West German Whimsy

Goebel is one of those historic pottery companies that, like the Energizer bunny, just keeps going and going and going.  Since it was founded in 1871, it has survived all the turbulence of German history: before partition in 1945, throughout the partition era (when, from 1960 to 1990 its wares were marked with "W. Germany" in the backstamp), and after German reunification in 1990.

The company is probably most famous for its Hummel figurines, based on the illustrations of a Bavarian nun, Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, which Goebel acquired the rights to in 1935.  However, over time the company produced or acquired a number of different lines -- lately they have been specializing in sculptures of children not only through their M.I. Hummel line, but also through their Blumenkinder, Kinderland, and Nina & Marcos lines.

Among the voluminous output of the Goebel factory over the years were a number of horse figurines.  These fall roughly into two categories: realistic and comic.  Some of the realistic sculptures, like their Haflinger Pony and their Andalusian/Lipizzaner, are really quite lovely.  The comic horses are really quite lovable, with mischievous or appealing expressions and often quite playful poses.

I don't have any of the lovely Goebel horses, but I do have two of the lovable ones.  Or perhaps I should say I have two lovable equines, since one of them is not a horse, but a zebra.

"Gobi"

I've had "Gobi," my zebra foal, for many years now.  I first stumbled on him at a flea market and he looked so saucy I just had to take him home.  The Shetland Pony, "Carolina," is a more recent acquisition.  Goebel produced its Shetland Pony in a variety of colours and shades, so it took me some time to find the one that was "right" for me.

"Carolina"

Although both have been long discontinued, neither one is difficult to find, and for clinkies they can be quite inexpensive.  Both of mine have West German backstamps indicating that they were produced between 1972 to 1978 (Shetland) and 1979 to 1990 (Zebra), and both were purchased for around $10.

What I particularly like about the zebra, aside from his cheeky expression, is the fact that his stripes are actually incised into his body rather than merely painted on.  Of course, they bear no relation to real zebra stripe patterns, but they have an appeal all of their own.

The Shetland, with her big head and bumpy little legs, simply looks like the sweetest Shetland pony you can imagine -- so unlike the fierce and furry ones you find in more realistic sculptures.  The Goebel Shetland looks like she'd gladly give a child a quiet ride with no tricks, no nipping, no ear-flattening, no resistance of any kind.  Actually, the Breyer Traditional Shetland has something of this look too, although the Breyer appears more stalwart than sweet.  The Breyer would take care of the child on its back because that's its duty; the Goebel would take care of the child on its back because that's its desire.  She looks like a pony that just wants to be loved.

For now, I'm quite happy with my comical pair.  However, I could always make room for some other comical Goebels, like their Baby Donkey or one of their Unicorns, too, if that suited my fancy.  I could also change direction entirely and try to track down one of the realistic works for my clinky collection.  I'm really drawn to the comical ones though, for some strange reason.  One doesn't often think of whimsy when one thinks of Germany, but Goebel managed to marry the two, and the offspring of that marriage are mighty appealing little tots.

Big Shoes to Fill

Well, Breyer has sent out the "buy now" notices for Georg, the final sculpture for the 2019 Premier Club (if you don't count the bonus Stablemate).  While I wait for my Georg to arrive, I thought I might spend a little bit of time looking back over my complicated relationship with draft, or dray, or draught, or cold-blooded model horses.

By and large, I try not to collect drafters.  Initially this was because I didn't find them versatile enough for my show string.  Although there are people out there doing amazing things with drafters, they are mostly shown in hand and in harness, and I didn't have either the harnesses or the carts to show them properly.

But collecting-wise, I also objected to drafters because of the amount of precious shelf real estate they command.  With the earlier Breyer drafts, like the Clydesdales, the Belgian, the Shire -- and even with Roy and Cedarfarm Wixom -- the problem was more their girth than their length.  But with the newer long-tailed horses like Othello, Brishen, and the long-tail version of Shannondell, they're taking up space from front to back as well as from side to side.

So drafters don't tend to stay too long around here.  Over time I've both purchased and sold the Circus Extravaganza set, the American Cream Draft, the Belgian Brabant, the Classic Shire, and the Stablemate G2 Clydesdale from Breyer, Stone's Standing Belgian, Trotting Christmas Shire, and Chips Clydesdale, the Hagen-Renaker miniature Clydesdale Horse and Clydesdale Foal, the Loza Clancy Drafter, an LJ Round Robin resin, and a Shafford Japan Belgian.

