B Stampers: An Introduction

For six months I've had a file on my desktop. I was collecting information on B stamp Breyers, and saving files in it.

The original plan was to write a single blog post and publish it in a week or so. That was May; this is December. I finally opened that file again, went through all the information I'd collected, and began drafting a blog series.

Before we go any further, though, it would be good to know a little bit about the B stamp Breyer briefly put on its models and what that B indicates. 

The late Breyer History Diva, Andrea Gurdon, discussed the different types of plastic that Breyer used for B stamp pieces in this blog post from June, 2010. Another really good source is Nancy Atkinson Young's seminal book, Breyer Molds & Models: Horses, Riders, & Animals, 1950 - 1997, 5th Edition. 

Essentially, due to the oil crisis in the late 1970s, Breyer switched from a type of tenite plastic (cellulose acetate) to a different type of tenite, cellulose acetate butyrate. Models produced during 1979 - 1982 were marked with a small letter B to indicate the latter form of plastic had been used. (Regrinding and mixing the two types produced a plastic that was unstable.) 

Oil crisis over, in 1982 Breyer was back to using the original tenite formula and the B was removed from most of its molds. So, if you find a model with a B stamp (usually in an inconspicuous spot on the inside of a hind leg) you know that it likely was produced between 1979 and 1982. 

It was a daunting process to go through my collection and look for that B stamp. Fortunately, I found a shortcut - BreyerHorseRef. It's a free research site that I found accidentally while searching for information.

A search of BreyerHorseRef brought up  a list of models with their photos that are known to have the B stamp.

Screenshot from BreyerHorseRef.

That pared my collection-search down enormously. Rather than going through and pulling every single model out to check for a B, I only pulled those on this list. (I did add in some others that were also rumored to have had the stamp.) I used that list from BreyerHorseRef to go through my entire collection.

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the search itself and what I discovered was hanging out on my shelves!

Stay 'tooned!

Christmas Horse of the Day

Jol was the 2020 Christmas Morning Surprise Web Special. He came in three colors - glossy clear with snowflakes and glitter,

glossy red with snowflakes and glitter, and glossy blue-green with snowflakes and glitter. All three are clearware and 500 of each piece were made.

Advent Calendar Reveal - Day 6

I continue to be impressed with the detail that's been given to these tiny pieces!

Look at that pretty pearly shading!

Honestly, I did not anticipate such nice paint jobs.

As soon as I open a door with some fencing, I'll get these horses corralled and a scene started.

My Elephant Trifecta

There are three Breyer elephants in my collection. (Four if I count the Corky & Bimbo who are still in their original box and tucked away in the closet.)

All three have something quirky about them, something that keeps me from selling them even though the elephant mold isn't one I actively collect.

This is the quirkiest elephant. Originally I bought him because he still had his blue ribbon, but when he arrived, I realized that he was not your run of the mill Breyer elephant.

He is a lot like the battleship grey color Breyer once produced on the donkey and on the hooves of early Man O'Wars. There is also a bit of a glow from under his paint.

The tusks have what seems to be a thin layer of white paint on them - you can see the plastic through it.

His mouth has the same light wash of paint.

Here he is compared to my other two elephants. See the difference?

The underside of his feet explain a lot - this piece is made of grey plastic, not the usual stark white plastic that Breyer uses. This indicates that he is from the oil crisis era in the 1970s when Breyer was having difficulty getting their usual plastic and so reground pieces and remolded them into new ones.

The bottoms of the feet are unpainted and you can see the color difference when you compare them to the tusks which have been.

He is definitely the most unusual of the three. Tomorrow, we will look at the chalky/not chalky one.

Stay 'tooned!