Breyer Introduction – The Black Stallion #1153
Posted on June 9, 2023 by Aywren
I’d like to introduce what I consider my first Breyer horse for my collection – The Black Stallion #1153. While this horse arrived second to Minstrel, it came on the same day and only a few hours after. But this was my first purchase, so my first horse.
I’d also like to introduce my Stables page in the Shrines section! You can see my horses listed here in order of when I obtained them!
Previously, I told the story of the memory of seeing a Breyer collectable version of The Black Stallion when I was a young teen and how it has inspired me to start collecting Breyer horses currently. Naturally, the first model I’d research, then, would be The Black Stallion.
Only, I had no idea when I started searching Ebay that there are actually four different models from different time frames (that I now know of) of The Black Stallion. So as a total noob to all this, I was a bit confused as to why I kept seeing The Black in different poses with different model numbers!
Eventually, I chose this particular model because I just like the pose best. But most importantly, I liked how (unlike the other models that look pure black) this one had whites painted on the eyes.
Something about that gave the horse more character. So, once I had the model type pinned down, I then turned to browsing for price and quality.
Learning About Models and Molds
As I write introductions about these horses, expect for me to provide pieces of the knowledge that I’ve picked up along the way. I’ve just had a self-induced crash course on Breyer horses, and I find it quite fascinating!
The particular Ebay auction that I settled on had this description: Breyer Model #1153 "The Black Stallion" Traditional Sham, Produced 2002-2008.
Seeing the quality of the model pictured, the fact that the seller had other models up for sale, and the information provided in the auction, I felt that I made a good choice. And it turns out that I did. The model that arrived was everything I hoped it would be - they are so much cooler in person!
But back to that description: Breyer Model #1153 "The Black Stallion" Traditional Sham, Produced 2002-2008
Just like all hobbies, Breyer collectors have hobby-specific jargon. Much of which I’m still learning. So, being a total noob, I didn’t know what all this description meant.
Model number was obvious. As were the dates produced. But what was this “Traditional Sham” thing, I wondered?
I wanted to be informed on my purchase, so I did some research. This search brought me to the website Identify Your Breyer (IYB) for the first time – this is the universal identification site collectors use, run by collectors of the hobby.
I learned that “Traditional” is used to indicate a horse size. Traditionals are the largest of the models, known as 1:9 scale. Here’s a size comparison from IYB:
With that out of the way, what is “Sham?” It turns out Sham is the name of the model mold this particular horse uses.
I quickly learned how this works. An artist creates a horse mold. Breyer then uses this mold to reproduce the body shape, but paints it with different coat patterns and colors to create different horses. If you check out the Sham page linked above, you can see all the different horses released with this particular mold.
So, this means that a vintage mold can still produce current day horses with different paint jobs, just as long as Breyer does not retire the mold. Which is fascinating!
For example, Sham was created in 1984, but as recent as 2020, Breyer released a new horse using the vintage mold with a differently painted horse coat.
In fact, some collectors connect with a mold so much that they choose to collect as many of the different horses made in that mold as they can. I learned that when a collector has two or more horses of the same mold like this, they call it a “conga” – which I think is lovely!
Anyhow, that’s all for the model lesson! I’m currently looking through the list of Traditional models to see if any really strike my fancy to focus on for collecting in the future. I’m particularly fond of Huckelberry Bey, but it seems he’s quite popular as I rarely see models in my price range for this fellow!
More horses to come!