The Arabian Stallion was sculpted by Maureen Love Calvert and was originally produced in porcelain by the Hagen Renaker Company from 1959 to 1972. In the mid-1970s, Breyer leased this, and other mini horse designs from Hagen Renaker to create their Stablemate line of plastic miniature horses. This line is referred to the “G1” or First Generation Stablemates by collectors.
It was Breyer’s intention to keep the Hagen Renaker issued names for these models, but there was some confusion early on. In 1975, Breyer released their new Stablemate line using the designs leased from Hagen Renaker. #5010 dapple grey Arabian Stallion name was actually used on the Morgan Stallion mold packaging (see image below.) This also happened to #5016 alabaster Arabian Stallion – also used on the Morgan Stallion mold. And, the #5013 bay Arabian Stallion was originally labeled as #5020 Citation. It seems that this error was caught early on, and that corrections were made to the labeling by the end of 1975. The Arabian Stallion was finally properly named in the 1976 Breyer Catalog.
The first special run on the Arabian Stallion mold was for the Sears Wish Book in 1989. This dark grey model with various socks is very similar, if not the same as, regular run #5120 also released in 1989 (see below.)
Unfortunately, the most recent release of the Arabian Stallion was back in 2004 with this gorgeous, shaded dun released as a special run in JC Penney’s Parade of Breeds set (below.) There is also evidence of a black Arabian Stallion that was given away at BreyerFest 2004 in place of the single day model. If you have any information about this model or have a picture you would like to submit to the site, I would love to hear from you!
I’ve said it before: we have seen the revival of several G1 Stablemates in Breyer’s Stablemate Club offerings, so there might be a chance that Arabian Stallion collectors will once again be able to add another one of these fabulous gents to their conga line!
Click here to see all of Breyer’s G1 Arabian Stallions.
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I do have the BF SR black Arabian stallion. My friends and I were all leaving BF for the year, and as we were walking out we stopped to see if we could buy an extra Armando. They were all gone, but the lady handed us the black stallion instead, for free. It made my entire BF that year. He looks very much like the Sears guy, save his socks are brighter.