just don't know.