Breyer Marc of Charm, Mid-Year 2021

My first new model to introduce this year, and oh it's a lovely one! 

Although I must admit he actually got here in early december, but cos of a combination of my garden's shade problems when the sun is low, and the non-stop wet and cloudy weather lately, I've only just been able to catch a patch of sunlight big enough to get his pictures done!

This is Breyer's portrait model of Marc Of Charm, a multiple showing champion who went on to become a famous stallion at stud. Isn't he just beautiful - even though I'm not a fan of gaited breeds in real life, I just love the elegance, balance, and alert showy sharpness, of this mould!

He's a mid-year release on a fairly new and very sought-after mould, the Racking Saddlebred Stallion, or 'Hamilton', and I'm so glad they decided to let regular-run buyers have one we can more easily get our hands on! 

The previous release on the mould was a palomino for the 70th Anniversary, but turned out to be very difficult to get hold of over here. Of course with eager collectors waiting to grab them, plus the added demand of customisers wanting them as bodies to repaint, the models sold out in minutes of going up on websites - in fact, any retailers who offered pre-orders here sold out of those months in advance, and had no leftover stock to just sell once they arrived. And with it being a 2021-only limited edition to mark the company's anniversary, there was no chance for the UK retailers to restock with another batch later on, so while some people were quick and lucky, anyone who didn't get one of that first shipment, missed out.

I'd have liked one, but wasn't crazy about the pearly mane and tail, so I chose to pre-order the dappled grey Andalusian as my must-have from the 70th anniversary batch instead, and was just glad to eventually get that after nine months of waiting, no news, and having all my polite-but-worried emails ignored by the company I'd ordered him with.

So when I saw we were getting a chestnut one as a mid-year release, I was surprised they'd gone with the same mould so soon, but very happy!

Much like the palomino before him, this model also sold out rather fast on a lot of websites, but this time it won't be a one-shipment-and-that's-it thing - he'll be part of the standard range til whenever Breyer decide to retire him, so even if people missed out on the first batch, there shouldn't be any difficulty getting him at some point in the future.

Still, the way this mould gets collectors hitting that Buy button, I decided a name related to his elusive nature and quick disappearances seemed fitting - I've named him Catch Me If You Can!

Here he is with a bit brighter light on him, trying to capture his rich, deep chestnut colouring. It was still tricky getting these shots as the low angle of the sun cast his shadow onto the background, unless I got the alignment just right that it went away behind him, and then the shadows created on his body were overly strong - for once I can see the appeal of those lightboxes people use!

Apparently, this real horse was the artist's inspiration and model for sculpting the mould, even though it made it's debut in another colour. This is unusual - possibly even a first?

Looking back to years ago, portrait sculpts were introduced in the regular run range, in the colour of their real horse, then would be re-used in different colours over the years.

Breyer now release new Traditional moulds to Premier Club members as exclusive special runs in expensive, detailed colours first - so whenever they want to make a regular run portrait model, it's usually on a mould which was sculpted as a different horse.

Doing it this novel way round, where the first regular run is the portrait, but they've already had access to the mould for special runs beforehand, works well for Breyer's profits, but also for collectors, cos it means we can buy specially sculpted portrait models again.

He's got great face markings, neatly masked and accurately copied from the real horse, and I always like when they remember to add a faint hint of pink for the nose.

As you can see here, it's a very narrow, upright pose, with the feet very close together, and I was a bit worried about stability (the similar Peter Stone Saddlebred is a wobbly wobbly beast!) , but he's actually very steady on his feet, with no tendency to tip one way or the other; he'd take quite a push to topple over!

The other side; it was even harder to get a photo this way as his face was in deep shade unless I tweaked the angle toward the sun, so you don't get to see a fully side-on view. But I think his other side is the best side for photos and display, anyway!