More Buyer Beware

Second Post of the Day

I ran into another case of buyer beware last week. And I fell for it completely.

Look at this horsey Lego set.

Honoring the Budweiser Clydesdales, it came across my Facebook feed. I immediately took a screen shot and sent it to our family GroupMe chat.

"Please, please, PLEASE someone get this for me!! My birthday is coming up." (Not until the end of August, but still...)

And then, I got the bad news. It was not an official Lego set. 

It was the 5 digit number on the box that was the definitive proof. Even though the set had the official red Lego label on it, it was not a Lego product, it was an imitation. 

I am disappointed, but I'm also glad Kyle checked it out for me. Yet another case of buyer beware raising its ugly head.

And then, look what appeared in my social media feed yesterday.

I'd get that in a heartbeat for several family members! But no number appears to check for authenticity, and, even more telling, there is no red Lego sign on the box.

It's a fake!

And fakes can be hard to tell.

Some more so than others.

Stay 'tooned!

Collections Within My Collections: Mini Doggos!

For someone who does not actively collect dogs, I sure have a lot of them in my collection. Today we will look at the minis, most of which are Hagen Renakers. (Because who can resist a Hagen Renaker dog??)

Our Duffy was a liver and white Springer Spaniel and I have never seen the HR mini Springer in that coloration, but I do have two black and white HRs among my mini dogs.

An early one from around 1986 with brown and black eyes and another on a 1995 card with black and white eyes. Variations!

This pup is packed away at the moment and I cannot remember its name but I think it is a Disney dog of some sort.

Also packed away is this Terrier and I have a fuzzy memory of it, too, being a Disney piece. 

The Bloodhound was my first Hagen Renaker dog. The black Lab is a more recent addition because of Pepper and Zeus.

A very early Hagen Renaker Cocker Spaniel. Look at that vintage facial detail!

I find a lot of the various HR Cockers, to the point that I have quit buying them. I think these must've been very popular pieces and a lot were produced. 

Difficult to photograph (I tried!), this tiny HR playful puppy was a gift from Nancy Falzone.

A yellow Lab with provenance that is it some of the last pottery from the Hagen Renaker factory.

Possibly another Disney tie-in piece; regardless, it's cute!

A vintage HR circus dog with ruffle.

Another vintage HR circus dog with ruffle and circus base.

A knock-off by Shiken, a Japan company. It is larger than the HR piece and is bone china so it is whiter than the HR.

I've mentioned Music City Son Cole's childhood love of Dalmatians before, so as you might imagine, there are more than a few Dalmatians in my collection.

A hard to find liver and white Dalmatian.

An early black spotted Dalmatian with spatter-style spots.

A spatter-style Dalmatian puppy.

Another spatter-style dog and pup with a later regular spot dog and puppy.

Lastly, a piece that is very much a favorite. Pepper in harness!

Shannon Rodgers found this piece and gifted it to me. I have no idea who produced it, but I sure love it.

That ends the tour of my mini dogs - tomorrow we'll take a look at some larger ones.

Stay 'tooned!

More Newly Arriveds!

I have two more pieces to share that I received from the Carolyn Boydston auction. 

Elephants! (And cute ones, too!) This is African Elephant Mama and African Elephant Baby in grey gloss.

The were sculpted for Hagen Renaker by Tom Masterson and released in matte brown (1953 - 1956) and grey gloss (1971 - 1972.)

The pair has beautiful shading, 

the price was right, 

and well, you know what happened. Now they're mine!

I'm amazed that those slender, delicate trunks have survived for over fifty years

and I am going to do my best to keep them that way. 

I also received the two 75th anniversary blankets from Breyer.

I think the Western Horse is the right choice for their anniversary logo; after all, he was the first horse or animal produced by Breyer way back in 1950.

But that odd 75 on the logo puzzled me at first. And then I saw and understood what Breyer was doing.

It's Breyer's 75th or diamond anniversary, and by drawing a line around the number, you can see a diamond. Clever!

The second blanket has various diamond shapes just like the logo uses. 

