Breyer Horses: It’s Conga Time!
Posted on August 12, 2023 by Aywren
What does it mean when you have a conga of Breyer horse models?
The Breyer website defines conga as:
Conga = A collection of Breyer models on the same mold. When displayed together, they may look as if they are “dancing” together or in a “conga line.”
To break this down even further, how this whole “mold” thing works is:
- An artist sculpts a horse design for Breyer
- Breyer makes a mold of that design, enabling Breyer to mass produce it
- Breyer also recolors that mold so that you can have many horse models made off the same mold, but in different coat colors and designs. Sometimes small variations are made in the mold – such as a different mane or tail shape
So, to collect a conga means to have at least three horses that all use the same mold, but are different model numbers – different coat colors, variations, etc. Though, I take that back, because some people do collect the exact same horse multiple times in a conga - because there are small variations in color sometimes.
I discovered Breyer folks are very serious about collecting their congas. If you really love a specific horse mold, why not try to get as many variations and colors as you can?
The only problem with that is that, especially for newer molds, many of the models are limited edition or store specials. This makes them rare and often far more expensive on the secondary market than I’d like to pay.
Still, I wanted to conga, too, and have spent quite a bit of time exploring options to start a cheap conga of molds I’ve come to favor.
When I got my newest Black Stallion model during this past Amazon Prime sale, I realized he was what’s called a classic/freedom scale model. These are smaller than the traditional size Breyer horses, and I’m not sure as many serious collectors really go for them.
Inspecting this model, which I learned is on the Malik mold, I realized that many of the variations wouldn’t be too hard to get. Because they were a smaller model size, they weren’t quite as popular and often sold for a lower cost.
High Tide is a regular run decorator horse that’s still available on Amazon. Malik was retired after 2019, but you can get him fairly cheap from Ebay. The mahogany Arabian is also a regular run, and is still available on Amazon – I put him on my wishlist, hoping for a Christmas present.
Really, the only ones that would be tough to get were the glossy version of Malik and Solar Flare, a unicorn that was a store special in 2021. Apparently, Solar Flare wasn’t too highly sought after because I was able to find him for a decent price on Ebay.
And so, I set about putting together my first conga.
As I stated, the only ones I’m missing are the regular run Arabian (which I can snag anytime from Amazon, but am hoping for a gift of it), and the glossy Malik, which was a rare Live Show Benefit Youth model. I’ve seen him pop up on Ebay for near $300. For the size of this horse, I can’t see myself paying that, even if it would finish my conga.
I’m happy with what I have, even if it’s a classic/freedom size conga. I do think it’s a nice mold.
What do you think about the concept of conga-ing a model variation?