Friday, June 19, 2009

Decorator Colors!

What are Decorator Colors?
Decorator colors are colors painted on horses that are not found on real horses. Some decorator colors are silver filigree, copenhagen, and gold charm. Woodgrain is not considered a decorator color, but I am including information on it anyway.


left to right: mauve copenhagen, gold charm, copenhagen, wedgewood, florentine

Woodgrains
Woodgrains are very popular. Breyer created them during the late 1950's and early 1960's. Woodgrains were painted to look like they were carved from wood. Light woodgrains are the most common, but darker ones are harder to find. Dark woodgrains were mainly used for clocks. Woodgrains don't come cheap, and are hard to find. Pictures to come later. An example of a woodgrain is #985 on the Semi-Rearing Mustang, produced from 1963-1966.

Gold Charm
Gold Charm models are a metallic gold. The manes and tails are white, and the horse will usually have a bald face or other facial marking, and often times socks ore stockings. Pictures to come later. An example of a gold charm model is #712001, the Breyer dealer special on Newsworthy.

Florentine
Florentine is a dappled version of gold charm. Pictures to come later. An example of florentine is #703596, Giltedge, on the Aristocrat Champion Hackney mold.

The 2002 Breyerfest Volunteer Model:



Wedgewood
Wedgewood Breyers are painted to look like Wedgwood china--a soft, light blue, with a white mane and tail. Wedgewoods often have a bald face or other facial marking, and usually leg markings. Wedgewoods are normally matte. Pictures to come later. An example of a wedgewood colored Breyer is #1215, the treasure hunt Lady Phase.

A Wedgewood pinto Gem Twist Test:


Copenhagen
Similar to florentine, copenhagen models are a dappled version of another color. In this case, it's a dappled version of wedgewood. Pictures to come later. An example of copenhagen is the 2009 Breyerfest Funfetti Stablemate model.

Silver Filigree
Silver filigree is a fairly new color. It was first made in the 1990's. It's like florentine but silver--a metallic silver color with a white mane and tail, often times markings, and with dapples. Pictures to come later. An example of a silver filigree horse is the #1193 Treasure Hunt Prize on the Silver mold.

December 2008 Web Special, Silver Snow:


Ageless Bronze
Many collectors aren't familiar with ageless bronze. Ageless Bronze, like silver filigree, was introduced in the 1990's. It's a dark, slightly metallic bronze color. Pictures to come later. It's rarely used, but can be found on #832, Hyksos, the Egyptian Arabian.

Pictures by Breyer



Chalkies

I recently found out that my palomino Family Arabian Mare is chalky.

What are Chalkies?
Chalkies are models that are painted white, then have the color painted on. Most of them were made during the 1970's during the oil crisis, because Breyer couldn't afford to buy white plastic. Colored plastics were cheaper at this time, so to save money, Breyer bought colored and painted it white before applying the color.

How do you tell if a model is chalky?
It's actually quite simple, once you know what to look for. Chalkies' markings are whiter than other models'. I have a palomino Family Arabian Mare and Stallion, and the mare's mane, tail, and markings are much lighter than her hubby's. Another way to tell is looking for 'pooling' on the underside of the hooves. Pooling looks like the bottom of the horse's hooves were painted, and then the model was set down. Here's a picture of one of my chalky mare's hoof:


My FAM and FAS next to each other. Notice how much lighter her mane, tail, markings, and overall coloring are compared to her hubby's.

How much are chalkies worth?
Chalkies are worth more than the regular models of the run. However, it depends on the mold the chalky was produced on. On more popular molds, such as PAM and PAS, chalkies are worth quite a bit more (I'm not quite sure how much), but on less popular molds such as FAM and FAS, the chalkies are only worth several dollars more.

pics by me.

Welcome!

Hello, everyone! I can't wait to start posting here at my new blog. I love collecting model horses, and like to help other people in the hobby. Check back to see new posts!