"Wiccan" my SR True Black English Shire

But it's not like I don't have any drafters in my collection -- it's just that the majority of them are tiny ones.  I have one oversize drafter from the White Horse Ceramics hobby mold and one more or less Traditional size Royal Doulton Cantering Shire (done on the Beswick mold).  At the moment, I only have three Breyer Traditional drafters -- the SR True Black Shire, an SR black Clydesdale Foal, and one regular Clydesdale Foal customized as "Fair Isle Flossie."  Every other drafter I own is classic size or smaller, from the Hartland Budweiser Clydesdale down to the Micros from Breyer and/or Creata.

"Vin Noir" my Creata Micro Mini Percheron Foal

I'm not exactly sure why I'm keeping the old bell-bottom Breyer Shire.  She's blobby and bland, but steady and solid as a doorstop, which is probably her main attraction.  In addition, she makes a good mother for my black Clydesdale Foal, and I'm a little reluctant to break up the pair.  The Clydesdale Foal is, to date, my favourite of all the Breyer Traditional drafters, and it's probably no coincidence that s/he is also the one with the smallest footprint.

"Zack" my SR Clydesdale Foal masquerading as a Shire foal

I won't deny that I like the look of both Wixom and Shannondell, but I've never liked either of them enough to want to make shelf room for them.  Stone's new Heavy Draft Mare a.k.a. "Bunny," sculpted by Stacey Tumlinson, is also very appealing, but her price point currently is not.  I wouldn't write any of them off completely -- there's always the chance that I could win a coupon for one (as I did with my Stone OOAK appaloosa), or manage a trade for one that really takes my fancy.

But for now, all my hopes are centered on the "gentle giant" coming this way -- Georg.  I'm curious to see how the production run stands up to the prototype (the production run looks much lighter in the one photo I've seen) and I'm hoping that, like Hamilton, he will somehow contrive to win my heart.  Drafters have a hard time staying in my stable.  If Gorgeous Georg is going to stay, he'll have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Give Me an "A"

Some time ago, when I was first bitten by the model horse collecting bug, I found myself adding new horses to my herd almost faster than I could name them.  

I like naming horses, but I was getting so many new ones all at once that I was running out of ideas for new names.  To solve my problem, I decided to start naming the new arrivals in alphabetical order, until I had all 26 letters of the alphabet represented.

Of course, I had way more than 26 horses, but it was a start.  Once I got them all listed I could see where I was overusing some letters (like "S") and underutilizing others (like "U").  After that I concentrated on creating names starting with the underused letters and avoiding adding names starting with the overused letters.

I don't do that anymore, but as a result of those efforts I still have horses whose names begin with every letter of the alphabet.

So I thought, from time to time, when I'm feeling uninspired (like now), I'd write a post introducing you to one of my horses, A through Z.  Today we start with "A."

"Afternoon in Vegas," Tennessee Walking Horse mare

"Afternoon in Vegas" is a Creata Winner's Choice Micro Horse -- one of the ones that Breyer eventually reproduced in the Mini Whinnies series.  She's the Running Walk Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) Mare, number 21 of the original 32 molds.

I like the paint jobs on some of the Breyers, but I liked the colour of this original Creata best, which was why I chose to keep her. 

"Afternoon in Vegas" was part of a set of four Creata TWHs originally sold together in one package.  Of the four, I have only this mare left.  The Sitting Foal was replaced by the Sitting Foal in a Creata Paint Horse Mare and Foal set and the Big Lick Walker and the Cantering TWH have both been replaced by Breyer Mini Whinnies in other colours.
 
I'm not really sure where her name came from.  I don't think it's related to the jazz standard "Afternoon in Paris" as I don't really know that song.  I suppose it's possible that I heard the name somewhere and it came back to me as "Afternoon in Vegas" when it was time to name this horse, but I doubt it.  

It seems to me much more likely that I was thinking of the song "Walking in Memphis" (which I love) and by free association came up with "Vegas" (Memphis-Elvis-Vegas).  How "Walking" became "Afternoon" I do not know, but getting to "Walking" from "Tennessee Walking Horse" is a pretty simple leap.

"Afternoon in Vegas" is now one of many "A" horses in my herd -- once we run through the alphabet one time I may introduce you to another.  In the meantime, we'll just have to wait to see what "B" will bring.

Club Hopping

When Breyer came out with their Collectors Clubs in 2012, 2016, and 2019, they really latched on to a good thing.  They're good for collectors, who like the lure of exclusive issues, and they're good for Breyer as they more or less guarantee themselves regular sales throughout the year.

