Monday, September 19, 2011

The Bargain Barn--Gimme S'more

Assuming you can't afford to spend $17,000 on an artist resin... Does that mean you shouldn't  bother attending another live show?  Is live show success completely beyond your grasp?  Should you trade in your models and take up a less expensive hobby?

My answer to these questions is an emphatic no.

Granted, the big budget collectors will always have an advantage, but that doesn't mean you can't win big with a bargain horse.  I've done it and I know I'm not alone.  In fact, I would wager that nearly every long time shower/collector has a couple members of the "Bargain Barn" in their herd.

Here's one of my most successful bargains.  This is Gimme S'more.  He is a Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig Brownie resin painted by Cara Barker-Yellott.  
My friend and fellow tackmaker, Erin Corbett was Gimme S'more's first owner.  She purchased him through an eBay auction in which he sold for the same price as an unpainted Brownie.  Now, that was not a good deal for Cara, but it certainly made Erin happy.  She was even happier when he went on to win a Top Ten ribbon at NAN 2009.
Late last year, Erin decided to downsize and Gimme S'more ended up living with me.  Once again, he "sold" for a bargain price--if memory serves me correctly, I traded a saddleseat saddle for him.  He made his second NAN appearance in Tuscon, and this time he did even better winning a Reserve Championship in the Artist Resin Other Pure/Part/Grade Foals class.
Gimme S'more has become one of the most reliable NAN card winners in my show string--not bad for a painted model who sold at body price!
I would love to hear about some of your bargain horses.  I don't care if it's a $10 Walmart OF with two NAN titles to its name (hint, hint, Teresa!) or a Carol Williams piece that sold for $400 rather than $1,400.  Either way, a bargain is a bargain and this hobby is full of them!  If you would like to see your model featured in a future Bargain Barn post, please email me off blog at Braymere@comcast.net.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

5 comments:

  1. TeresaSeptember 20, 2011 at 8:16 AM

    Yes, hint hint :D I have many bargain horses...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Little Black CarSeptember 20, 2011 at 8:55 AM

    My solution was to hold onto my original collection. I clean up in the "collectible" division, and my 1980's OF's are uncommon enough now that they stand out from a crowd again.

    Some of the judges are actually young enough so as never to have seen many of my oldest models. Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DaphneSeptember 20, 2011 at 1:10 PM

    I sometimes get very lucky when it comes to raffles, I've won some of my better horses that way. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. KrisSeptember 20, 2011 at 4:29 PM

    My best bargain show horse was also my first Stone, a fifty dollar Miss Brick Countess. I loved the color on this horse yet, since her previous owner had not won much with her for a long time, I fiquered I was getting a model for nothing more than personal eye candy. Afterall, she's nothing like those FCMs or even the newer reqular runs. Since her debut in MEPSA, she has been placing in the top 3 and she takes home a championship every now and then. I never thought that old thing would be the star of my little show string.

    I really like Little Black Car's idea of using older models, and glad to hear they do so well. I have some old models I would like to get back in the show ring just for the fun of it, so it's wonderfull to think they might stand a chance of doing well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2011 at 6:08 PM

    My first NAN qualified horse was an OF stablemate thrown into a SM halter class last minute. Come to think of it, I think all of my NAN qualified horses are OF Stablemates! I show trads too, but it's always satisfying when the $3 horse with homemade tack and props beats the big expensive horses. :)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)