With the introduction of the 2017 Breyer Vintage Club, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the previous Vintage Cub releases. Which colors and molds proved to be most popular and in demand?
Introduced in 2012, the Breyer Vintage Club combines vintage molds with vintage inspired colors, in combinations not previously released. Examples include:
Smoke Five Gaiter
Red Roan Mustang
Charcoal Adios
Gold Florentine G1 Drafter Stablemate and many others.
All of the Traditional scale Vintage Club models are stamped “Vintage Club” on the belly for easy identification, and a vintage inspired blue ribbon sticker on the shoulder. There are so many cool extras with the Vintage Club models, including the retro styled cardboard boxes, flyer inserts with reprints of vintage advertisements, and information about the history of the mold itself. Each year Vintage Club members receive a Stablemate painted in a vintage colorway as a bonus, and starting in 2014, Breyer began to offer yet another model – a modern mold – with a vintage color. So far we have seen the Newsworthy jumper in the POA appaloosa pattern, a glossy resist dapple appaloosa Cleveland Bay, and a chestnut spotted blanket appaloosa Bobby Jo. So many ways to paint an appaloosa!!
With 500 of each model released, most Vintage Club models are still fairly easy to come by on the secondary market – at or near their release price. In 2015, Breyer shook things up a bit with a “gambler’s choice” Running Stallion, offered in the four vintage decorator colors. Members did not know the color they would receive, and die-hard Running Stallion collectors had to get on their game to collect all four. “Sailor” the Running Stallion has proven to be a very popular and hard to come by model. If you can find him for sale, expect to pay in the $300-$400 range for this blue or gold beauty. In 2016, Breyer followed up with three vintage glossy colors on the Cantering Welsh Pony mold, who have also proven to be quite popular. You can find the glossy bay, alabaster, and palomino CWPs on Ebay in the $200-$250 range.
The upcoming 2017 Vintage Club has teased the next “gambler’s choice:” four Family Arabian Stallions in the vintage decorator colors. Although the FAS isn’t a wildly popular mold, generally speaking, I think collectors will be very excited and determined to collect one of each color. Will they follow suit with the Sailor and My Girl releases and be wildly popular on the secondary market? If history is any indicator, I am leaning toward yes!
If you are a Vintage Club model collector, or are thinking about selling – you have come to the right place to keep up-to-date on Breyer model horse values. Coming soon – a searchable, online value guide that will provide all of the current Breyer values, right at your fingertips! This Breyer Value Guide will be a handy reference for any collector hunting antique malls or browsing the online model horse sales. And sellers – you need this information too! Price your models competitively for more sales, and get what they are worth!