It's not a slam-dunk for Breyer, though: collectors can choose to just join the Collectors Club (CC) in order to have access to those limited models, but may stay out of the more specialized Premier, Vintage, Stablemate and/or Fairytale Friends clubs.  Also, people who join the specialty clubs are not obliged to buy all the models offered, but they do pay a non-refundable deposit for joining and if they pass on one model then they're out of that particular club for the remainder of the year, so the incentive to buy all the specialty club offerings is strong.

I was in the Stablemate CC for its first two years (2016 and 2017), dropping out in year three as I didn't particularly care for the majority of the molds on offer that year.  I rejoined this year and also joined the Premier CC for the first time, lured in by the Welsh Ponies.  As it happened, I liked the Saddlebred much more than I thought I would, and I'm very much looking forward to finding room for the Rhenish German Coldblood on my shelves.

"Georg," the third release for the 2019 Premier Club

All CC models are exclusive to some extent, but some are moreso than others.  The Vintage Club, for instance, is the only one I know of that has a subscription limit, making those models statistically rarer than the others.  Also the horses offered exclusively to general CC membership have historically varied in numbers offered, from one (Pot O' Gold) to virtually unlimited (or so it seems).

So are the Collectors Clubs "worth it"?  Depends on what you're looking for.  I haven't heard too much feedback on the newest Fairytale Friends club.  I have heard that some of the companion Mini Whinnies don't stand too well, and I've heard that there are some who love and some who are a little tired of all the glitter.  It's not a club that interests me much at this point -- I don't need any more unicorns in my life.  If, however, they start to issue little winged horses, I might give them a try.  Never say never, I've learned to my cost.

"Trailblazer," one of the releases slated for the 2020 Vintage Club

Having never been part of the Vintage Club either, I can't say too much about it.  It's a fun way to revel in Breyer history and nostalgia, but it seems to me that it's for the collector who loves the ephemera just as much as the horses -- the stickers, the fact sheets, the old time boxes are all as much a part of the Vintage Collection as the horses themselves.

"Altynai," one of the releases slated for the 2020 Premier Club

When it comes to the Premier Club, although I've been really pleased with this year's offerings I'm not sure if I'll be coming back next year.  The Akhal-Teke that's been revealed as the first model for 2020 doesn't really push any of my buttons -- I'm not a big fan of shelf hogs and three-point horses, and he looks to be a bit of both.  Although I'm intrigued by the idea of a Lynn Fraley sculpture as the second offering, without knowing in advance what breed it might be, I hesitate to make the leap.  Also, I'm beginning to think that, for my tastes anyway, the first issues on these molds do not always come in my favourite colours.  For instance I prefer Carrick in his Brass Hat colours as opposed to the original sabino palomino, Wyatt in Babyflo chestnut rather than the original rose grey, Forever Saige as Namid, and Duende as Dominante XXIX.  I've been lucky so far in that I prefer my grey Welsh pair to Honour and Valour and my pinto Hamilton to the dappled palomino that's been revealed on the cover of the 2020 calendar, but I certainly can't count on that always being the case.

I should add here the interesting fact that a lot of people purchase the first Premier Club releases just to have new bodies for customizing.  This might make some of the original finish models a bit more exclusive, but there's just no way of telling how many of these models end up in customizer's hands.

"Klaus," one of the releases slated for the 2020 Stablemate Club

As for the Stablemate Club -- they might just have me back again next year.  I've been wanting that little Lipizzaner ever since I first saw him as the Premier Club freebie, and while I probably would have preferred white or bay to Klaus's "historic" leopard appaloosa, I'll take what I can get.  I hope there will be few more reveals before I have to make the "stay or go" decision on this one, though.

As for the general CC models, I think the only one I've purchased over the years  was Coeur de Lion on the Terrang mold (and that one may have actually just been a web special, not limited to CC members).  I entered the lottery for Benasque (and was not drawn) and the lottery for Muir Woods (ditto).  So simply becoming a CC member without joining one of the specialty clubs would not be worth it for me.

I still think the CC is a good thing, regardless of what may be its limited appeal to some collectors.  As they say, you can't please all of the people all of the time.  All in all, I think Breyer does a pretty good job of pleasing a wide variety of collectors most of the time.  And that's a pretty good cub to be in if you're a creator and retailer of what are, let's face it, deluxe toys for distinctive tastes.

* all photos courtesy of breyerhorses.com