Collectors are sometimes perplexed by an odd Breyer or other model horse found at a thrift shop or a flea market. It looks like it's carved from wood, but feels like plastic. It sports the appropriate Breyer logo on the inside hind leg and it looks identical to the Family Arabian Stallion. What is it?
You've discovered the amazing world of decorator collector model horses. From mimicking woodgrain to wild blue and gold colors, decorator colors are anything BUT realistic!
Breyer Decorator Color Model Horses
The first Breyer decorator color model horses appeared very early in the company's history. According to the Breyer Animal Collector's Guide, Fifth Edition by Browell, Korber-Wimer and Kesicki, the woodgrain Family Arabians appeared around 1961. Here's a quick rundown of some of the major categories of decorator color model horses:
- Woodgrain: Breyer produced many plastic model horses with a finish intended to mimic woodgrain, as if the horses are carved from blocks of wood. Woodgrain models appeared in the 1960s, and were pretty much phased out of the regular line by the 1970s. Look for older Breyers in woodgrain such as the Family Arabians, Clydesdale stallion and others introduced in the 1960s.
- Gold Florentine: Gold Florenntine models are characterized by a dappled coat pattern, but instead of the usual gray, the darker color is a shiny metalic gold color. Older models from the 1960s sport this rare color, but Breyer experimented with some special runs in this color in recent years.
- Gold Charm: Similar to Florentine, except that Gold Charm features either a solid gold model horse with white mane and tail or gold pinto patches.
- Copenhagen Blue: Copehagen blue horse models look like a dappled gray horse, except like the Gold Florentine models, the darker patches are made with blue paint instead of gray.
- Wedgwood: Like the famous blue color made by the British china company, Wedgwood blue model horses are solid blue colored, with white manes and tails.
Pink, purple, and other wild colored model horses can also be found among the recent children's toy line of collectibles issue by Breyer. Most of the experimentation with colorful models occurred during the 1960s and into the early 1970s, when the company changed back to more realistically painted models. In the 1990s, a resurgence of interest in the old decorator colors sparked the reissue of colors on newer molds, often made as Special Runs and gifts for Breyerfest volunteers or raffle models for special causes and charities. There are some forgeries on the market too, either people intending to fool collectors into thinking they've bought a rare model or someone who happened to buy a painted one and thinks they have the real thing. Be sure to look for the older Breyer logo mark on the inside hind leg of a Traditional horse model; as far as can be established, Breyer released only Traditional models (vintage and new) and Stablemate scale models (new) in the decorator colors. Shoppping at Breyerfest, where you can handle and see the model in person, is the safest bet for finding a vintage decorator color model horse, or buying from a seller you know very well online.
Breyer has also issued newer models in unusual decorator colors, such as swirls of blue and green, anatomical diagram "visible horse" models, and other experimental colors. Many are offered as special purchases to subscribers of their Just About Horses publication.
Peter Stone "Gemstone" Horse Models
The Peter Stone model horse company also experimented with decorator colors, issuing the "Gemstone" series. Named after gem-like stones such as Onyx and Sapphire, these special run horse models are beautiful decorator colors in their own right and quite unlike any Breyer colors made in the past. They are highly collectible.
Showing Decorator Color Horse Models
Decorator color horse models are typically acquired for their beauty and enjoyment. They can be shown in special decorator-color only classes at live model horse shows and photo shows for model horses, but typically do not place well in breed classes. After all, who has seen a blue horse among the wild Mustang herds or racing for the finish line at Churchill Downs?