Monday Markets: Dec 30 2024

This is a recurring feature where I discuss that latest happenings in the model horse markets! One of my hobby niches is following value trends alongside my love of collectibility and rarities and so I bring you some of the most interesting models and notable sales of the week.

The week between Christmas and New Years is always a weird one and kind of a mixed bag for sales. On the one hand many people are overspent after the holiday season and not doing much shopping. On the other hand, a lot of people are off work/school and may have some free time to browse listings and maybe didn't get what they were looking for as a gift or received some spending money, so it's not completely dead out there.

Over on eBay this gorgeous Woodgrain Fury Prancer with a tenite sticker sold for $3500. Like the Belgians last week, the Fury Prancer is one of the rarest of the woodgrains and having the sticker still on is a real find.

This Old Timer hat sold for $31 by itself. You see so many Old Timers for sale that have lost their hats over the years, so collectors are always eager to be able to reunite them. I've had it in my head that the hat by itself runs around $40 so this is pretty much in line with that. You see Old Timers without hats around $40-$60 and ones with hats around $75-$100

And a few other special run sales of note. Chica Bonita is down at bit at $1550 - she was selling over $2000 at the height of the market and at only 40 made that is a good price. Benasque is in line with his usual going rate of around $1000 - although not nearly as limited at 350 pieces his color and mold are very popular. Chicory was a surprise to me at $1200, but it's also hard to believe Big Easy Bash was over 10 years ago now?! He was limited to only 120 at the event. The color on this one also looks particularly nice. Persimmon also a surprise at $750 but the berry ponies are also getting much harder to find and similarly only 350 were made.

Over on the Breyer site the Christmas morning special run Tannenbaum is still available a week later. They sent an e-mail on Dec 26 that she was "down to the last few" so I thought for sure she would be gone by now. They are starting to arrive in hand and that often compels a few more sales if people didn't get the color they hoped for or want to try for another one. Although Courchevel and the holiday SM blind bags are also still in stock, so the increased run numbers this year are definitely showing.

Breyer also has the annual end of year Warehouse Sale going and there are some great deals in there - better than the Black Friday sale IMHO. Collectors Club members are able to buy the following overstock this year:

Constantia (2022 Premier Collection) $185

Cancion (2023 Premier Collection) $185

Shelby (2023 CC SR) $95

Jota (2023 CC SR) $75

Antonia (2024 CC SR) $75

Chadwick (2022 CC SR) $85

Fandango (2023 Deluxe CC SM) $25

Ellington (2022 Deluxe CC SM) $25

Nero (2023 SM Club) $30

Eclat (2023 SM Club) $30

While not necessarily bargains, they are available at retail and I'm always interested to see which models are leftovers. Over in the main sale there are a few real bargains, I thought. At 50%-60% off you can get these:

Spectre (2023 Halloween Horse) $26

Mia Holiday Pony Playset (2023 set) $23.99

Encore & Tor (RR Traditional set) $24

Nimbus (2023 Freedom Series Unicorn) $12

Jewels (2022 Fall Deco) $30

That is practically body price for the traditionals and there are some other nice ones in the $30-$45 range that are worth picking up for customizers - MorganQuest Native Sun, Theo, Marc of Charm, and ATP Power are all great recent sculptures. NaMoPaiMo is coming up!

Although I already bought most of these back when they were new at retail price (usually as part of the CCA event though, so actually depending on how you look at it, free?) the one I am most annoyed about is Mouse - I finally bought one a couple of weeks ago for my Nikolas conga and now they are marked down to $45 from $60! The one I got also has some factory flaws... so I'm tempted to try my luck again and bring my average down.

And new grab bags! These are listed as valued at around $400 for $199.99. The grab bags have not been worth it for me recently but I will definitely be interested to see what shows up in them. My guess of course is a mix of the above models and others that are already in the sale. Last year I did the math and there wasn't much of a savings just by buying those models from the warehouse sale - minus the special surprise, but nothing was earth shattering with those. They are worth it for new collectors or if you need some stock for your Breyerfest sales. Incidentally the 2023 grab bags 6 and 7 are also still available, down another $20 to $179.95

The annual Horsing Around custom glaze auctions finished up yesterday and prices were down slightly from last year, but not by a whole lot. It is always hard to compare individual pieces because of different personal preferences - but the overall average was down from £1510 to £1397 (note the USD/GBP exchange rate has also about the same as it was a year ago).

The Stone holiday auctions finish tomorrow and there is another installment (one of the last) of the Bonnie Ellis estate auctions this week as well - so there is quite a lot of action out there still to come!