What a Difference a Bay Makes

As I think I've mentioned before, I have a fair number of Breyer porcelains but not so many Breyer resins.  Those that I do have, like the three horses of the Equine Art Collection, and "Bull in the Heather" (who arrived with his finish so damaged he is currently undergoing customization), are all fairly small -- approximately Little Bits size, I'd guess.

But the other day I was browsing an online estate sale and came across one of the larger Breyer resins who for one reason or another really took my fancy.  The price was right so I put in a bid and with no other bidders he soon was mine.

Breyer's "Chesterfield" resin.

I really knew next to nothing about the "Chesterfield" resin, or indeed about any of Breyer's larger resins, before I bought one.  For one thing, I had always assumed that those horses who had wooden bases were attached to those bases -- that's the Beswick collector in me, I guess.  So I was pleasantly surprised when I found that I could easily display "Chesterfield" without his base.

I was also not at all prepared for his gigantic box.  I've saved all the boxes for my porcelains as they will make excellent shippers when and if I decide to sell those horses.  I'm going to save the box for "Chesterfield" as well, but at this point I'm not sure where exactly.  It doesn't stack up nicely with all my porcelain boxes.  Also, while I did get the picture box for "Chesterfield" I didn't get his protective fitted cardboard box, and you really need to two of them to ship Breyer porcelains safely.

Before I found him in the estate sale, I'd never really given much thought to "Chesterfield," mostly because I thought he was affixed to his base.  I was aware of his prior release as "Silver Lining" in 2000 and I wasn't all that impressed with "Silver Lining" -- I could never get past his weird stripey legs.

"Chesterfield" has a much more attractive paint job, and if there ever was a case of colour making a world of difference on a model horse it's the case of "Silver Lining" and "Chesterfield."

Aside from its colour, I find the sculpture itself very attractive.  I seem to remember hearing or reading a rumour at the time of "Silver Lining's" release that the sculpture was a rejected prototype for "Lonesome Glory," another Kitty Cantrell sculpture released in 2000.  It would make sense, if true.  Both molds show an alert, racing-fit Thoroughbred on his toes as if dancing to the starting gate in a post parade.  Although it's easy to see both as a flat racer, they both also have the distinctive lanky but powerful look of the steeplechaser, which is "Lonesome Glory's" claim to fame.  And since the resin sculpture didn't make the cut to represent the great steeeplechaser in plastic, the "silver lining" would be his appearance as a limited edition resin.

Breyer's "Afleet Alex" -- Do you see the family resemblance?

"Silver Lining" and "Chesterfield" are the only two releases I'm aware of for this mold.  Seems a pity, since even though we already have "Lonesome Glory," we could have endless variations of "Silver Lining/Chesterfield" in plastic.  A porcelain release would be welcome as well.  Perhaps even a shrinky?  Given the direction that Breyer is going in these days, that doesn't seem like too much to ask.