Jill's (growing) Collection [update 11.4.24]

Thanks everyone! Yes it is unfortunate that everyone seems to have to have at least one bad buying experience that costs them $$. Thankfully, it was only a small amount in the grand scheme of expensive things!

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

Really great additions Jill! Sorry to hear about the first Primrose, that or something similar has happened to us all I think; so frustrating! I love those purpleish roans- such a nice color!

I love roans, I've been on a bit of a kick for them lately, haha. Locksley (the rearing one) is an especially nice one I think.

Roger wrote:

Interestingly, far from being a nitpicker, I don't get upset over minor flaws that many figures have, but perhaps because I've never been a smoker, figures with a cigarette smell bother me immensely. There are very few that I have in these conditions because I don't regularly buy used figures, but I can't rest until I manage to minimize the smell as much as possible. I hope you find a good owner for this figure and that you recover a good portion of the value invested.

I agree, and I don't think the seller was intentionally deceptive. I think because she lives in the home, she is nose blind to the smell and also the yellowing happens so gradually, and would happen to all her horses equally, she probably could not even tell it had yellowed in comparison. So I now I will always be asking if it is a smoking home.

sunny wrote:

Congratulations on your new members Jill! The set of 5 are very nice models, and it's very interesting to read about the story behind them!
Breyer are very good with their marketing and creating demand for their products. Making this set minis of past releases is a great way to fill the gap for those who couldn't or didn't want to get the larger models.

It is a good idea, especially since many of these micro runs are multiple thousands of dollars on the second hand market. Locksley, the rearing one, is my favorite. His traditional size counterpart is Nottingham, who is stunning. But only 137 were made and the only one for sale currently is listed at $2000. So, the tiny version it is!  

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The Mcphee models must be very small indeed?
I'm always curious about small models incase they can fit my herds!

They are very tiny!
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Great bunch of special release stablemates. I love Primrose. The modern painting style on this old model works very well and it has a very original pose. It is a good thing to have a model twice if it is very good. Thumbelina and the rearing horse (what's his name) are great too. You can see that Breyer puts a bit more care in the painting when they are special releases. Fantastic that you got five together.

I like the Archie McPhee minis. I wish more brands made very small models. How small are they?

rogerpgvg wrote:

Great bunch of special release stablemates. I love Primrose. The modern painting style on this old model works very well and it has a very original pose. It is a good thing to have a model twice if it is very good. Thumbelina and the rearing horse (what's his name) are great too. You can see that Breyer puts a bit more care in the painting when they are special releases. Fantastic that you got five together.

I agree that Primrose is really excellent! Hopefully my second of her will help me add one or two more from my wishlist in a trade, so I shouldn't complain that I was able to get two when some people struggle to find one, haha. The rearing horse's name is Locksley, fictional home of Robin Hood.

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I like the Archie McPhee minis. I wish more brands made very small models. How small are they?

I think my answer to that question was actually on the next page so you may have missed it, but it is right above your question now! If you'd like any other photos let me know. :)

It's been a while since I've been able to visit the STS board, but I am very glad to be able to update again. On September 27, hurricane Helene hit my region of the US as a category one hurricane, unheard of for such an inland, mountainous region. It had been prefaced by a week of tropical storm rain, saturating the ground and already causing floods. This "perfect storm" resulted in devastation of western North Carolina and east Tennessee that we will be recovering from for years. My family was lucky that our house was spared any major damage, but we were without power for 13 days and without water for 16. We just got internet back today (which is why I can get back on the forum, hooray!), and we are still waiting on drinkable water. The zoo where I work is closed indefinitely because the road and bridge to get in were swept away (luckily, there is a private access road we have been allowed to use in order to get into the park and care for the animals). It has been an insane month, but in the middle of everything, I was still able to find some little joys with being able to add to my collection at times.

I hope no one else here was caught in the path of Helene, and if you were, I hope you have come out alright.


First of all, I got a few things BEFORE the storm hit in September. More prehistoric Play Visions, more Nayab minis, and the newest set of Eyscota cats. The cats are really good, I might like them even more than the first set, especially the ragdolls and Norwegian forest cats. Also love the play visions and nayab of course, they are always fun to find.  

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And then the storm hit. I assumed that the package I had coming from Paige would be lost in the flood, but amazingly, it eventually appeared! Once enough roads were cleared for the mail to get to us, at least! This K&M zebra had appealed to me when I saw it on ebay, and she got the lot and so sold me the zebra separately. I like that it's a little different than most little zebra figures. It's more like a Grevy's than a plains, though I don't know if that was on purpose. The frogs are W.N. frogs I did not yet have in my army, hooray! Getting the package was such a nice little moment of normalcy in the middle of everything. We were still without water or power at this point, a live electric wire sitting in our yard, a tree across our driveway. It was such an anxious period of time, and a little glimpse of things happening in the "outside world" was nice. They will always be my little hurricane survivors.
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And then I had the wonderful opportunity to go visit a friend in a different part of the state. For a little while, there was no way out of our region. Landslides and floods had taken out every road. But thankfully, they did get some of the major roads open eventually and I was able to use days I had already taken off for a vacation that clearly wasn't going to happen to instead go see my friend and take a few days break from the recovery. It was such a delight to go take a shower, go to restaurants, and just relax. One of the little things that happened during the storm was that our Tractor Supply had JUST started putting out their seasonal Breyer horses. I saw them when we had to rush and get a new sump pump for our flooding basement, in fact. But of course, after the storm Tractor Supply wasn't open, and even when they were able to open, finishing stocking Breyers was not their priority. So while I was visiting my friend, we went to some Tractor Supply stores and I was able to find the ones I was looking for. A really nice little treat!

