No / Small Regrets

After I make the decision to sell a piece from my model horse collection, I usually don't regret doing so.  Yes, I've had the odd bout of buyer's remorse when I discover that I paid too much for something, but the ones I choose to weed out almost never cause me any pain.

For the longest time, I regretted losing two horses I'd sold on to others, both OF Breyers.  One was the Just About Horses special run (SR) Cantering Welsh Pony "Sassafras," and the other was an unusually pinkish red "Lady Phase" in her original gift set box with book and ribbon.  I used that one in a Collector's Class once at a show and it helped me win the class.

However, time changes opinions.  I've had many opportunities since 1997 to purchase another "Sassafras," often new in box.  And I've found that I really don't have any desire to own her anymore.

As for the Lady Phase, although she certainly was a collector's piece, that was really all she was good for -- her pink tones were shocking enough to hinder any kind of showing career.  And I was on one of my "purging" kicks where I was trying to reduce the numbers of duplicate molds on my shelves.  Given a choice, I preferred the common but beautiful "Breezing Dixie" to the uncommon but freaky "Lady Phase."  Of course, since that time "Sonsela" has managed to creep into the herd (as part of a trade) but "Breezing Dixie" is still my heart's delight.

Besides going though a purging phase every now and then, I also tend to get trapped in buying sprees trying to pursue some sort of collecting philosophy.  At one time I thought it would be neat to have an example of a horse from as many different toy manufacturers as I could find.

I was aided in the quest by the opening of a discount toy store fairly near where I used to live.  This store dealt mostly in overstock, discontinued, and cheap toys.  On one trip there I managed to find a couple of boxes full of Creata Micro Minis, a variety of Blue Ribbon horses, and a bunch of Grand Champions' mail order Clydesdale foal sets (not to be sold in stores).

I ended up buying a few of each.  I already had a fair collection of Creatas so I purchased only the ones I still needed at that time -- I can no longer remember which ones they were.  I also bought a Blue Ribbon Spanish Barb.  

Image courtesy of eBay seller doberdog44

 And then I spied the Grand Champions.  On the whole, I've never been overly fond of the Grand Champions line, although I was intrigued when I discovered that some of their bodies seemed to be "adapted" from horses like the Breyer Classic "Silky Sullivan."  But these twin Clydesdales were cute -- cute enough, I thought, that I should pick up a set for all of my local model horse friends.  So that's exactly what I did.

The foals came with little pink and blue blankets and tail ribbons, but when I took their pictures I left the blankets and ribbons off:

I kept them around for quite a while, and then came another purge.  I decided, in time, to try to concentrate on showable horses rather than purely collectible ones (this is the pendulum I usually swing upon -- sometimes the goal is a great showstring and sometimes it's acquiring a well-rounded collection).  The Creatas were tiny, so I kept those.  The Spanish Barb was sold on without regrets.  And eventually the twin Clydesdales were too.

Yet every once in a while I look at their pictures and kind of wish I hadn't sold them.  I think they're among the best Grand Champions I've ever seen, and the fact that they were meant to be sold by mail order only means they might have been a pair of the harder-to-get ones.  They weren't too big, either -- more or less Classic scale.

The regret isn't strong enough to make me want to replace them now.  I got them at a terrific bargain which I'll never be able to duplicate again.  And they really don't belong in my collection -- they'd stand out like sore thumbs on my shelves.

Still, from time to time I look at them as the ones that got away.  So it's not true that I have no regrets over all of the horses I've sold -- I just have a couple of small ones.