Unboxing: Bonnie Ellis Auction Part 21

They're here!

The Bonnie Ellis estate auctions have been making news all over the model horse world. She had an absolutely amazing and very extensive collection and it has been thrilling to see so many rare models and get to participate in the auctions. It's great to see her estate making it's way to other collectors and I've been glad to be able to add some pieces from her collection too. Dosland (the auction house) mentioned on their facebook page that the 23rd installment which is live this week will be the final Bonnie Ellis auction. They did say they will have more collections coming up though - no surprise - they have done an excellent job handling the volume of sales and their packing and shipping is probably the best I've ever seen. I can definitely see why other large collections would consider them for liquidation! It's great for the hobby too!

Part 21 ended on December 18th and I was focused on some of her vintage models in this round. They arrived yesterday and again the packing was outstanding. Each lot is packed in it's own box with more than enough bubble wrap and then the boxes are packed together in a master large box. Let me show you what I got!

I took a chance on this gorgeous early bay Running Mare thinking she might be a chalky painted-over decorator. She looked super white and the paint job is extremely similar to the one I have already. Alas, she is not that but she is a gorgeous vintage example likely dating from that same mid 1960s period and not that I need more running mares but for $10 you can't go wrong.

I love her face

Next one was a little but of a miss and I think I overpaid for him. I bought this lovely fighter because his auction photos made him look like he had some really nice grey shading and I've been looking for a potential upgrade to mine. Stupidly however I didn't notice the broken ear until after I'd put my max bid in (as you can even see here it is kind of broken in a way that makes it look normal). Also he has this brown splatter on one side that I figured I would wash off - however it appears to be under the gloss. In a way that is kind of cool, he's sort of a weird factory mistake if that is true, but not really my thing so he... probably won't be staying. Oh and that grey shading I was excited about also isn't really as dark as I thought.

Auction house photos compared to mine

Things start to get better with the next lot. I've been on an Old Timer kick and I have been wanting one of these "cornflake dapples" versions, so called because of the very large cornflake looking splatters. He's in excellent condition and has his hat! He is a bit yellower than I expected but of all the flaws of vintage models, yellowing is the least of my concerns because it's a super easy fix. I've whitened some very very orange models in the past with sunning. I was also interested to see that he has a USA stamp (now that I'm checking that obsessively after yesterday's post) because I always thought this style of dappling was one of the earlier variations.

I love him! He's going to go great with the rest of my dapple greys and Old Timer conga.

Next up was the real bargain of the night. I've certainly overpaid for a few things in some of her auctions - it's easy to get carried away in the moment - but I was shocked when this beauty closed at only $37.50. I have never seen shading so nice on the old Morgan AND he has a really nice sticker! Here I do have one nitpick with the packing because they did fold/squash the sticker a little bit when bubble wrapping him :/ but that is the sort of thing that can happen with non-collectors. I carefully got it mostly back flat. He will get a wash and some sun time as well and then I think he will be a real show piece!

Last but definitely not least, I picked up this gorgeous Proud Arabian Foal with really nice shading. This is also a model I've been looking for with some nice shading (my current one is just flat white pretty much) and although similar to the fighter in that it's not as dark as the auction photos, it is still very nice on her. I love her face shading too. Now this one I do have a bit of a dilemma... she definitely needs a bath and some clean up and I was just about to get to it, but this sticker residue on her barrel stopped me a little... is this the shadow of a tenite sticker? It's the same size and shape and in the place you might find one... but it is extremely rare to find non-woodgrains with tenite stickers. So do I wash it off or leave the potential history and maybe even try to restore her with a vintage sticker?! Send your advice!

All in all, very pleased with this new to me group of vintage models and once they get some cleaning and sunning I think they will really be standouts!