There were only three blind bag models I wanted this year, and by feeling the bags, I was able to find all three. The black and white speckled one (on top) is one of the chase pieces, so it was especially nice to find that one.
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The rest are family sets. I had only intended to get the black and gray draft family, but then I saw the others in person and changed my mind. I even got a couple of unicorn families because they had one that appealed to me, despite the horns and gold hooves which I just don't like at all.
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Also while I was there, I was able to use the internet, so I did some ebay browsing. Retail therapy continued as I found two sets of Kid Kore horses I didn't have as well as the little Wild Republic German Shepherd I have been looking for! (Plus some extras, haha.)
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And last but not least, just the other day I received a package from a friend of mine that she had been unable to send back in the summer and then she had to wait because I was afraid it wouldn't make it right after the storm. At last it came, another part of my Breyerfest order and a whole bunch of little figures she found in an antique store!

The Breyerfest horses are another set of Best of Breyerfest stablemates, the ones from this year. I couldn't get a good group shot so here they are individually.
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And then so many little creatures! I think a lot of them are Nayab? The primates are at least, and maybe the birds and some of the sea creatures? The cats are ACC and are masterful gremlin cats. They look like cats from medieval artwork to me. And lots of little Chinamals. They are all very cool, at least.
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(I love this goat and lamb in particular)
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I have so much to catch up on here, but the truth is, the days are still very long and hard and I might have less time to sit and do that than I would like, but it is really nice to at least be able to get on again.

I'm so glad you're back! That whole thing was awful, and I'm really sorry you had to go through it. I hope everything gets back to normal soon.
It's great to see you got more figures meanwhile and that you could find time to photograph them to share with us.
Interestingly, Maria has just posted this in one of your topics. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Good to have back and great to hear that you managed to come through the storm!Great collection of newbies,congrats!!!!

I'll admit I was worried you had gotten the worst of that storm in your area after recognizing a couple of the hardest hit areas as the places I had sent your packages to. I'm so glad you're ok and were spared major damage! My FB feed was flooded with the images and videos of down south and it was devastating seeing the amount of damage down there. My heart goes out to you all! <3

I am happy that you are safe and that you can manage to complete your collection and come back with us. I hope you will turn back to your zoo as soon as possible! :)

You got very beautiful cats and horses!

This P.V. Homotherium is, to my knowledge, the only available one from the main brands on the market!

Many of the old treasures

Good to see you back and to read that you have survived the hurricane. Sounds devastating, I hope the clean-up won't take too long. Wonderful Tractor supply Breyers. What is the name of the black pinto draft horse? I hope they will sell it in Europe too. Good that you managed to find so many small Nayabs. They can be hard to find because sellers don't list them as Nayab. I agree, the unpainted white goat is very beautiful. I have never seen it.

Thanks everyone, and for the well wishes also.

Roger wrote:

I'm so glad you're back! That whole thing was awful, and I'm really sorry you had to go through it. I hope everything gets back to normal soon.
It's great to see you got more figures meanwhile and that you could find time to photograph them to share with us.
Interestingly, Maria has just posted this in one of your topics. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I'll definitely check it out, thank you!

WhiteLightning Wolf wrote:

I'll admit I was worried you had gotten the worst of that storm in your area after recognizing a couple of the hardest hit areas as the places I had sent your packages to. I'm so glad you're ok and were spared major damage! My FB feed was flooded with the images and videos of down south and it was devastating seeing the amount of damage down there. My heart goes out to you all! <3

Thank you, it's still unbelievable but the turn out of help and support has been incredible.

Caracal wrote:

This P.V. Homotherium is, to my knowledge, the only available one from the main brands on the market!

That's very cool, I definitely wasn't even familiar with it before seeing the figure. The prehistoric models always teach me things.

rogerpgvg wrote:

Good to see you back and to read that you have survived the hurricane. Sounds devastating, I hope the clean-up won't take too long. Wonderful Tractor supply Breyers. What is the name of the black pinto draft horse? I hope they will sell it in Europe too. Good that you managed to find so many small Nayabs. They can be hard to find because sellers don't list them as Nayab. I agree, the unpainted white goat is very beautiful. I have never seen it.

Thank you! The black and white draft is from the "Peaceful Garden" surprise foal family. It is on the Girogio mold, but has not been added to Identify Your Breyer yet. It is possible it will be released later as a regular run, I feel like the TSC stablemates often are.