It also has five models on it, models that are celebrating their own anniversaries.  There's Smart Chic Olena (2005, 20 years), the Western Horse (1950, 75 years), the American Saddlebred Stallion (2000, 25 years), Lonesome Glory (2000, 25 years) and Esprit (2010, 15 years).

That Esprit puzzles me - this is his 15th anniversary which is rather unremarkable. I'm going to do a little research and some thinking about the reasons why he was included.

Stay 'tooned!

The San Marcos Head Up and Head Down Ponies

Here is the story about those Hagen Renaker ponies that Lukie set the red, white and blue Breyers by the other day.

Liz Cory is helping Nancy Falzone sell some of her extensive Hagen Renaker collection. The day before Midwest Mini Mayhem, Liz posted some photos on Facebook of what she was bringing to the show to sell and these two lovely pieces were included.

Lucky enough to see the post as it dropped, and having been looking for this pair in Stablemate size for years, I looked at their prices, and immediately responded that if no one else had already bought them, then I would.

I was expecting the mini Head Up and Head Down ponies; I was not expecting the Designer Workshop pieces! The stickers should have been a clue, but the prices were so good, I assumed they were the smaller version.

I don't have a single one of the smaller, non-circus Head Up and Head Down ponies; every time I find one, it is snapped up before I can get it.

As a result, I acted fast and contacted Liz. The ponies were mine and it wasn't until I opened their box later that I realized I'd gotten the Designer Workshop pieces, not the Stablemate sized ones. 

Immediately I contacted Liz - there had to be a mistake because the price was what I expect to pay for the mini versions, certainly not the Designer Workshop ones.

Liz assured me that the price was not an error and that what I'd paid was what Nancy wanted for them.

Honestly, I could not believe my luck. While I did not get the chestnut pair in the Stablemate size that I have been looking for, I was still very, very happy to have the chestnut Designer Workshop set, especially at such a reasonable price and, more importantly, pieces that came from Nancy's collection.

Include with each one was a file photo and a card on which Nancy had written information about the piece.

I have had the ponies on my photography shelf since I got home. I've taken pictures of them, but I need to make room in the china cabinet where I keep my large Hagen Renakers. There is always a breakage risk when rearranging chinas, so I have been putting off that task.

I have been enjoying having them in my office and out where I can see them. But clearly it is time to put them in a safer place.

There is more to this story. Stay 'tooned!

That Dreaded Sound

This was me yesterday.

 One sad, deflated balloon.

I'd gone antiquing to a store I rarely visit to look for HSOs. After all, I have lots of new space on my shelves, right? (So much for the talk about paring down the collection!)

I found a lot of things that tempted me.

and things for other people.

Like two shelves chock full of Nancy Drew books.

Lisa collects and reads Nancy Drew books. 

I found six that were on her list and brought them home for her. 

This book plate was inside the cover of several of the books that I brought home. It figures, right? But the books went home with Lisa and so I don't have to look at those unicorns again.

And then I spied a familiar gold and black sticker.

Tucked in with some other Siamese cats that were clearly not Hagen Renakers was a Designers Workshop Quan Yen.

I don't collect Hagen Renaker cats, but my friend Liz Cory does, so I snapped it up and bought it.

It was carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and I kept it separate from the books I'd bought when I put it in the car. I did not want it to break!

To say I was excited was an understatement. To find a Designers Workshop Hagen Renaker in the wild is always fun, and this piece was old and in perfect condition.

Or rather, it WAS in perfect condition. 

I broke it after I got home. I set the Quan Yen on top of the other package as I was unpacking and it slid off. I heard that "clink" that all china collectors dread, and my heart sank. I knew I'd just broken a beautiful piece that had survived unscathed for decades.

Liz was super nice and understanding about it. She told me that these things happen (she's right) and she'd still like to have the piece. I've already got it packed in the L bag and we will work it out at the March GLC show.

I'm still feeling a little sad this morning. Such a beautiful piece! I hope that Liz can either repair it herself or find someone who can fix it and get it back to its former beauty.

I did bring something else home that is going on one of the newly cleared shelves. It makes me smile, and I think you will see why when you see it.

Stay 'tooned!