Even before these 6 new Breyer pins joined my growing collection, I'd made the move from two display boards to four. Ah, the Fibonacci sequence: 1 to 2 to 4 --!! The last pin post on this blog was in June. At that time I transitioned from one to two -- the Mink Unicorns got their own -- and the remaining Mink + Breyer + Misc original board was big enough to need two photographs:
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| Left Half |
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| Right half (sans some miscellany) |
And even these don't show all of them! In October the collection reached a stage where something had to be done. I went to JoAnn Fabs and bought some black velveteen. [Note: Velvet can cost $30 a yard or $20. I got the $20.] With more cardboard, tape and staples, I indulged in making more display boards. And just like that, my collection easily divided itself into 4 categories.
First off is the pride of Mink Unicorns. These naturally set themselves apart.
Faleadon is my latest acquisition. To photograph him took some juggling of dark lighting and PhotoShopping, but I am very pleased with his sparkles.
The second-most-recently acquired was Kalasin. This photo makes him look greener than he is (alas, the above photo makes him bluer than he is). He's really a luscious, pure light sky blue. Every one of these pins is a masterpiece.
The second board, the original, found itself home to all my Breyer pins. Breyer has certainly found the golden cash cow with their enamel pin offerings!! (Believe it or not I mis-typed that at first as the golden ow. SO true!)
Earlier (c. Sept) new ones for me were the black Hope pony and the Artic Grandeur, bargains from MH$P. Now, with my new 6, I had a blast arranging them and trying to photo them. Up to now, Breyer has been a little stingey with their glitter on pins. But the Mink sculpture of the Croi Damsha pony, named Cascade here, is -- most amazingly -- VERY glittery! And a major challenge to photograph! Pardon me for trying so many times here. At first you can't really see it: She just looks smoky and mysteriously foggy.
Starting to see some of the real sparkles now! The darker, the better. And notice how they're never the same from shot to shot...
This little pony really challenged me! The last shot is the most mysterious -- and it brings out the most glitter.
Who'd-a thunk-it!
Here's a closer look at three of the new Breyer pins, Mojave, Spectre and Lonesome Glory. I was particularly pleased to see a Lonesome Glory; I do love that mold. However, this dark bay without white is nowhere near the original bright chestnut Lonesome Glory. All dark makes a pin small! What's up Breyer!
Another interesting point is that Breyer's pins are starting to duplicate themselves moldwise. I saw this first with the two versions of Nicolas the German Riding Pony, in 2022. They're very different! Mojave, the pinto Fireheart here, is different, larger and prettier (in my opinion) than the earlier Fireheart, Stein.
The Spectre really does glow in the dark -- first of my pins to do so!
Here's a third case of duplication of mold: This Holiday Highlander pin is the same mold (True North) as the Danash's Northern Tempest (Dani) small one released earlier, in 2021. As with the others, the angle of view (of the pin) is different between the two. Highlander is an interesting pin. While he doesn't have glitter, and features (to me) boring colors, he has some unique textures in that fur lined coat. I love those long cinnamon stockings! The ?antler? headpiece on his poll is stupendous, giving him great character; and the gold metal color perfectly sets off the whole ensemble.
I suppose it was inevitable that we'd get Breyer pins that look like Minks. That's because they are! They're Breyer pins of sculptures by this amazingly talented and generous artist. An advantage of this hybridization is they're produced in much larger numbers and anyone can get them anytime. In my immense spreadsheet of Minkiewicz enamel pins, I've included the Anamar. The pin was designed by Sarah and produced with her blessing. Now I'm realizing I've overlooked at least 2 previous Breyer/Mink pins, both of which I now own: the black Arabian Malik and the Cascade Croi Damsha.
Anamar, above, is a delightful case of how realism and fantasy can blend in a single pin. I don't believe I've ever encountered a rose grey with a golden tail like that in real life; but it just gives him so much character.
So here's my Breyer pin collection in toto:
Apologies for the dark corners and the clipped off black spaces. It really is hard to photograph these creatures; but now they've got room to grow!
So of course the third display board is given to my pure Minks:
The interesting thing to point out here is the size difference between the earliest Dancing Horse pin, Zigmund (top center, the leaping grey) and the latest one, Lucky, to his right (buckskin pinto with a light purple border). These pins are arranged in the order I got them, downwards from Zigmund and then up again from the bottom. Zigmund - Baxter - Rockette - Sayida - Sammy (the roan appy on the bottom). Next to Sammy is Tango, then above: Dreamer - Cobre - Dawnstar - Lucky. You wouldn't notice them growing larger, but Lucky is seriously bigger. Zigmund is under 1.5" tall, but Lucky is a full 2" tall and more than 2" long, by far the largest Dancing Horse yet.
Elsewhere I have developed the theory that the increase in scale and size of model horses has to do with the steadily growing ego and power of their creators,...
Let's move on to my 4th and last board, Miscellany. There are new ones here: a colt that fits right in with an earlier family and a very welcome Carousel Jumper.
The lowest, chestnut pinto colt is not really news as I blogged about him in July: The Traditional Loot Shots. What's striking is how perfectly he fits in with my Chincoteague family. They might have been created by the same artist...!
And glory be, a fourth Carousel horse has joined up. Once again, these seem to appear out of nowhere, usually on eBay (as was the case here), and I had no idea at all they even existed. There are so many carousel pins out there that are primitive, or not enamels, or the wrong color or size! Very few pass all the defensive filters I throw up in their way. And yet this one did. The fact that the clear acrylic layer was so old it had yellowed merely gave the horse a lovely ivory cream color, which I happened to fancy. I love the quiet wisdom and colorful metallic streamers on this little jumper, lower left:
I have found a favorite collecting interest.
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